Great Throughts Treasury

"How many people (there are) that experience warns without correcting them."

"I am too lazy to set my status."

"Instead of killing the antelope, you strike the person who is holding it for you, and he lets it escape."

"It is easier to transport an ant hill than exercise authority in a village."

"It is imprudent to buy a canoe which is submerged."

"It is useless to call a dog to come to you while you have a stick in your hand."

"It is useless to lock the stable door after the steed is stolen."

"Judge not always by the outside {you may be) deceived."

"Little enemies and little wounds are not to be despised."

"Little things may be hidden, great things cannot be."

"Love for a child is from the mother."

"Much noisy talking in the work, the one working with you does not know his part."

"Neither bounty, nor tears awaken the dead."

"No one is attracted to a person who is in a fighting attitude."

"Nothing gets into the closed fist: nor out of it, said the scrub."

"Nourish a wolf in the winter that he may devour you in the summer."

"One good turn deserves another."

"Profit by the experience of others."

"Punctilious about the lesser, and neglectful about the greater."

"Roots do not know what a leaf has in mind."

"Support is necessary in dangerous places."

"The ants nest cannot stand in the elephants' track without the support of a bush to which it adheres."

"The bonenge ( a large forest fruit tree ) which saved you from starvation in time of famine, when clearing your garden, do not fell it."

"The first child fell on the fire (and died); for the next one you make a fire screen to protect it."

"The hand assists the foot, but the foot cannot do the same."

"The only one who feels pity for the pot (which someone has broken) is the one who bought it."

"The only one who feels pity for the pot is the one who made it."

"The person who went for water has not yet come ; the calabash is not yet full. There is a reason for the delay."

"The pond in which your mother was killed by a snake, do you return there ?"

"The road by which you are accustomed to pass cannot be mistaken."

"The same stick with which they kill a deaf lizard they also kill a large monitor lizard."

"The sun does not rise once only. There may be another chance."

"The sun shines during the day, not at night."

"The warning (reminder) of rain is thunder."

"They came upon you, and you saw (them), now you are bound ? why the groanings ?"

"They cannot turn the face round (to the back of the head), they can change (their) conduct."

"They change the voice, they do not change the face."

"Things are not what they seem."

"Those who go to the grave do not return by calling"

"We blame the leopard, and we also blame those who go outside. It is unwise to go out at night when a leopard is known to be prowling about. If a person goes out and is wounded or killed, he will be judged to have been culpable. [Said of those who have disregarded warning]"

"What a splendid sugar cane ! examine it, it is full of holes."

"When a squirrel sees you without a net for catching squirrels, he goes along with his tail up."

"When they tell you, listen."

"You carry the burning stick, but leave the tinder, (a material which is taken on a journey for producing fire by friction)."

"You disposed of the axe, why listen for the sound of it chopping?"

"You do not strike a child who gives you a piece of creeper (used as string)? and thus assists you. It is bad policy to ill-use your assistants."

"You nourish an orphan leopard; when his claws become strong he springs upon you."

"You have left your mark (foot-prints) in the grass (as you fled), do not forget him who is searching for you. Precaution."

"You spoil your chance by offending your benefactor."

"You strike the person who is holding the antelope with a stick."