Great Throughts Treasury

"An udara fruit that falls by the roadside must want to be picked up and eaten."

"Anger against a brother is felt in the flesh, not in the bone."

"At a time a cockerel matures, it begins to crow to tell the world the time of day."

"Anyone who urinates in a stream should be warned because any of his relatives may drink from the water."

"As long as you stay in a group, the lion will stay hungry."

"Antagonism is not good for fowls, and it is not good for goats; worse still, it is not good for human beings."

"Any wealth that takes only a market week to acquire is sure to contain in it things for which the gods will surely come to make claims."

"Because of three, three days visit a trader cannot shit in his Shed."

"As long as there are lice in the seams of the garment there must be bloodstains on the fingernails."

"Ashes fly back into the face of him who throws them."

"At whatever age a child gets a problem, at the same age she has to shoulder the responsibility."

"Beauty is not sold and eaten."

"Beetles that roll balls out of human feces demand to be hidden away from the rich man, because there is nothing he wouldn?t buy."

"Before firing, you must take aim."

"Before healing others, heal yourself."

"Because the farm-owner is slow to catch the thief, the thief calls the farm-owner thief."

"Before shooting, one must aim."

"Before one cooks, one must have the meat."

"Before you ask a man for clothes, look at the clothes that he is wearing."

"Being happy in one's home is better than being a chief."

"Better a single decision maker than a thousand advisors."

"Before stone a bird, you should put yourself in its position."

"Being happy is better than being king."

"Birth is the only remedy against death."

"Black goats must be caught early, before it gets dark."

"Book stands by itself and experience stands by itself."

"But joy has a slender bidy that breaks too soon."

"Bump-thump-scratch. It?s all on a big man?s skin."

"Charms do not perform miracles on the shelf; they perform for those who are brave."

"Children of the same mother do not always agree."

"Children will replace us when we die."

"By trying often, the monkey learns to jump from tree to tree without falling."

"Choose your fellow traveler before you start on your journey."

"Can the cockroah be innocent in a gathering of fowls?"

"Criticism of the brave is behind his back."

"Choose your neighbors before you buy your house."

"Dancing the drum will be done where the drum is."

"Dead though the oil-palm may be, the maggot in it lives on."

"Do not argue with a fool, for people will not be able to tell between the two of you."

"Don?t ask me where I am going but where I have come from."

"Dog eats excreta, but goat gets rotten teeth."

"Does a man not know when he has pepper in his eyes? If we forget yesterday, how shall we remember tomorrow."

"Earth is the queen of beds."

"Don?t look for speed in a cheap horse; be content if it neighs."

"Even in Mecca people make money."

"Even an old woman may run when a goat carries her snuff-box."

"Elders cannot be in the market where women strapped on children with crooked necks."

"Even when fire has done its very worst, one still has to resort to it."

"Even as the archer loves the arrow that flies, so too he loves the bow that remains constant in his hands."

"Every fault is laid at the door of the hyena, but it does not steal a bale of cloth."