200 Best African proverbs and sayings to give wise life advice for various situations and inspire people all over the world through simple words and messages.
If there is no enemy within, the enemy outside can do us no harm.
African Proverb
No matter how hot your anger is it cannot cook yams.
Nigerian Proverb
Don’t procrastinate or you will be left in between doing something, having something and being nothing
Ethiopian Proverb
A chattering bird builds no nest.
Cameroonian Proverb
What you help a child to love can be more important than what you help him to learn.
African Proverb
If there is cause to someone, the cause to love has just begun.
Senegalese Proverb
One does not love if one does not accept from others.
Nigerian Proverb
If love is a sickness, patience is the remedy.
African Proverb
To love someone who does not love you is like shaking a tree to make the dew drops fall.
Congolese Proverb
Love, like rain, does not choose the grass on which it falls.
South African Proverb
Don’t try to make someone hate the person he loves. For he will go on loving but he will hate you.
Senegalese Proverb
Let your love be like the misty rain, coming softly but flooding the river.
Liberian Proverb
A weapon that you don’t have in your hand will not kill a snake. Looking for something can get in the way of finding it.
African Proverb
A leopard is chasing us, and you are asking me, “Is it a male or a female?”
African Proverb
The house roof fights the rain, but the person who is sheltered ignores it.
African Proverb
Those who end up accomplishing great things pay attention to little ones.
Mali Proverb
One who has to yet learn to walk cannot climb a ladder.
Ethiopian Proverb
When a needle falls into a well, many people will look into the well, but only a few will be ready to go down after it.
African Proverb
Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one individual can embrace it.
Akan Proverb
A low-class man will just talk; deeds are the hallmark of a gentleman.
Swahili Proverb
The chicken that can dig for food will not sleep hungry.
Congolese Proverb
Crawling on your hands and knees has never prevented any person from walking upright.
Kenyan Proverb
There are no shortcuts to the top of the palm tree.
Cameroonian Proverb
Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.
African Proverb
The water of the river flows on without waiting for the thirsty man.
Kenyan Proverb
There is no elephant that complains about the weight of its trunk. No elephant is burdened by the weight of its tusks.
Kenyan Proverb
During times of peace in the country, the chief does not carry a shield.
Ugandan Proverb
A man who pays respect to the great paves his own way for greatness.
African Proverb
A great leader is an ordinary person with extraordinary wisdom.
Malawian Proverb
In the moment of crisis, the wise build bridges and foolish build dams.
Nigerian Proverb
Advice is like a stranger; if he’s welcome he stays for the night; if not, he leaves the same day.
Malagasy Proverb
God has created lands with lakes and bountiful rivers for man to live. And the wide deserts so that he can find his soul.
Tuareg Proverb
A hyena does not change its spots even if it moves to a different forest.
Malawian Proverb
A roaring lion kills no game.
Ugandan Proverb
One who possesses much wisdom has it in the heart, not on the lips.
Ugandan Proverb
One may have two legs, but that does not mean one can climb two trees at the same time.
Ethiopian Proverb
A wise man who knows the proverbs of the land reconciles difficulties.
Ashanti Proverb
Teeth do not see poverty.
Kenyan Proverb
Don’t call the forest that shelters you a jungle.
Ghanaian Proverb
A flea can trouble a lion much more than a lion can trouble a flea.
Kenyan Proverb
If you offend, then ask for a pardon; if offended forgive.
African Proverb
Even as the archer loves the arrow that flies, so too he loves the bow that remains constant in his hands.
Nigerian Proverb
The only time you will see a quiet snake is when it has swallowed another snake.
Kenyan Proverb
A stranger does not skin a sheep that is paid as a fine at a chief’s court.
African Proverb
A healthy person who keeps begging for food is an insult to a generous farmer.
Ghanaian Proverb
He who burns down his house is aware why ashes cost a fortune.
African Proverb
Anyone who urinates in a stream should be warned because any of his relatives may drink from the water.
Kenyan Proverb
When the roots of a majestic tree begin to decay, it spreads death to the branches.
Nigerian proverb
Rain beats the leopard’s skin but it does not wash out the spots.
African Proverb
A doctor who invoked a storm on his people cannot prevent his own house from destruction.
Nigerian Proverb
Do not blame God for creating the tiger, just thank Him for not giving it wings.
Ethiopian Proverb
Knowledge without wisdom is just like water in the sand.
Guinean Proverb
He who knows not one thing knows another.
African Proverb
If you pick up one end of a stick, you also pick up the other.
Ethiopian Proverb
He who’s destined for power does not have to fight for it.
Ugandan Proverb
No matter how much the world changes, cats will never lay eggs.
Kenyan Proverb
The day before yesterday and yesterday aren’t the same as today.
Kenyan Proverb
When the village chief himself goes around inviting people to a meeting, know there is something wrong with the system.
Malawian Proverb
Make some money but don’t let money make you.
Tanzanian Proverb
If your only tool is a hammer, you will see every problem as a nail.
Gambian Proverb
The earth is a beehive, we all enter by the same door.
African Proverb
If you damage the character of another, you damage your own.
African Proverb
Where there are experts there will be no lack of learners.
Swahili Proverb
When I think of the others’ misfortunes, I forget mine.
Algerian Proverb
If you are building a house and a nail breaks, do you stop building or do you change the nail?
Rwandan Proverb
You always learn a lot more when you lose than when you win.
African Proverb
Madness does not govern a country; discussion does.
African Proverb
The pillar of the world is hope.
Nigerian Proverb
It is better to walk than curse the road.
Senegalese Proverb
If you see that a town respects a calf, then cut the grass and feed it.
Ethiopian Proverb
Between true friends, even water drunk together is sweet enough.
African Proverb
Affairs of the home should not be discussed in the public square.
Kenyan Proverb
Unity is strength, division is weakness.
Swahili Proverb
Telling a secret to an unworthy person is like carrying grain in a bag with a hole in it.
Ethiopian Proverb
Return to old watering holes for more than water; friends and dreams are there to meet you.
African Proverb
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
African Proverb
Milk and honey have different colors, but they share the same house peacefully.
African Proverb
To be without a friend is to be poor indeed.
Tanzanian proverb
In a family, if you have somebody who is troublesome it is the family members who are more worried than the troublesome member.
African Proverb
If relatives help each other, what evil can hurt them?
African Proverb
An army of sheep led by a lion can defeat an army of lions led by a sheep.
Ghanaian Proverb
We have not inherited this land from our ancestors; rather we have borrowed it from our children.
Kenyan Proverb
Show me your friend and I will show you your character.
African Proverb
Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.
Kenyan Proverb
A mother cannot give birth to something bigger than herself.
African Proverb
Dine with a stranger but save your love for your family.
African Proverb
When the shepherd comes home in peace, the milk is sweet.
Ethiopian Proverb
If you think you are too small to make a difference, you haven’t spent the night with a mosquito.
African Proverb
A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.
Kenyan Proverb
How gently glides the married life away, When she who rules still seems but to obey.
Kenyan Proverb
A woman’s polite devotion is her greatest beauty.
African Proverb
If you marry a monkey for his money, the money will go away and the monkey will stay the same.
Egyptian Proverb
She is beautiful; she has love, understands; she respects herself and others; everyone likes loves, and honors her; she is a goddess.
African Proverb
He that has never traveled thinks that his mother is the only good cook in the world.
Kenyan Proverb
When brothers fight to the death, a stranger inherits their father’s estate.
Igbo Proverb
When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground.
African Proverb
However far the stream flows, it never forgets its source.
Nigerian Proverb
If you heal the leg of a person, do not be surprised if they use it to run away.
African Proverb
A family is like a forest, when you are outside it is dense, when you are inside you see that each tree has its place.
African Proverb
Cross the river in a crowd and the crocodile won’t eat you.
African proverb
A diamond does not lose its value due to lack of admiration.
African Proverb
An old woman is always uneasy when dry bones are mentioned in a proverb.
African Proverb
When sleeping women wake, they move mountains!
African Proverb
Though the lion and the antelope happen to live in the same forest, the antelope still has time to grow up.
Ghanaian Proverb
Do not spend the evening in a house where you cannot spend the night.
Ethiopian Proverb
The best way to eat an elephant in your path is to cut him up into little pieces.
African Proverb
Slander by the stream will be heard by the frogs.
Mozambican Proverb
When the right-hand washes the left-hand and the left-hand washes the right-hand, both hands become clean.
Kenyan Proverb
He who beats the drum for the mad man to dance is no better than the mad man himself.
African Proverb
The big game often appears when the hunter has given up the hunt for the day.
African Proverb
The king who shuts his eyes during famine in the land will soon see ancestors.
Nigerian Proverb
You do not teach the paths of the forest to an old gorilla.
Congolese Proverb
Not everyone who chased the zebra caught it, but he who caught it chased it.
South African Proverb
If you are filled with pride, then you will have no room for wisdom.
African Proverb
A bird that flies off the earth and lands on an anthill is still on the ground.
Igbo (Nigerian) Proverb
A spider’s cobweb isn’t only its sleeping spring but also its food trap.
African Proverb
A cutting word is worse than a bowstring, a cut may heal, but the cut of the tongue does not.
African Proverb
When the rhythm of the drumbeat changes, the dance steps must adapt.
Namibian Proverb
When a bitter woman takes over the house, the family she rules is doomed.
African Proverb
If you educate a man, you educate one person. If you educate a woman, you educate a whole family.
African Proverb
If men swear that they want to harm you when you are asleep, you can go to sleep. If women say so, stay awake.
African Proverb
A home without a woman is like a barn without cattle.
African Proverb
A women’s beauty is not hidden in her face.
African Proverb
The old woman looks after the child to grow its teeth and the young one, in turn, looks after the old woman when she loses her teeth.
Akan Proverb
Only a fool tests the depth of a river with both feet.
African Proverb
How easy it is to defeat people who do not kindle fire for themselves!
Kenyan Proverb
When elephant steps on a trap, no more trap.
African Proverb
When elephants fight, it is the grass who suffers.
African Proverb
Wisdom does not come overnight.
Somali Proverb
If there is character, ugliness becomes beauty; if there is none, beauty becomes ugliness.
Nigerian Proverb
Despite the beauty of the moon, sun, and the stars, the sky also has a threatening thunder and striking lightning.
African Proverb
Until the lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter.
African Proverb
It is only a stupid cow that rejoices at the prospect of being taken to a beautiful abattoir.
Zambian Proverb
Although the snake does not fly it has caught the bird whose home is in the sky.
African Proverb
You must attend to your business with the vendor in the market, and not to the noise of the market.
Beninese Proverb
Ears that do not listen to advice, accompany the head when it is chopped off.
African Proverb
Once you have been tossed by a buffalo, a black ox looks like a buffalo.
Kenyan Proverb
If you close your eyes to facts, you will learn through accidents.
African Proverb
Rain does not fall on one roof alone.
Cameroonian Proverb
No one became wealthy because they broke a holiday and no one who gained weight because they broke a fast.
Ethiopian Proverb
He who thinks he is leading and has no one following him is only taking a walk.
Malawi Proverb
Knowledge is like a garden. If it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested.
African Proverb
A leader in the community without a pot belly is a stingy man.
Nigerian Proverb
Other people’s wisdom prevents the king from being called a fool.
Nigerian Proverb
Where you sit when you are old shows where you stood when you were a youth.
African Proverb
If two wise men always agree, then there is no need for one of them.
Zambian Proverb
Even the best dancer on the stage must retire sometime.
African Proverb
Wood already touched by fire is not hard to set alight.
Akan (Ghanaian) Proverb.
A quarrelsome chief does not hold a village together.
Malawi Proverb
To agree to have dialogue is the beginning of a peaceful resolution.
Somali Proverb
The young bird does not crow until it hears the old ones.
Tswana Proverb
It is the duty of children to wait on elders and not the elders on children.
Kenyan Proverb
Counsel and advice him, if he refuses to listen, then let adversity teach him.
Ethiopian Proverb
It takes a village to raise a child.
African Proverb
Parents give birth to the body of their children, but not always to their characters.
African Proverb
A child is like an axe; even if it hurts you, you still carry it on your shoulder.
Bemba Proverb
When you follow in the path of your father, you learn to walk like him.
Ashanti Proverb
Children are the reward of life.
Congolese Proverb
The laughter of a child lights up the house.
African Proverb
Everybody loves a fool, but nobody wants him for a son.
Ivorian Proverb
The worlds of the elders do not lock all the doors; they leave the right door open.
Zambian Proverb
If a child washes his hands, he could eat with Kings!
African Proverb
The rainmaker who doesn’t know what he’s doing will be found out by the lack of clouds.
Ugandan Proverb
No matter how tall your grandfather was, you have to do your own growing.
Kenyan Proverb
We desire to bequeath two things to our children; the first one is roots, the other one is wings.
Sudanese Proverb
A baby cannot be heard crying in his mother’s womb.
African Proverb
One should punish a child the first time he comes home with a stolen egg. Otherwise, the day he returns home with a stolen ox, it will be too late.
Ethiopian Proverb
By crawling a child learns to stand.
West African Proverb
When you show the moon to a child, it sees only your finger.
Zambian Proverb
A debt between children born by the same mother is paid in a clever way.
Kenyan Proverb
Instruction in youth is like engraving in stone.
Moroccan Proverb
Ugliness with a good character is better than beauty.
Nigerian Proverb
There is no beauty but the beauty of action.
Moroccan Proverb
No matter how beautiful and well-crafted a coffin might look, it will not make anyone wish for death.
African Proverb
The skin of the leopard is beautiful, but not his heart.
Baluba (Congolese) Proverb
Several repeated visits to the mud pit enable the wasp to build its house.
African Proverb
Each trip gives you its own uniqueness.
African Proverb
Tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.
African Proverb
Until the lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter.
African Proverb
In the birds’ court, a cockroach never wins his case.
African Proverb
No matter how many house chores you complete, there are always more to be done.
African Proverb
There is always a winner, even in a monkey’s beauty contest.
West African Proverb
Three things cause sorrow to flee; water, green trees, and a beautiful face.
Moroccan Proverb
The one who loves an unsightly person is the one who makes him beautiful.
African Proverb
The most beautiful fig may contain a worm.
Zulu Proverb
There are many colorful flowers on the path of life, but the prettiest have the sharpest thorns.
African Proverb
Birds sing not because they have answers but because they have songs.
African Proverb.
Anyone who sees beauty and does not look at it will soon be poor.
Yoruba Proverb
Try this bracelet: if it fits you wear it; but if it hurts you, throw it away no matter how much it sparkles.
Kenyan Proverb
It’s those ugly caterpillars that turn into beautiful butterflies after seasons.
African Proverb
Beautiful discourse is rarer than emerald, yet it can be found among the servant girls at the grindstones.
Egyptian Proverb
Judge not your beauty by the number of people who look at you, but rather by the number of people who smile at you.
African Proverb
Love is like a baby: it needs to be treated tenderly.
African Proverb
Do not call to a dog with a whip in your hand.
Zulu Proverb
By the time a fool has learned the game, the players have dispersed.
Ashanti Proverb
It is better to be poor when one is young, rather than becoming poor at old age.
Kenyan Proverb
Even the king of the forest, the lion, protects himself against flies.
Ghanaian Proverb
No person is born great; great people become great when others are sleeping.
African Proverb
A bird does not change its feathers because the weather is bad.
Kenyan Proverb
One who is willing to bathe with cold water doesn’t feel the cold.
Fipa Proverb
It is the crooked wood that can show the best sculptor.
African Proverb
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