GBUDUGBUDU AND SURUGEDE PROVERBS

1. There is no pond which the sun cannot dry up (Kenya)

2. "Though I am not edible," says the vulture, "yet I nurse my eggs in the branches of a high tree because man is hard to be trusted" (Ghana)

3. To avoid fraud (or since God does not like wickedness), God gave every creature a name (Ghana)

4. To borrow is to spoil friendship (East Africa)

5. To eat much leaves you with a swollen belly (Kenya)

6. To stir (the water in) the pond brings up the mud (S. Africa-Azania)

7. Two friends share the white ant (Uganda)

8. Two male hippos do not stay in the same pond (S. Africa-Azania)

9. We are born from the womb of our mother; we are buried in the womb of the earth (Ethiopia)

10. We do not see God, we only see His works (Ethiopi

11. Wealth is dew (S. Africa-Azania)

12. What God puts in store for someone (or preserves for the poor) never goes rotten (East Africa)

13. When a sweet potato has been thrown into the ash-heap it becomes uneatable (S. Africa-Azania)

14. When the chief limps, all his subjects limp also (S. Africa -Azania)

15. Whenever a person breaks a stick in the forest, let him consider what it would be like, if it were himself that was thus broken (Nigeria)

16. Whoever comes last drinks muddy water (Kenya, Uganda)

17. Wives and oxen have no friends (Kenya)

18. Yam is sweet, but one should eat it in the normal way, lest swallowing chokes him (Ghana)

19. You can trust neither the rainy season sky nor babies' bottoms (Ethiopia)

20. You do not become a chief simply by sitting on a big stool (Ghana)

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African Proverbs on Money, Wealth, Riches and Poverty

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African Proverbs on Beauty

One who plants grapes by the road side, and one who marries a pretty woman, share the same problem. ~Ethiopian Proverb Beautiful from behind, ugly in front. ~Uganda Proverb The skin of the leopard is beautiful, but not his heart. ~Baluba proverb Ugliness with a good character is better than beauty. ~Nigerian Proverb A beautiful one hurts the heart. ~African Proverb Anyone who sees beauty and does not look at it will soon be poor. ~Yoruba Proverb The surface of the water is beautiful, but it is no good to sleep on. ~Ghanaian Proverb If there is character, ugliness becomes beauty; if there is none, beauty becomes ugliness. ~Nigerian Proverb You are beautiful, but learn to work, for you cannot eat your beauty. ~Congolese Proverb The one who loves an unsightly person is the one who makes him beautiful. ~Ganda Proverb Having beauty doesn’t mean understanding the perseverance of marriage. ~African Proverb You are beautiful because of your possessions. ~Baguirmi Proverb Every wom...

African Proverbs on Friendship

To be without a friend is to be poor indeed. ~ Tanzanian proverb Hold a true friend with both hands. ~ African proverb The friends of our friends are our friends. ~ Congolese proverb A friend is someone you share the path with. ~ African proverb Show me your friend and I will show you your character. ~ African proverb Return to old watering holes for more than water; friends and dreams are there to meet you. ~ African proverb Between true friends even water drunk together is sweet enough. ~ African proverb A small house will hold a hundred friends. ~ African proverb A close friend can become a close enemy.~ African proverb Bad friends will prevent you from having good friends. ~ Gabon proverb

AFRICA POEMS AND PROVERBS

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