Top African Proverbs & Inspiring Quotes from Famous Africans
Top African Proverbs
“Wisdom is wealth.” —Swahili
“Nobody is born wise.” —African proverb
“Wisdom does not come overnight.” —Somali proverb
“The fool speaks, the wise man listens.” —Ethiopian proverb
“A wise person will always find a way.” —Tanzanian proverb
“Only a wise person can solve a difficult problem.” —Akan proverb
“Knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand.” —Guinean proverb
“A man who uses force is afraid of reasoning.” —Kenyan proverb
“Wisdom is like fire. People take it from others.” —Hema (DRC) proverb
“The heart of the wise man lies quiet like limpid water.” —Cameroon proverb
“Wisdom is not like money to be tied up and hidden.” —Akan proverb
“Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one individual can embrace it.” —Akan proverb
“In the moment of crisis, the wise build bridges and the foolish build dams.” —Nigerian proverb
“If you are filled with pride, then you will have no room for wisdom.” —African proverb
African Quotes on Learning
“Traveling is learning.” —Kenyan Proverb
“Learning expands great souls.” —Namibian proverb
“He who learns, teaches.” —Ethiopian proverb
“By crawling a child learns to stand.” —African proverb
“To get lost is to learn the way.” —African proverb
“What you learn is what you die with.” —African proverb
“Instruction in youth is like engraving in stone.” —Moroccan Proverb
“One who causes others misfortune also teaches them wisdom.” —African proverb
“By trying often, the monkey learns to jump from the tree.” —Buganda proverb
“You learn how to cut down trees by cutting them down.” —Bateke proverb
“The wise create proverbs for fools to learn, not to repeat.” —African proverb
“Where there are experts there will be no lack of learners.” —Swahili Proverb
“If you close your eyes to facts, you will learn through accidents.” —African proverb
“You always learn a lot more when you lose than when you win.” —African proverb
“By the time the fool has learned the game, the players have dispersed.” —Ashanti proverb
“You do not teach the paths of the forest to an old gorilla.” —Congolese proverb
“Wealth, if you use it, comes to an end; learning, if you use it, increases.” —Swahili proverb
“When you follow in the path of your father, you learn to walk like him.” —Ashanti Proverb
“Ears that do not listen to advice, accompany the head when it is chopped off.” —African Proverb
“What you help a child to love can be more important than what you help him to learn.” —African proverb
“Advice is a stranger; if he’s welcome he stays for the night; if not, he leaves the same day.” —Malagasy Proverb
African proverbs on Peace and Leadership
“War has no eyes.” —Swahili saying
“Peace does not make a good ruler.” —Botswana proverb
“There can be no peace without understanding.” —Senegalese proverb
“Without a leader, black ants are confused.” —Ugandan proverb
“He who refuses to obey cannot command.” —Kenyan proverb
“Where a woman rules, streams run uphill.” —Ethiopian proverb
“A large chair does not make a king.” —Sudanese proverb
“Peace is costly but it is worth the expense.” —Kenyan proverb
“He who fears the sun will not become chief.” —Ugandan proverb
“Because he lost his reputation, he lost a kingdom.” —Ethiopian proverb
“When a king has good counselors, his reign is peaceful.” —Ashanti proverb
“A fight between grasshoppers is a joy to the crow.” —Lesotho proverb
“When two elephants fight, it is the grass that gets trampled.” —Swahili saying
“A leader who does not take advice is not a leader.” —Kenyan proverb
“If you can’t resolve your problems in peace, you can’t solve war.” —Somalian proverb
“Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.” —West African proverb
“Milk and honey have different colors, but they share the same house peacefully.” —African proverb
“He who is destined for power does not have to fight for it.” —Ugandan proverb
“When there is peace in the country, the chief does not carry a shield.” —Ugandan proverb
“Do not forget what is to be a sailor because of being a captain yourself.” —Tanzanian proverb
“He who thinks he is leading and has no one following him is only taking a walk.” —Malawian proverb
“An army of sheep led by a lion can defeat an army of lions led by a sheep.” —Ghanaian proverb
“If the cockroach wants to rule over the chicken, then it must hire the fox as a body-guard.” —Sierra Leone proverb
African Quotes on Unity and Community
“Unity is strength, division is weakness.” —Swahili proverb
“Sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.” —Bondei proverb
“Many hands make light work.” —Haya (Tanzania) proverb
“A single bracelet does not jingle.” —Congolese proverb
“Where there are many, nothing goes wrong.” —Swahili proverb
“It takes a village to raise a child.” —African proverb
“Two ants do not fail to pull one grasshopper.” —Tanzanian proverb
“A single stick may smoke, but it will not burn.” —African proverb
“Cross the river in a crowd and the crocodile won’t eat you.” —African proverb
African Quotes on Family
“Children are the reward of life.” —African proverb
“A united family eats from the same plate.” —Baganda proverb
“Brothers love each other when they are equally rich.” —African proverb
“He who earns calamity, eats it with his family.” —African proverb
“If I am in harmony with my family, that’s success.” —Ute proverb
“There is no fool who is disowned by his family.” —African proverb
“Home affairs are not talked about on the public square.” —African proverb
“If relatives help each other, what evil can hurt them?” —African proverb
“Dine with a stranger but save your love for your family.” —Ethiopian proverb
“When brothers fight to the death, a stranger inherits their father’s estate.” —Ibo proverb
“A family tie is like a tree, it can bend but it cannot break.” —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
“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 (Ghana, Ivory Coast) proverb
African Proverbs on Friendship
“Poverty is slavery.” —Somalia
“By labor comes wealth.” —Yoruba
“One cannot count on riches.” —Somalia
“The rich are always complaining.” —Zulu
“One cannot count on riches.” —Somalia
“Knowledge is better than riches.” —Cameroon
“He who loves money must labor.” —Mauritania
“With wealth one wins a woman.” —Uganda
“Much wealth brings many enemies. – Swahili
“Greed loses what it has gained.” —Africa
“African Proverbs on Money, Wealth, Riches and Poverty
“One cannot both feast and become rich.” —Ashanti
“Money is sharper than the sword. – Ashanti
“A real family eats the same cornmeal.” —Bayombe
“Money is not the medicine against death.” —Ghana
“Hold a true friend with both hands.” —African proverb
“A man’s wealth may be superior to him.” —Cameroon
“The wealth which enslaves the owner isn’t wealth.” —Yoruba
“He who receives a gift does not measure.” —Africa
“What you give you get, ten times over.” —Yoruba
“Wealth diminishes with usage; learning increases with use.” —Nigeria
“Having a good discussion is like having riches.” —Kenya
“The friends of our friends are our friends.” —Congolese proverb
“A small house will hold a hundred friends.” —African proverb
“A close friend can become a close enemy.” —African proverb
“ Make some money but don’t let money make you.” —Tanzania
“A friend is someone you share the path with.” —African proverb
“Bad friends will prevent you from having good friends.” —Gabon proverb
“It is no shame at all to work for money.” —Africa
“You must act as if it is impossible to fail.” —Ashanti
“To be without a friend is to be poor indeed.” —Tanzanian proverb
“Between true friends even water drunk together is sweet enough.” —African proverb
“The poor man and the rich man do not play together.” —Ashanti
“Money can’t talk, yet it can make lies look true.” —South Africa
“You become wise when you begin to run out of money.” —Ghana
“You should not hoard your money and die of hunger. – Ghana
“Wisdom is not like money to be tied up and hidden.” —Akan
“Show me your friend and I will show you your character.” —African proverb
“If your cornfield is far from your house, the birds will eat your corn.” —Congo
“Do not let what you cannot do tear from your hands what you can.” —Ashanti
“If ten cents does not go out, it does not bring in one thousand dollars.” —Ghana
“Return to old watering holes for more than water; friends and dreams are there to meet you.” —African proverb
“Dogs do not actually prefer bones to meat; it is just that no one ever gives them meat.” —Akan
“There is no one who became rich because he broke a holiday, no one became fat because he broke a fast.” —Ethiopia
“Lack of money is lack of friends; if you have money at your disposal, every dog and goat will claim to be related to you.” —Yoruba
African Proverbs on Beauty
“Beautiful from behind, ugly in front.” —Uganda Proverb
“A beautiful one hurts the heart.” —African Proverb
“A beautiful thing is never perfect.” —Egyptian Proverb
“Youth is beauty, even in cattle.” —Egyptian Proverb
“Beauty is not sold and eaten.” —Nigerian Proverb
“You are beautiful because of your possessions.” —Baguirmi Proverb
“Every woman is beautiful until she speaks.” —Zimbabwean Proverb
“A pretty basket does not prevent worries.” —Congolese Proverb
“He who marries a beauty marries trouble.” —Nigerian Proverb
“Roosters’ tail feathers: pretty but always behind.” —Malagasy Proverb
“Patience is the mother of a beautiful child.” —Bantu Proverb
“The most beautiful fig may contain a worm.” —Zulu Proverb
“Beautiful words don’t put porridge in the pot.” —Botswana Proverb
“A woman’s polite devotion is her greatest beauty.” —African Proverb
“Ugliness with a good character is better than beauty.” —Nigerian Proverb
“Having beauty doesn’t mean understanding the perseverance of marriage.” —African Proverb
“There is no beauty but the beauty of action.” —Moroccan Proverb
“She is like a road – pretty, but crooked.” —Cameroonian Proverb
“A pretty face and fine clothes do not make character.” —Congolese Proverb
“The cook does not have to be a beautiful woman.” —Shona Proverb
“Dress up a stick and it’ll be a beautiful bride.” —Egyptian Proverb
“Greatness and beauty do not belong to the gods alone.” —Nigerian Proverb
“The skin of the leopard is beautiful, but not his heart.” —Baluba proverb
“It’s those ugly caterpillars that turn into beautiful butterflies after seasons.” —African Proverb
“A chicken with beautiful plumage does not sit in a corner.” —African Proverb
“There is always a winner even in a monkey’s beauty contest.” —African Proverb
“Even the colors of a chameleon are for survival not beauty.” —African Proverb
“A woman who pursues a man for sex loses her spiritual beauty.” —African Proverb
“You are beautiful, but learn to work, for you cannot eat your beauty.” —Congolese Proverb
“Three things cause sorrow to flee; water, green trees, and a beautiful face.” —Moroccan Proverb
“Anyone who sees beauty and does not look at it will soon be poor.” —Yoruba Proverb
“If there is character, ugliness becomes beauty; if there is none, beauty becomes ugliness.” —Nigerian Proverb
“The one who loves an unsightly person is the one who makes him beautiful.” —Ganda Proverb
“Why they like an ugly person takes long for a beautiful person to know.” —African Proverb
“The surface of the water is beautiful, but it is no good to sleep on.” —Ghanaian Proverb
“The beauty of a woman becomes useless if there is no one to admire it.” —African Proverb
“If you find “Miss This Year” beautiful, then you’ll find “Miss Next Year” even more so.” —Nigerian Proverb
“There are many colorful flowers on the path of life, but the prettiest have the sharpest thorns.” —African Proverb
“Getting only a beautiful woman is like planting a vine on the roadside everyone feeds on it.” —African Proverb
“It is only a stupid cow that rejoices at the prospect of being taken to a beautiful abattoir.” —African Proverb
“An ugly child of your own is more to you than a beautiful one belonging to your neighbor.” —Ganda Proverb
“Beautiful discourse is rarer than emerald.” —yet it can be found among the servant girls at the grindstones.” —Egyptian Proverb
“One who plants grapes by the road side, and one who marries a pretty woman, share the same problem.” —Ethiopian Proverb
“Despite the beauty of the moon, sun and the stars, the sky also has a threatening thunder and striking lightening.” —African Proverb
“When a once-beautiful piece of cloth has turned into rags, no one remembers that it was woven by Ukwa master weavers.” —Igbo 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
“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