No Body Gives 2 Shits About Your Stick Figure Family

Read our selection of 200 of the best known and inspiring African proverbs below.

What's a proverb?

A proverb is a brief, simple, traditional saying that gives advice based on practical experience, oft in the form of a metaphor or allegory Proverbs are pop in spoken language, and form part of the folklore of a civilisation, passing down the generations.

Many African proverbs reference nature – the world and animals – giving pearls of wisdom through the metaphors of everyday activities and objects. The selection below come up from correct across the African continent – whilst well-nigh of the proverbs are specific to countries or ethnic groups, at that place are a number that are of unknown source, and are simply 'African proverbs'. Read on below for 200 of the nigh inspiring and thought-provoking African proverbs.

"A rooster is not expected to crow for the whole world."

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"A woman is never old when information technology comes to the trip the light fantastic toe she knows."

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"All errors are amendable."

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"Birds sing not because they have answers simply because they have songs"

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"By itch a child learns to stand up."

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"Discord between the powerful is a fortune for the poor."

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"Ears that do not heed to advice, accompany the head when it is chopped off."

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"Even the best dancer on the stage must retire sometime."

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"Family names are like flowers, they flower in clusters."

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"Fear no forest because it is dense."

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"Gilded should be sold to the one who knows the value of it."

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"He who doesn't clean his mouth before breakfast ever complains that the food is sour."

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"He who loves the vase loves likewise what is inside."

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"He who runs after good fortune runs away from peace."

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"If while climbing a tree you insist on going beyond the top, the earth will be waiting for you."

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"If you lot are filled with pride, and so you lot volition take no room for wisdom."

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"If you shut your eyes to facts, you will learn through accidents."

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"Milk and dearest have unlike colors, but they share the same house peacefully."

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"No matter how big a kid is, he cannot deny that he was in one case carried on the back of a adult female."

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"Nobody is born wise."

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"One who causes others misfortune as well teaches them wisdom."

"Pretend you are dead and yous will see who really loves you lot."

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"Rising early on makes the road short."

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"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will get in."

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"The wise create proverbs for fools to learn, not to repeat."

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"To go lost is to acquire the way."

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"What you assistance a child to love tin can be more than important than what you assistance him to learn."

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"What you learn is what you dice with."

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"When a king reigns, information technology is thanks to the people when a river sings, information technology is thank you to the stones."

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"You e'er acquire a lot more when you lot lose than when yous win."

Cameroonian Proverbs

"A human's wealth may be superior to him."

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"Ameliorate footling than too petty."

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"If honey is a sickness, patience is the remedy."

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"Rain does not fall on ane roof lonely. "

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"In that location are no shortcuts to the tiptop of the palm tree."

Congolese Proverbs

"Yous learn how to cutting downward copse by cutting them downwardly."

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"A single bracelet does non jingle."

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"A tree cannot stand without roots."

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"Children are the reward of life."

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"Trivial past little grow the bananas."

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"Love is like a infant: it needs to exist treated tenderly."

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"No matter how full the river, it even so wants to grow."

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"Prepare at present for the solutions of tomorrow."

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"The bee is the doctor of flowers."

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"The friends of our friends are our friends."

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"Those who are absent-minded are e'er incorrect."

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"You do non teach the paths of the forest to an old gorilla."

Ethiopian Proverbs

"Coffee and honey gustation best when hot."

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"Eat when the nutrient is fix speak when the time is right."

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"He who learns, teaches."

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"If you choice up one end of the stick you also selection upward the other."

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"The elephant does non limp when walking on thorns."

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"The fool speaks, the wise human being listens."

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"When a strong human being sends a message, he sends it with a weak man"

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"When the shepherd comes habitation in peace, the milk is sugariness."

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"Where a woman rules, stream run uphill."

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"Where in that location is no shame, there is no honor."

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Ghanaian Proverbs

"Ingratitude is sooner or later fatal to its author."

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"Only a wise person can solve a difficult problem."

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"The skillful mother knows what her children volition eat."

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"Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one private can comprehend information technology."

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"Wisdom is not like money to exist tied upwardly and subconscious."

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"What is bad luck for one man is good luck for some other."

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"When a king has good counselors, his reign is peaceful."

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"When yous follow in the path of your begetter, you learn to walk similar him."

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"By the time the fool has learned the game, the players accept dispersed."

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"He is a fool whose sheep runs away twice."

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"He who cannot trip the light fantastic toe will say, 'The drum is bad!'"

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"A child does not laugh at the ugliness of his mother."

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"All heads are the aforementioned, simply not all thoughts are the same."

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"An ground forces of sheep led by a lion tin defeat an army of lions led by a sheep."

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"If a bullheaded man says he volition throw a stone at you, he probably has his foot on 1."

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"If there were no elephant in the jungle, the buffalo would be a dandy brute."

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"If we put a hammer in every person'southward hand, could they all become blacksmiths?"

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"If an arrow has not entered securely, then its removal is non hard."

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"If you educate a human you lot educate one individual, but if you lot educate a adult female you lot educate a family."

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"It is not the melt'due south fault when the cassava turns out to exist hard and tasteless."

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"One camel does not brand fun of the other camel's hump."

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"1 caput lonely does not go into council"

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"Then many fiddling things makes a man dear a adult female in a big mode."

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"The elders of the village are the boundaries."

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"Those who are born on top of the anthill take a short time to grow tall."

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"When a fish rots, the caput stinks first"

Kenyan Proverbs

"A flea can trouble a lion more than a lion tin trouble a flea."

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"A fully grown tree cannot be bent into a walking stick."

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"A leader who does not accept communication is not a leader."

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"A man who uses strength is afraid of reasoning."

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"All monkeys cannot hang on the same co-operative."

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"An empty pot makes the loudest dissonance."

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"Baboons do not go far from the place of their birth."

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"Practise not allow the belly to make you useless."

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"Don't fight a lion with a stick."

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"Every door has its own key."

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"Glory does not come by calling."

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"He who refuses to obey cannot command."

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"Nonetheless much information technology rains on you, no wild banana tree will abound on your head."

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"It is the abdomen which daily gives thank you."

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"Lonely is one."

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"Ane arrow can knock down an elephant."

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"One whose seeds have non sprouted does not requite up planting."

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"Only a medicine man gets rich past sleeping."

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"Only someone else can scratch your dorsum."

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"Peace is costly just it is worth the expense."

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"Rich people sometimes eat bad food."

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"Teeth do not encounter poverty."

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"The cow that bellows does and so for all cows."

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"The night has ears."

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"The stick in the manus kills the snake."

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"There is not such a thing in the world equally a sheep of many colours."

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"There's no rainy season without mosquitoes."

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"To lead is not to run roughshod over people"

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"Traveling is learning."

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"Unity is the existent thing"

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"We should put out fire while it is even so small."

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"When the food is cooked there is no need to wait before eating it."

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"When the lion cannot observe meat, it eats grass."

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"You lot cannot force water up a colina."

Madagascan Proverbs

"A canoe does non know who the leader is – when information technology turns over anybody gets moisture."

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"A little rain each day volition make full the rivers to inundation."

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"Advice is a stranger; if he's welcome he stays for the nighttime; if non, he leaves the same day."

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"Wealth is like hair in the nose: information technology hurts to exist separated whether from a little or from a lot."

Malawian Proverbs

"Even the fiercest leader in the world is overcome by slumber."

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"He who thinks he is leading and has no one post-obit him is merely taking a walk."

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"Obstinacy does not redeem anyone."

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"The betrothed of good is evil, the betrothed of life is expiry, the matrimonial of love is divorce."

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"The words of the elders become sweet some day."

Mozambican Proverbs

"A snake that you can see does not seize with teeth."

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"An ox shits more than than a hundred mosquitoes "

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"Never ally a woman who has bigger feet than you."

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"No tattoo is made without blood."

Namibian Proverbs

"If you do not have patience you cannot make beer."

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"Leadership does not depend on age."

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"Learning expands great souls."

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"Love is a autocrat who spares no one."

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"'Supposing' doesn't fill the grain handbasket, 'if' doesn't fill the larder."

Nigerian Proverbs

"A bird that flies from the ground onto an anthill does not know that it is withal on the ground."

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"A person who has children does not die."

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"A tree does not move unless at that place is current of air."

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"An intelligent enemy is better than a stupid friend."

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"Being happy is better than beingness king."

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"Even the Niger river must flow around an island."

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"If you damage the character of another, you damage your own."

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"If you think you have someone eating out of your hands, it is a practiced idea to count your fingers."

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"In the moment of crisis, the wise build bridges and the foolish build dams."

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"Piddling by piddling the bird builds its nest."

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"Other people's wisdom prevents the king from being called a fool."

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"The big game often appears when the hunter has given up the chase for the day."

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"The rain does not recognize anyone as a friend, information technology drenches all as."

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"The rhinoceros never dances with the monkey."

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"The roaring panthera leo kills no prey"

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"Time destroys all things."

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"When the female parent caprine animal breaks into the yam store her kid watches her."

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"When your neighbour's horse falls into a pit, you should not rejoice at it, for your own child may fall into it too."

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"Where y'all will sit when you are quondam shows where you stood in youth."

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"Words are sweet, but they never take the place of nutrient."

Senegalese Proverbs

"Haste and bustle tin just comport children with many regrets along the mode."

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"The chameleon changes colour to match the earth, the earth doesn't change color to lucifer the chameleon."

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"The strong do non demand clubs."

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"There can be no peace without understanding."

Somali Proverbs

"A brave man dies in one case, a coward a yard times."

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"A span is repaired only when someone falls into the water."

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"He who does not seize opportunity today, will be unable to seize tomorrow's opportunity."

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"The key to a salubrious torso is a practiced head."

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"Wisdom does non come overnight."

South African Proverbs

"A clever rex is the brother of peace."

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"A crowd can easily overpower a bull."

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"Even an ant tin hurt an elephant."

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"The jungle is stronger than the elephant."

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"The lord's day never sets without fresh news."

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"Copying everyone else all the fourth dimension, the monkey one day cut his throat."

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"What has horns must not be hid in a sack."

Tanzanian Proverbs

"A boat cannot go forwards if each rows his own way."

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"Do not forget what is to be a sailor because of being a captain yourself."

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"If you are filled with pride, and so you volition have no room for wisdom."

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"The humble pay for the mistakes of their leaders."

Ugandan Proverbs

"By trying often, the monkey learns to leap from the tree."

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"He who fears the dominicus volition not become main."

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"He who is destined for power does non have to fight for it."

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"If a leader loves you, he makes sure yous build your house on rock"

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"The chameleon looks in all directions earlier moving"

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"The one nearest to the enemy is the real leader"

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"Water that has been begged for does not quench the thirst."

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"When the powerful sit, they are none the weaker."

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"When there is peace in the country, the chief does not bear a shield."

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"When you befriend a main remember that he sits on a rope."

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"Without a leader, black ants are confused."

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"You cannot climb to the mountain peak without crushing some weeds with your feet"

That's your lot for African proverbs. What practice you think – whatsoever great ones that we're missing? Drop united states a line in the comments section beneath.

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Source: https://nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/literature/african-proverbs/

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