Proverbs and Aphorisms
A. PROVERBS AND APHORISMS
1. The festival of frogs is always celebrated on water, not on land.
2. Our people say the message does not kill the reader.
3. They say a man with fire in his hand, has no time for pleasantries.
4. He who is responding to the urgent call of nature never knows a bad waterside.
5. Our people say when you are talking under a tree the branches hear too.
6. They say the house that has killed one’s father is always passed with running footsteps.
7. Our people say a man does not beat his chest before he in-law.
8. A man is never buried outside his roots, away from his father's grave.
9. The cock says that if it had not learnt to crow, it would not have made a feast for the late night traveler.
10. Our people say he who throws a palmful of ash receives it back.
11. The drum beaten by the wind is danced to by all trees in the bush not even the mighty iroko can refuse to dance.
12. They say if the necklace is not long enough for the neck, you use it for the wrist.
13. My people, they say, the toad does not jump in the daytime for nothing.
14. Your world may have changed. But we still have our ways, our customs and our traditions ignore them and you live like a reed in the tide.
15. It is the teeth which the dog plays with a man it uses against him when there is trouble.
16. The knowledge of the word is only to be acquired in the word and not in a closet.
17. An injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.
18. They say no sober man dances along the road, unless he is mad.
19. A fly that accepts to walk into the house of a spider to play never lives to see another day.
20. Wisdom locked in the heart does not win a lawsuit.
21. It is always easy to begin a war, but it is very difficult to stop anyway, because its beginning and its end are not under the control of the same person.
22. Not every bird can follow the vulture to perch in the market place.
23. The woman who is leaving her husband is recognized by the way she dresses to watch the eyes of prospective suitors; and the frequency with which she strolls around the town and changes her clothes.
24. He who shakes a coconut shakes himself.
25. The blacksmith forges only that for which he goes to the workshop.
26. The death that the cripple hears never kills him.
27. He who guards his mouth preserves his life.
28. The wise son hears his father’s advice. And our elders say advice is like medicine.
29. They say no matter how big the head is the neck never tires of carrying it.
30. Words no matter how bad they are do not burst the eardrums.
31. A man whose house is in flames does not have time to chase rats.
32. He who points a finger at a person has three fingers pointing in his own direction.
33. Our people say, when a blind man tells a person "you will see", beware he may be standing on a stone and he has the services of his walking stick.
34. He who beats the drum for the downfall of an innocent never never beats it to the hearing of others.
35. If the fish had learnt to shut its mouth, the hook would never have caught it.
36. When the snake rattles you know it is just a rattle, not a bite.
37. They say he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day.
38. Our people say the fruit you look for on top of a tree, if you see it under the tree you pick it.
39. A man with hot food in his mouth has no time for talks.
40. Words are like the wind. no one can predict the direction.
41. If you want to befriend a dog then you must have palm oil at its disposal always.
42. Our people say that which is safely in the stomach can never be divided.
43. The chicken, the duck, the dog, the goat and the sheep all belong to different families. They all have their differences. But.. but.. when it rains, they all seek shelter under the same roof in place.
44. The crab might quarrel with the scorpion for intruding into the privacy of its hole. But they learn to live in harmony thereafter.
SOURCE: Barclays Ayakoroma's A Matter Of Honour, PH:Dee-Goldfinger Publishers, 1997
B. PROVERBS AND APHORISMS
1. When a lizard nods its head, it does not mean that all is well.
2. It is the needless hen that turns her back to the wind.
3. The egret refused to be the king because that status would prevent it from pecking at crayfish at the sand bank, as that does not befit a king.
4. The goat says the mouth which does not chew smells.
5. The face does not quarrel with the nose which gives it beauty.
6. It is a fool who does not recognize the strength of the enemy.
7. He who pours water in his compound will always step on a wet ground.
8. Wisdom is like grey hairs that money cannot buy.
9. The thing that happens in the house of dogs, happens also in the house of goats.
10. The baby cobra is never free of venom.
11. If you play with puppy, it shows your nakedness to the world.
12. Two rams cannot drink from one pot at the same time.
13. Once you have sold your fish at the market, you can't expect to have them back and keep the money.
14. Our people say if the fowl leaves home at dawn, it will not miss its way when going to roots.
15. Our people say, he who has not secured a place on the floor should not look for a mat.
16. Only the elders of the town know the boundaries of the land.
17. The hen says, the duck is too dirty to touch her. it is when the wind blows that we see her anus.
18. It is the teeth with which the dog plays with its babies that it uses against its enemies.
19. Our people say that when a handshake goes beyond the elbow it has turned to another thing.
20. It is not how you drink water that you drink akpetesi.
21. When a man leases to be a man, he develops hunchback.
22. He who sits on the floor is never driven by the elders.
23. A goat is a goat, and a hen is a hen, even if the rain forces them to take shelter under the same roof.
24. A tree without a hole does not accommodate ants.
25. It is what a man has in mind when he is sober that he emits when he is drunk.
26. A child does not knock his father on the head, just because he is taller than his father.
27. No one cries to bring blood.
28. It is not how you drink water you drink peeper soup.
29. He who is thinking of tying down an alligator should not forget that he will be touched by mud.
30. It is from the pole that the water gets into the canoe slowly.
31. The hippopotamus that is looking for a canoe is really looking for the man.
32. It is the foolish woman who goes under the rain when she is tying only one wrapper.
SOURCE: Barclays Ayakoroma’s Dance On His Grave, Yenagoa: Dee-Goldfinger Publishers, 2002.
C. POPULAR IZON PROVERBS & APHORISMS
1. A child who hides what he is doing from his father will always go to the old man for help when trouble comes.
2. The person, whom the fairy strikes, is always struck on no other place, but the neck.
3. A woman can never be the oldest person in a village any day.
4. When the canoe capsizes, the things are never complete.
5. He, who sees a rough river and tries to cross with a small canoe, should not blame God.
6. He, who has a bad stay in the city, is off.
7. The tongue is only 3 inches, but it can kill a man that is 6ft tall.
8. A sheep that associates with dog will eat dung.
9. A person who has not secured a place on the floor should not look for a mat.
10. It is when the wind blows that we see the anus of a fowl.
11. It is the wrapper the whole town cuts for a man that reaches his waist.
12. A woman with only one wrapper does not go under the rain.
13. A man who thinks everything around his is sweet should remember that bitter leave grow in the bush with oranges.
14. If the singer is a fool, the listener is also a fool.
15. The fish that dwells in the waterside of a village never lives to its old age unless it is cunning.
16. No matter how a man cries, he never cries to bring blood.
17. He whose house is on fire does not pursue rat.
18. The tortoise says if it knew that it could ever become an elder, it would have recommended the use of a big cup to serve drinks for the elders.
19. You do not tell a little child to swear not to play with girls.
20. The knife which rejoices when it is cutting what it calls an old sheathe, is indeed destroying its home.
21. To whom nothing is given, of him nothing can be required.
22. The crab may try, but it will never walk straight.
23. Happiness in marriage is a matter of stance.
24. He who has not sat on the marital stool does not know the problems of marriage.
25. If you praise a child today for not killing a grass-cutter, when next he goes out hunting he will kill an antelope.
26. A plantain sucker will not produce fruit before his mother.
27. A cricket with one wing says that it is good to travel early.
28. A kindred that know how to circumcise don’t do it because the knife is sharp.
29. A dry grass dare not challenge fire to a duel.
30. It is shame for the mother of a squirrel to cook without palm oil.
31. Who would have believed that the pestle can beat the mortar.
32. One does not protect another's head in such a manner as to allow the hawk to lift one's own off one's shoulder.
33. A dog will always recognize its owner even when he is angry.
34. When elders are in the market place, the head of a child on his mother's back is not allowed to droop.
35. A wise fish knows that a beautiful worm that looks so easy to swallow has a sharp hook attached to it.
36. Whoever does not spread flour to dry will not be afraid of an approaching rain.
37. A house for which we use spittle to mix its mortar will collapse during a mist.
38. The death that will kill a man begins as an appetite.
39. Death has no business on a deserted house. He who has nothing loses nothing.
40. The man who lends one cloth tells one where to sit.
41. The man chews the stick acceptable to it.
42. The bachelor who complains of poor turnout at the market should be asked how many of his wives and children are attending.
43. Neither whose reign brings peace and stability nor the one whose reign brings turbulence would be forgotten.
44. The palm wine tree that is afraid of the calabash should stop producing palm wine.
45. The man who jumps from the ground onto an anti-hill is still on the ground.
46. One who has no mother should not sustain a sore on the back.
47. The vulture says he is happy whenever his wife is pregnant. If she bears the child alive good; and if she delivers a dead child, it is also good because meat will be provided.
48. Money is a stranger; it only stays with those who take good care of it.
49. If it were not for the ears, the heart will never be angry.
50. When there is no more rats to be had in the bush the fetid hedgehog becomes welcome.
51. When a blind man dies, he is not stranger to the spirit.
52. No body asks from where a married woman gets her pregnancy.
53. The wild cat does not roam the streets in day time; a man of good breeding does not roam the night.
54. The cock belongs to one person but its crow is for the whole neighbourhood.
55. The dog that opens its eyes while chewing bones invites pepper into its eyes.
56. The world is like a dancing masquerade. If you want to see it well, you do not stand is one place.
57. The rat says he has no quarrel with its killer but with the one who informs on its whereabouts.
58. The tongue is a good thing as far as it doesn’t belong to a woman.
59. Any man may be in good spirits and good temper when he's well dressed.
60. To whom nothing is given, of him nothing can be required.
61. The crab may try but it will never walk straight.
62. Happiness in marriage is a matter of chance.
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Last Modified: 14-Sep-04
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