African Proverbs Translated From Swahili to English:

* A chicken's prayer doesn't affect a hawk.

* The way a donkey expresses gratitude is by giving someone a bunch of kicks.

* An envious person requires no reason to practice envy.

* It's always good to save or invest for the future.

* Hurry; haste has no blessing.

* The water pot presses upon the small circular pad.

* Effort will not counter faith.

* The hen with baby chicks doesn't swallow the worm.

* When elephants fight the grass gets hurt.

* I pointed out to you the stars and all you saw was the tip of my finger.

* It is only a male elephant that can save another one from a pit.

* A deaf ear is followed by death and an ear that listens is followed by blessings.


* He who throws a stone in the market will hit his relative.

* A person who stammers would eventually say "father".

* One takes care of one's own: when a bachelor roasts yam, he shares it with his sheep.

* When a king's palace burns down, the re-built palace is more beautiful.

* A child lacks wisdom, and some say that what is important is that the child does not die; what kills more surely than lack of wisdom?

* You are given some stew and you add water; you must be wiser than the cook.

* One does not enter into the water and then run from the cold.

* One does not fight to save another person's head only to have a kite carry one's own away.

* One does not use a sword to kill a snail.

* One gets bitten by a snake only once.

* Whoever sees mucus in the nose of the king is the one who cleans it.


* No sun sets without its histories.

* A tree is known by its fruit.

* The groin pains in sympathy with the sore.

* You are sharp on one side like a knife.

* The wrong-headed fool, who refuses counsel, will come to grief.

* The lead cow (the one in front) gets whipped the most.

* Go you will find a stone in the road that you can't get over or pass.

* Hope does not kill; I shall live and get what I want one day.