"A myth always rises to fill a need"

Gloria Naylor

The vulture does not descend without reason.
(A dire effect doesn't come about without a cause.)

For the sake of tomorrow's food, we wash the marmite today.
(If we are careless today, we may suffer the consequences tomorrow. Or, a stitch in time save nine.)

Hunger is felt by a slave and hunger is felt by a king.

As long as you have lice in your clothes, your nails will remain bloody.
(If the cause of something is not removed, the effects will not be removed.)

If you don't want the branch of a tree in your eye, you'd better watch out from a distance.
(Encourages people to look to the future and to act with foresight so that calamity will not suddenly overcome them.)

The cripple never gets killed in a war of which he has been forewarned.
(Recommends the virtues of foresight.)

The moon moves slowly, but it crosses the town.

Being well dressed does not prevent one from being poor.

Learning to sing Arabic songs is a tough job.
(Used before difficult undertakings.)

The child's hand cannot reach the shelf, the elder's hand cannot enter the gourd.
(Encourages cooperation between young and old.)

The horse of one's enemy does not seem tall.
(People tend to underestimate forces that threaten them.)

In time, twenty years hence becomes tomorrow.
(Time passes quickly. Warns against procrastination.)

As long as we live, there is work to be done.
(Encourages the acceptance of responsibility.)

A woman keeps looking for ingredients for her stew until she finds them.
(Recommends industry and perseverance.)

A visitor usually brings a sharp cutter.
(Sometimes a visitor can have better judgement in helping to resolve a problem.)

No elephant finds its trunk too heavy.
(Take responsibility for what you know you must do.)

When you see an arrow that is not going to miss you, throw your chest out and meet it head on.
(Accept the inevitable.)

Seeing is different from being told.
(Experience is the best teacher.)

When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.
(Working together, anything is possible.)

What the child says, he has heard at home.

Wisdom does not come overnight.

By learning you will teach; by teaching you will learn.

Plans are the dreams of the wise.

He who listens, understands.

Teachers can open the door, but you must enter yourself.

It is better to be healthy than the chief of the village.

The rain does not befriend anybody, it falls on anyone it meets outside.

Start early before the floods come.

When the spoon takes a holiday, the spider makes his web in the stew pot.

Thunder is not yet rain.

A child to visitors, but a sage to the people of the village.
(A person should not be judged by her/his physical appearance.)

Where many people urinate, it becomes wet.

The wise with a wink, the fool with a kick.

Every tale can be told in a different way.

An anthill is softened by continual thudding of the feet.
(Success comes through persistent efforts.)