PROVERBS WITH LITERARY MEANINGS IN ENGLISH -- 1601-1761
 
 
 

1601.  If one shoots a gun and shouts loudly, is his voice louder than the noise of the gun?

1602.  The chief who plays with a child does not know when he is told "take your  title staff and throw it in the river."  (He has forfeited respect.)

1603.  One does not give a greedy person (one who is incapable of deferred gratification)  meat to be put aside for later.

1604.  If you keep on putting (knife) in the scabbard and girding your loins (preparing to fight), who will step forward?

1605.  When a divination is made concerning leaving the house, the rat and the lizard put in money.   (Equal contributions)

1606.  Lying down in exhaustion is not difficult but rather getting up early in the morning.

1607.  The bird  that nests on a man's farm loves him.

1608.  The stone is good to put in the fire, but it gives trouble to the one who takes it out.

1609.  If a child does not resemble the mother and does not resemble the father, whom is he going to resemble?

1610.  One who uses a trap to kill a rabbit does not know that it is scarce.  (Does not realize that he is lucky to catch one.)

1611.  Where there are two people whispering together, God is the third.

1612.  The cock crows for the early risers.

1613.  Sleep does not know the one who is in need.  (It comes to all.)

1614.  One who refuses to give wine to the monkey--is he (the monkey) going to buy it on top of the palm wine tree?

1615.  One who plucks all the pears that the tree bears will not be climbing down.   (Must stay a long time.)

1616.  Fire does not cross a stream and kill a toad.  (Everything has its limits.)

1617.  The Igbo bird speaks with an Igbo voice (language); the foreign bird speaks with a foreign voice.  (People do things in their own way.)

1618.  A message does not distress a person except the one that is sent to the spirits.

1619.  When two people must carry a load, if it is good for the one in front it will not be good for the one in back.

1620.  One who sells the female goat does not know when he sold his father's wife.  (Female goats usually kept--would be sold only in desperation.)

1621.  If you hear what someone says, you will know how to reply to it.

1622.  Having a short arm prevents the tortoise from catching the rabbit.

1623.  The old woman says that if she does not defecate in the sand that is dug out for her, will it go to the moon?

1624.  If "smart alec" behavior [duplicity, trickyness, hypocrisy] comes first, friendship goes away.

1625.  If you kill a strong man in a fight arena, his body will be covered with wounds.

1626.  If inferior oil does not produce foam, I sling my foam-collecting bag over my shoulder and start to walk around.

1627.  When the diviner is divining, he says that if he knocks a certain instrument he sees a spirit.

1628.  When a child eats too much it is because he and his mother are eating together.

1629.  If someone's relative says that he has developed a swollen stomach, whether he has a swollen stomach or not, he has it.  [The word of one's relatives is believed.]

1630.  If you put your hand in your mouth, you must   ??   to open it.

1631.  If an adult breaks a pot, he says that he has many of them.

1632.  If your mind is on dancing as well as other things, if you don't lose the dancing, you lose the other things.

1633.  A  person slashes around wildly with a knife; a peaceful person brings the [slashed] things together.

1634.  One who goes to the [place name?] tells what kind of food he will eat.

1635.  With no one shouting, someone starts to ask what happened.

1636.  If you pull hard on a person with hydrocele, he dies in the house.

1637.  If a person with hydrocele ??

1638.  If one says to take out a yam from the fire so he can roast something, what else can he roast that is better than yam?

1639.  There is nothing good lacking in the house, except illness.

1640.  What did he take outside with him, that caused him to go out?

1641.  If you are the brother of a bad dancer, you will be scratching your eyebrow [in embarrassment].

1642.  The chicken says that if someone sweeps it will defecate again, but if someone strikes it hard, it will die.

1643.  One who goes to nzam understands what nzam people say.

1644.  If someone tells you to speak without using proverbs, when he is taking a walk he should not look back.  [If you are going to reject something important, you might as well reject other important things.]

1645.  Proverbs are the sauce with which words are eaten.

1646.  A wrongdoer runs when nothing is running after him.

1647.  If someone leaves his house, he will not present kola.

1648.  One who has two in-laws and answers to in-law on the outside, is he the one who ill-treats his in-law, rather than his in-law ill-treating him?  [Dutiful in-law in name only.]

1649.  The person who knows the dog can put his hand in its mouth.

1650.  One who kills and walks away [free], has killed one who has no brother.  [A brother would have taken revenge.]

1651.  If an elderly herbalist begins to make a sacrifice, it looks as though he put it in the mouths of the spirits.

1652.  When a predator [probably name of an animal] falls into a pit-trap, let the animal that has legs start to run.

1653.  The adult hesitates over the food; the young people scramble for it.

1654.  Talking, talking,  but one does not know what he is talking about.

1655.  If a person does not talk too much, he gets respect.

1656.  When a person keeps on talking about the he-goat that died at their place, it looks as if he is the one who killed it.  (Brings suspicion on him.)

1657.  If a woman is carried by her legs, her mind goes all over her.  [Her thoughts go to a lot of things/places.)

1658.  A speaker of proverbs  said,  if a cow has dysentery, let it still fill one basket.

1659.  Deceit is used to entice someone who has a swollen stomach into the forest.   (They used to isolate such people by sending them into the forest.)

1660.  Brothers say that procrastination is rudeness.

1661.  If a child wears a garment and an adult wears a garment, what is different?  (A child does not need covering.  There needs to be a difference between adult and child.)

1662.  It takes a lot of firewood to make a big fire.  [approximation]

1663.  One can not run away from the world.

1664.  One should take it slowly in catching a monkey.  [Slow and steady wins the race.]

1665.  One does not ask a child if he ate meat, but rather if he has filled his stomach.  [Sufficiency is the important thing.]

1666.  Rome was not built in a day.

1667.  If one comes into the world with bad luck he blames God.

1668.  The leopard is looking for food and the grasshopper jumps into its mouth.

1669.  The scorpion does not know its mother or its father.  [It will sting indiscriminately.]

1670.  Remove the sand from your own eye before that of someone else.

1671.  One who does not walk fast but can step on your toes.

1672.  The ant told the chicken that if it (the chicken) pecked at him, it should not run away.  (Stay and face the music.)

1673.  A hawk and a gun are one and the same.  [Refers to same spelling.]

1674.  Do not kill a snake in darkness because you will not know where its head lies.

1675.  How many times do you kill a leopard in order to have the title of "ogbuagu"?

1676.  The thing that is too much for the tortoise is to stretch out.

1677.  The water in the broken pot is for the dog.

1678.  If conversation does the cooking, it cooks bad food.

1679.  Birds with the same kind of wing gather in the same place.  [Birds of a feather flock together.]

1680.  A near miss does not kill animals.

1681.  The dog does not chew a bone that has been hung around its neck.  [You don't touch something that has been placed in your care.]

1682.  The bird does not forget its nest.

1683.  Those who live in a house that has been built out of glass should not throw stones at others.  [People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.]

1684.  Humans should not cheat spirits, and spirits should not cheat humans.

1685.  If the cat leaves the house, the rat takes over everything.  (When the cat's away, the mouse will play.)

1686.  The duiker says one should climb the hill of the spirits carefully.

1687.  One who asks questions does not lose his way.

1688.  If the last person entering closes the door it is not malice.

1689.  One who eats with the devil should use a long spoon.

1690.  For one to treat others as he treats himself is a good thing.

1691.  When a cheater is cheating his own things are lost.

1692.  No one will say that his mother's soup is not tasty.

1693.  Anyone who eats alone fights alone.  (He does not share.)

1694.  One on whose chest people chew and spit chews and spits in the others' eyes.

1695.  Many are called but few are chosen.

1696.  Whatever a person's capacities are, that is how many headaches he will have.

1697.  Death does not recognize the chief.

1698.  Who exceeds the greater public?

1699.  There are many ways to kill a rat.

1700.  One who has died does not become emaciated.

1701.  By their fruits you shall know them.

1702.  One should not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself.

1703.  The chief who doesn't know what to say says that his friend has said what he would have said.

1704.  If a leg steps on feces it looks for the outside.  (Goes outside to clean it.)

1705.  Dog says that one who knows that he is going to give him food should place it on the ground.

1706.  The day the lizard wears clothes she fails to nurse her children.

1707.  Guineafowl says that one whose yam the guineafowl eats talks too much about it.

1708.  "Give me, give me" depends on whom you are giving to.

1709.  No wind can carry a little bird away from its nest.

1710.  The small bird filled his stomach and told his god to come and take him.

1711.  If the palm tree falls to the ground, the woman climbs it.

1712.  The he-goat says make a divination of life for him and don't make a divination for friendliness.

1713.  Bad stomach causes eating and telling (talking about it.)

1714.  A foolish fellow doesn't know a dog's laugh.

1715.  The firewood of a town cooks its food.

1716.  If the child eats more breadfruit than I (out of greed), they will fry goat's feces for him to eat (fill him up on it).

1717.  Whenever someone wakes up, that becomes his morning.

1718.  The hand does not stay heavy and reach the child's mouth.  (Heavy hand no excuse for not feeding child.)

1719.  One who kills a snake is saving his life and the snake is also saving its own.

1720.  Where a runner reaches, the walker still reaches.

1721.  The hawk does not carry off tortoises.

1722.  You don't go empty-handed when you see the child's first tooth.  (Custom is to bring a gift.)

1723.  The earth is never full (satisfied).  (Earth eats and makes mouth as though it has had nothing.

1724.  Spider says that what he uses to do his art is in his bottom.

1725.  Chicken says his mouth is good for blowing the flute but his god does not allow it.

1726.  Trading on stones in the market is good but who is going to do the carrying?

1727.  The snake says that but for his eyes, people would have used him to tie up firewood.

1728.  One does not invite a deaf person to a secret conference.  (Must shout to make him hear.)

1729.  The support (fire-stand) does not make the fire.

1730.  A person's eye is his own property.

1731.  When the chicken pecks into a file of soldier ants, it should not run away.  (Stay and face the trouble you started. The ants get under the chicken's feathers.)

1732.  A person should not act like a child when he kills an animal.  (Wait for a serving.)

1733.  The hand that touches the ground (farm work) does not return in vain.

1734.  I'm listening and agreeing and using my head (senses) to follow it (think about it).

1735.  If I jump over a barrier empty-handed (unaided), it looks like something I've used medicine (charm) for.

1736.  The grasshopper that the world gave answers to something trampled by an elephant.  (Worthless--gift of no value.)

1737.  The thing that is sweetest to the dog is in its tail.  (Sexual reference.)

1738.  The chief who claims to exceed the vulture (in associating with diabolical things) should say which spirit crowned him (gave him his chieftaincy title).

1739.  Chicken says that if he started to knock himself on the ground as many times as his children have died, he would have no feathers left on his body.

1740.  The dog says that it is good to answer a call.

1741.  One who leads a friend to a place where the road splits three ways and waves his hand in the three directions--is he telling him to go home or stay there?

1742.  One who hunts snakes is hunting something to lick (dialect); if he kills the snake, he drinks hot liquid (snake soup); if the snake bites him, he drinks medicine.

1743.  The mosquito says that fighting and getting away is the essence of the fight (the real fight).

1744.  If smartness exceeds its boundary its beauty is defiled.

1745.  If one sharpens the arrow he is going to use to kill a bird, the bird prepares the wings he will use to fly away.

1746.  One who has been judged as the guilty party picks up other people's trash.

1747.  The thoughts a man was thinking before he killed a person, he did not think about in just one night.

1748.  One expects a dried-up tree to fall, but a living one falls.

1749.  The snake that swallows a crab will be worried.

1750.   One who pounds food fights the lumps of fufu for his friends.  (He wants the fufu to be smooth for them.)

1751.  The cow that is owned by the community sleeps in the forest.

1752.  It does not happen that the first child does not walk when the second one starts to run.  (Things in proper sequence.)

1753.  If one is not very aggressive (like a mad person) he will not get the dowry of his sister.

1754.  The money says that he cannot throw away his child unless the child is rotten (dead).

1755.  One who has troubles of his own says that he should be invited to hear other people's troubles.

1756.  One who was not given any beef says that it was tough.

1757.  The worm said that if he did not know the deceit of the oil palm seed, at least he knew that it ripened at the bottom (inside) part.

1758.  If the flute breaks, the flutist puts the flute in the bag.

1759.  The chicken says that it knows how to gather snails but it has no one to hold the basket for him.

1760.  When ashes cover the fire it looks as though it has been extinguished.

1761.  The fat a person acquires all in one day is really (the disease of) a swollen stomach.
 
 

-- BACK TO IGBO PROVERBS INDEX PAGE --