Nigerian Proverbs (440 Proverbs)
- Even as the archer loves the arrow that flies, so too he loves the bow that remains constant in his hands.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- However much the world degenerates, man shall never find worms in salt.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- If the load is too heavy for someone to carry, one would be better off to give the load to the ground to carry.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- It is little by little that a bird builds its nest.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- It is the work of one's hands that decides what one eats for dinner - for some it is pounded yam, for others it is pounded plantain or nothing.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- No matter how dark it is, the hand always knows the way to the mouth.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- Rain does not make friends with anybody -- it falls on any person it meets outside.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- The elders of a community are the voice of God.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- The man who remembers others, remembers also his creator.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- Thoughts and dreams are the foundation of our being.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- When a dying man cries, it is not because of where he is going which he knows nothing about, but because of what he wishes he would have done in the world he is leaving behind.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- When it is the turn of a man to become the head of a village, he does not need to diviner to tell him that he is destined to rule.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- Without retaliation, evils would one day become extinct from the world.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- A bird that flies from the ground onto an anthill, does not know that it is still on the ground.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- A fight between grasshoppers is a joy to the crow.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- A man who is trampled to death by an elephant is a man who is blind and deaf.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- A single man can not build a house.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- Anyone who urinates in a stream should be warned because any of his relatives may drink from the water.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- Even when fire has done its very worst, one still has to resort to it.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- If a child is not well-behaved, she is not sent by the mother to go alone to the market to buy things for her.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- If the owner of a calabash calls it a worthless calabash, others will join him to use it to pack rubbish.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- It is not enough to run, one must arrive and know when one has arrived.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- It is usual of a person found guilty in a trial to boast that he would press his case further.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- No one feels the pains that arise from unintended injury.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- Rat no dey born rabbit.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- The elephant and the tiger do not go hunting on the same pasture.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- The mouth that eats pepper is the one that the pepper influences.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- To do one's duty is to eat the prized fruit of honor.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- When a face is sullen it remains there to be seen on its owner.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- When man pikin dey piss, him dey hold something for hand. Woman wey try-am, go piss for her hand.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- You can't use your hand to force the sun to set.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- A bottle of oil warmed over the fire has no means of producing oil by itself.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- A fowl does not forget where it lays it eggs.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- A man who lives alone is either always overworked, or always overfed.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- A snake which escapes fills a basket.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- At a time a cockerel matures, it begins to crow to tell the world the time of day.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- Every kind of love is love, but self-love is supreme among them.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- If a child shoots an arrow that reaches the top of a tall palm tree, then it must be that an elderly person carved the arrow for him.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- If the owner of two adjacent farms cannot be friends, then they must wait till their next reincarnation to be able to make friends.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- It is not only the fox, even the snail arrives at its destination.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- It is what the eyes of one man sees that is described as a boa constrictor.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- Old age does not come in just one day.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- Rather than tell a lie to help a friend, it is better to assist him in paying the fine for his offense.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- The eye of a crow boiled at the new moon brings good luck for the New Year.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- The owl is the wisest of all birds because the more it sees, the less it talks.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- To eat from the same pot with another man, is to take an oath of perpetual friendship with him.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- When a fire starts from the shrine, no precaution can be possible.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- When mother cow is cropping grass, her young one watches her mouth.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- You do not look for a black sheep at night.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- A bush fowls' playground is never appreciably spacious.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- A glorious past is the work of a glorious man.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- A man who lives on the bank of a river does not use spittle to wash his hands.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- A spacious ground is the right place to demonstrate one's skill in wrestling.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- Beauty is not sold and eaten.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- Every river knows where its water would not be soaked up into the earth, and that is where it flows past.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- If a drum is not made, it is the fault of the master; but if the drum is made and is not beaten, then that is the fault of the boys.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- If you don't wish to have rags for clothes, don't play with a dog.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- It is not only the hare, the tortoise arrives also at the destination.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- It is when there is a stampede, that a person with big buttocks knows that he carries a load.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- Once a cock begins to crow, it never again becomes dumb.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- Sinews and big muscles do not make a farmer.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- The fish that can see that its water is getting shallower, cannot be stranded.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- The ox will die but its harness remains.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- To have no enemies is equivalent to wealth.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- When a fowl gets to a new town, it stands on one leg until it knows that it is a town where people stand on their two legs.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- When one is taking a chicken from its roost, the hen is bound to attack with at least its claws.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- You know who you love, but you can't know who loves you.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- A child does not die because the mother's breasts are dry.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- A goat owned by two people sleeps outside.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- A man who walks alone carries a load of palm-fronds.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- A speedy wrestling and a bad fall go hand in hand.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- Beetles that roll balls out of human faeces demand to be hidden away from the rich man, because there is nothing he wouldn't buy.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- Everybody joins to blame or condemn a child who overthrows the pot of soup.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- If a greedy eater is near a patient, such a patient can never survive.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- If you have one finger pointing at somebody, you have three pointing towards yourself.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- It is one person in a street that kills a dog and the street is named a street of dog killers.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- It is wisdom to prevent someone from whom one cannot accept repayment to have access to one's valuable possessions.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- One can only try to get what one can from the head of an elephant, no one ever carries it home.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- Sleep and indolence are not cousins of a good harvest.
(Nigerian Proverb)
- The fly that has no one to advise it follows the corpse into the grave.
(Nigerian Proverb)
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