200+ Best African Proverbs And Wise Sayings

When darkness engulfs our lives, proverbs work like a beacon of light. While wise sayings are common in every culture, African Proverbs are famous worldwide. They convey wisdom, truth, discovery of ideas and important life lessons.

Whether you are – stuck with decision-making, troubled with work or relationships issues, trying to make peace with your past, preparing to let go something unpleasant or welcome new changes, seeking answers for life’s deepest questions or looking for a heavy dose of motivation to fight challenges – these African proverbs will change your life.

This post brings to you African proverbs on wisdom, learning, peace, leadership, unity, community, money, rich, poverty, wealth, beauty, love, marriage, food, patience, friendship, and family. These proverbs have the power to enlighten your thinking, change your perspective towards life and inspire you to greatness.

Here you go…..

African Proverbs on Wisdom

1. Wisdom is wealth. ~ Swahili

2. Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one individual can embrace it. ~ Akan proverb

3. The fool speaks, the wise man listens. ~ Ethiopian proverb

4. Wisdom does not come overnight. ~ Somali proverb

5. The heart of the wise man lies quiet like limpid water. ~ Cameroon proverb

6. Wisdom is like fire. People take it from others. ~ Hema (DRC) proverb

7. Only a wise person can solve a difficult problem. ~ Akan proverb

8. Knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand. ~ Guinean proverb

9. In the moment of crisis, the wise build bridges, and the foolish build dams. ~ Nigerian proverb

10. If you are filled with pride, then you will have no room for wisdom. ~ African proverb

11. A wise person will always find a way. ~ Tanzanian proverb

12. Nobody is born wise. ~ African proverb

13. A man who uses force is afraid of reasoning. ~ Kenyan proverb

14. Wisdom is not like money to be tied up and hidden. ~ Akan proverb

African Proverbs on Learning

15. Learning expands great souls. ~ Namibian proverb

16. To get lost is to learn the way. ~ African proverb

17. By crawling a child learns to stand. ~ African proverb

18. If you close your eyes to facts, you will learn through accidents. ~ African proverb

19. He who learns, teaches. ~ Ethiopian proverb

20. Wealth, if you use it, comes to an end; learning, if you use it, increases. ~ Swahili proverb

21. By trying often, the monkey learns to jump from the tree. ~ Buganda proverb

22. You always learn a lot more when you lose than when you win. ~ African proverb

23. You learn how to cut down trees by cutting them down. ~ Bateke proverb

24. The wise create proverbs for fools to learn, not to repeat. ~ African proverb

25. What you help a child to love can be more important than what you help him to learn. ~ African proverb

26. By the time the fool has learned the game, the players have dispersed. ~ Ashanti proverb

27. One who causes others misfortune also teaches them wisdom. ~ African proverb

28. You do not teach the paths of the forest to an old gorilla. ~ Congolese proverb

29. What you learn is what you die with. ~ African proverb

30. Instruction in youth is like engraving in stone. ~ Moroccan Proverb

31. When you follow in the path of your father, you learn to walk like him. ~ Ashanti Proverb

32. Ears that do not listen to advice, accompany the head when it is chopped off. ~ African Proverb

33. Advice is a stranger; if he’s welcome he stays for the night; if not, he leaves the same day. ~ Malagasy Proverb

34. Traveling is learning. ~ Kenyan Proverb

35. Where there are experts there will be no lack of learners. ~ Swahili Proverb

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