Liberian Proverbs
Liberian Literary Magazine
Liberian Proverbs
1 . The fowl digs out the blade that kills it . The chicken is noted for digging ; it digs all day long and just about anywhere , it can penetrate . Normally , inquisitive children are warned using this proverb . The lesson they try to teach them is that it is not good to dig into things that are not of one ’ s concern . Having an inquiring mind is good but to go poking in other people ’ s business is not . This could lead to one ’ s own demise .
2 . The friend of a fool is a fool . We say that birds of the same fly together . A foolish person keeps company with others that thinks like him . They think alike and are easily able to form a bond of friendship . It is then logical to see why a fool will befriend another foolish person . For one to think that all one ’ s friends are fools and one is not , is foolish .
3 . The friend of a wise person is another wise person . This is the quite opposite of the parable about a fool ’ s friends being fools . A wise person seeks otherwise people to befriend and learn from ; this enriches their knowledge . It pays to be friends of wise people .
4 . The hand of the young does not reach to the high shelf ; but that of the elder does . Again , we see experience and respect interplaying . There are many things the young may not know or be able to do but the elders can easily do because of their knowledge and experience . Thus , it serves us well to render them their respect .
5 . The heart has no bone in it . Our hearts are fragile and as such , we should treat it carefully . Some people do not care for others and they treat them like trash . They break their hearts , forgetting that it contains no literal bones to resist such fall / hurt .
6 . The hunter does not rub himself in oil and lie by the fire to sleep . If a problem is so obvious , it is unwise to go looking for it . The smart thing to do would be to avoid it . The potential of causing a trouble is enough to dissuade a wise person . In this case , the hunter knows the risk of catching on fire is high if he went to sleep in the forest right next to a fire . Especially if he has rubbed oil on him .
Promoting Liberian Literature , Arts and Culture
Excerpted from The Elder ’ s Wisdom
7 . The hen comes from the egg and the egg comes from the hen . The intent here is not to solve the problem of which comes before the other-the hen or the egg . It serves to show a connection . If there is one , then there must be the other . It is a classic example of the circular nature of some things in life . Alternatively , it could mean that a hen lays an egg , which in turn , turns into a hen . When used in regards to behavior , it means one should expect a child to manifest characters of its mother .
8 . The house of a person we love is never far . We are not referring to literal distance here . When we love people , we find every time to spend it with them , thus , their home is never far from us . The frequency of our visits neglects the actual distance .
9 . The hunter does not rub himself in oil and lie by the fire to sleep . If a problem is so obvious , it is unwise to go looking for it . The smart thing to do would be to avoid it . The potential of causing a trouble is enough to dissuade a wise person . In this case , the hunter knows the risk of catching on fire is high if he went to sleep in the forest right next to a fire . Especially if he has rubbed oil on him .
10 . The hunter in pursuit of an elephant does not stop to throw stones at birds . A wise person knows how to keep his / her focus . There are many things in life to distract us but if we keep our minds set to our task , we shall succeed . Imagine the irony here . The possibility of catching a large elephant is closing in , and then one loses focus and starts hunting a bird . The gains of the first action are far in excess of the second . Only a fool would risk losing an elephant for a bird ; no matter how big the bird is it will never be bigger than an even a baby elephant .
11 . The hyena does not forget where it has hidden its kill . The things that are important to us , we keep them close to our hearts . When the hyena hides its food , it must remember the location for when it needs it later otherwise it will starve . Similarly , a child does not forget its home . Its home is where food is .
12 . The law is like a biscuit ( cracker ).
48