Various - The Journal of Negro History, Volume 1, January 1916

For convenience of the reader an effort has been made to arrange these sententious sayings under general subjects. These selected by no means exhaust the mine of African proverbial lore but are only a few nuggets that suggest the Negro's power to infer and generalize and to express himself in a graphic and concise way relative to life as he observed and experienced it. 79

Anger

Anger does nobody good, but patience is the father of kindness.

Assistance

Not to aid one in distress is to kill him in your heart.

Birth

Birth does not differ from birth; as the free man was born so was the slave.

In the beginning our Lord created all. With him there is neither slave nor free man, but every one is free.

Boasting

Boasting is not courage. He who boasts much cannot do much. Much gesticulation does not prove courage.

Borrowing

Borrowing is easy but the day of payment is hard.

Chance

He who waits for chance may wait for a year.

Character

Wherever a man goes to dwell his character goes with him. Every man's character is good in his own eyes.

Charity

Charity is the father of sacrifice.

Children

There is no wealth without children. It is the duty of children to wait on elders, not elders on children.

Condemnation

You condemn on hearsay evidence alone, your sins increase.

Contempt

Men despise what they do not understand.

Covetousness

If thou seeketh to obtain by force what our Lord did not give thee, thou wilt not get it.

Danger of Beauty

He who marries a beauty, marries trouble.

Danger of Poverty

Beg help and you will meet with refusals; ask for alms and you will meet with misers.

Danger of Wealth

It is better to be poor and live long than rich and die young.

Disposition

A man's disposition is like a mark in a stone, no one can efface it.

Doing Good

If one does good, God will interpret it to him for good.

Duty to One's Self

Do not repair another man's fence until you have seen to your own.

Effort

You cannot kill game by looking at it.

Evil Doer

The evil doer is ever anxious.

Experience

We begin by being foolish and we become wise by experience.

Familiarity

Familiarity induces contempt, but distance secures respect.

Faults

Faults are like a hill, you stand on your own and you talk about those of other people.

Faults of the Rich

If thou art poor, do not make a rich man thy friend.

If thou goest to a foreign country, do not alight at a rich man's house.

Favor of the Great

To love the king is not bad, but a king who loves you is better.

Folly

After a foolish action comes remorse.

Forethought

A person prepared beforehand is better than after reflection.

The day on which one starts is not the time to commence one's preparation.

Forgiveness

He who forgives ends the quarrel.

Friends

There are three friends in this world–courage, sense, and insight.

Friendship

Hold a true friend with both of your hands.

Future

Thou knowest the past but not the future. As to what is future, even a bird with a long neck can not see it, but God only.

Gossip

Gossip is unbecoming an elder.

Gentleness

A matter dealt with gently is sure to prosper, but a matter dealt with violently causes vexation.

Hate

There is no medicine for hate.

Heart

It is the heart that carries one to heaven.

Heathen

He is a heathen who bears malice.

Hope

Hope is the pillar of the world.

Ignorance

Lack of knowledge is darker than night.

An ignorant man is always a slave.

Whoever works without knowledge works uselessly.

Immortality

Since thou hast no benefactor in this world, thy having one in the next world will be all the more pleasant.

Injury

He who injures another brings injury upon himself.

Laziness

Laziness lends assistance to fatigue.

A lazy man looks for light employment.

Love

One does not love another if one does not accept anything from him.

If you love the children of others, you will love your own even better.

Meekness

If one knows thee not or a blind man scolds thee, do not become angry.

Mother

Him whose mother is no more, distress carries off.

Necessity of Effort

The sieve never sifts meal by itself.

Old Age

There are no charms or medicine against old age.

Opportunity

The dawn does not come twice to wake a man.

Patience

At the bottom of patience there is heaven.

Patience is the best of qualities; he who possesses it possesses all things.

People

Ordinary people are as common as grass, but good people are dearer than the eye.

Politeness

Bowing to a dwarf will not prevent your standing erect again.

"I have forgotten thy name" is better than "I know thee not."

Poverty

A poor man has no friends.

He who has no house has no word in society.

Riches

Property is the prop of life.

A wealthy man always has followers.

Sleep

Sleep has no favorites.

Strife

Strife begets a gentle child.

Sun

The sun is the king of torches.

Trade

Trade is not something imaginary or descriptive, but something real and profitable.

Truth

Lies, however numerous, will be caught by truth when it rises up.

The voice of truth is easily known.

Unselfishness

If you love yourself others will hate you, if you humble yourself others will love you.

Valor

Boasting at home is not valor; parade is not battle; when war comes the valiant will be known.

The fugitive never stops to pick the thorn from his foot.

Wisdom

A man may be born to wealth, but wisdom comes only with length of days.

A man with wisdom is better off than a stupid man with any amount of charms and superstition.

Know thyself better than he who speaks of thee.

Not to know is bad, not to wish to know is worse.

A counsellor who understands proverbs soon sets matters right.

Butterfly

The butterfly that brushes against thorns will tear its wings.

Dog

If the dog is not at home, he barks not.

A heedless dog will not do for the chase.

A lurking dog does not lie in the hyena's lair.

Elephant

He who can not move an ant, and yet tries to move an elephant, shall find out his folly.

The elephant does not find his trunk heavy.

Were no elephant in the jungle, the buffalo would be a great animal.

Fly

If the fly flies, the frog goes not supperless to bed.

Fox

When the fox dies, fowls do not mourn.

Goat

When the goat goes abroad, the sheep must run.

Rat

When the rat laughs at the cat, there is a hole. The rat has not power to call the cat to account. The rat does not go to sleep in the cat's bed.

Wolf

He who goes with the wolf will learn to howl.