- The festival of frogs is always celebrated on water, not on land.
- Our people say the message does not kill the bearer.
- They say a man with fire in his hands, has no time for pleasantries.
- He who is responding to the urgent call of nature never knows a bad waterside.
- Our people say when you are talking under a tree, the branches hear too.
- They say the house that has killed one’s father is always passed with running footsteps.
- Our people say a man does not beat his chest before his in-law.
- A man is never buried outside his roots, away from his father’s grave.
- The cock says that if it had not learnt to crow, it would not have made a feast for the late night traveler.
- Our people say he who throws a palmful of ash receives it back.
- The drum beaten by the wind is danced to by all trees in the bush; not even the mighty iroko can refuse to dance.
- They say if the necklace is not long enough for the neck, you use it for the wrist.
- My people, they say the toad does not jump in the daytime for nothing.
- Your world may have changed. But we still have our ways, our customs and our traditions ignore them and you live like a reed in the tide.
- It is the teeth with which the dog plays with a man it uses against him when there is trouble.
- The knowledge of the world is only to be acquired in the world, and not in a closet.
- An injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.
- They say no sober man dances along the road, unless he is mad.
- A fly that accepts to walk into the house of a spider to play never lives to see another day.
- Wisdom locked in the heart does not win a lawsuit.
- It is always easy to begin a war, but it is very difficult to stop anyway, because its beginning and its end are not under the control of the same person.
- Not every bird can follow the vulture to perch in the market place.
- The woman who is leaving her husband is recognized by the way she dresses to catch the eyes of prospective suitors, and the frequency with which sh
e strolls around the town and changes her clothes. - He who shakes a coconut shakes himself.
- The blacksmith forges only that for which he goes to the workshop.
- The death that the cripple hears never kills him.
- He who guards his mouth preserves his life.
- The wise son hears his father’s advice. And our elders say advice is like medicine.
- They say no matter how big the head is, the neck never tires of carrying it.
- Words, no matter how bad they are, do not burst the eardrums.
- A man whose house is in flames does not have time to chase rats.
- He who points a finger at a person has three fingers pointing in his own direction.
- Our people say, when a blind man tells a person “you will see,” beware; he may be standing on a stone and he has the services of his walking stick.
- He who beats the drum for the downfall of an innocent never beats it to the hearing of others.
- If the fish had learnt to shut its mouth, the hook would never have caught it.
- When the snake rattles, you know it is just a rattle, not a bite.
- They say he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day.
- Our people say the fruit you look for on top of a tree, if you see it under the tree, you pick it.
- A man with hot food in his mouth has no time for talks.
- Words are like the wind, no one can predict the direction.
- If you want to befriend a dog, then you must have palm oil at its disposal always.
- Our people say that which is safely in the stomach can never be divided.
- The chicken, the duck, the dog, the goat, and the sheep all belong to different families. They all have their differences. But when it rains, they all seek shelter under the same roof in peace.
- The crab might quarrel with the scorpion for intruding into the privacy of its hole; but they learn to live in harmony thereafter.
SOURCE: Ayakoroma, Barclays. A Matter of Honour. Yenagoa: Dee-Goldfinger Publishers, 2000