GHANA
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Wood already touched by fire is not hard to set alight.
It is the wife who knows her husband.
Only when you have crossed the river can you say the crocodile has a lump on his snout.
If you are in hiding, don't light a fire.
One falsehood spoils a thousand truths.
When a man is wealthy, he may wear an old cloth.
Do not call the forest that shelters you a jungle.
Hunger knows no bounds. It is felt by both a slave and a king.
The moon moves slowly but it crosses the town.
The ruin of a nation begins in the homes of its people.
When the cockerel is drunk, he forgets about the hawk. [Interpretation]
There is no medicine to cure hatred.
It is a bad child who does not take advice.
When a man is coming toward you, you need not say: "Come here."
Even though the old man is strong and hearty, he will not live forever.
When a king has good counselors, his reign is peaceful.
By the time the fool has learned the game, the players have dispersed.
The poor man and the rich man do not play together.
It is the calm and silent water that drowns a man.
When you follow in the path of your father, you learn to walk like him.
When a woman is hungry, she says: "Roast something for the children that they may eat."
What is bad luck for one man is good luck for another.
When the fool is told a proverb, its meaning has to be explained to him.
He who cannot dance will say: "The drum is bad."
One cannot both feast and become rich.
It is no shame at all to work for money.
Money is sharper than a sword.
It is the fool's sheep that break loose twice.
When you are rich, you are hated; when you are poor, you are despised.
It is Mr. Old-Man-Monkey who marries Mrs. Old-Woman-Monkey.
Fire and gunpowder do not sleep together.
Even though we carry gunpowder on our head, we still smoke a pipe.
No one tests the depth of a river with both feet.
Two small antelopes can beat a big one.
When the bag
tears, the shoulders get a rest.
If you want someone more knowledgeable than yourself to identify a bird you
do not first remove the feathers.
No one points out God to a child.
A family is like a forest, when you are outside it is dense, when you are
inside you see that each tree has its own position to occupy.
If all seeds that fall were to grow, then no one could follow the path under
the trees.
Although the snake does not fly it catches the bird whose home is in the sky.
Whatever is destined
to succeed knows no failure.
Proverbs
from the Ewes
Members of this ethnic group can be found in Ghana, Togo, and Benin.
Noted for their cultural diversity, the Ewes constitute a significant proportion
of Ghana's population. This
link provides more information on the Ewe people.
What the cat sees and turns its eyes away from, the dog sees and barks at.
Even though the eye is blind, it still contains sleep.
The stomach has no holiday.
The monkey says that yawning is contagious.
A child who knows how to wash his hands dines with the elders.
In the presence of the head, the knee does not wear a hat.
The antelope says that if you stay at one spot in the forest for far too long, you will become thirsty.
He who tests the depth of a stream with both feet must be prepared to swim. [Interpretation]
The parrot that knows how precious its feathers are does not build its nest by the roadside.
A lizard that knows how to hide grows to become a crocodile. [Interpretation]
If you store saliva in your mouth for too long, it turns into water.
A crab does not beget a bird.
Monkeys play by sizes.
A child must learn to cut only the morsel that is fit for his mouth.
When a bachelor goes to sleep, he does not hide his entire body in the mosquito net.
It is not everybody who is awake when the rain falls at night.
The child who has not traveled anywhere before believes that his mother is the best cook.
If you find no fish, you have to eat bread.
The wasp says
that several regular trips to a mud pit enables it to build a house.
The wealth of the greedy ultimately goes to the community.
Loving someone who does not love you is like loving the rain that falls in
the forest.
Only someone else can scratch your back for you.
The bitter heart eats its owner.
A man who pays respect to the great paves the way for his own greatness.
A proud heart can survive a general failure because such a failure does not
prick its pride.
Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.
If you look at a king's mouth, you will never think that he ever sucked his
mother's breast.
Looking somewhere is better than not to look anywhere at all.
Links
on Ghana
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/kidsweb/world/ghana/index.htm
http://www.ghana-embassy.org/profileofgh.htm
