corpus_with_period.txt

Supposing doesn’t fill the grain basket ‘if’ doesn’t fill the larder.

There are no shortcuts to the top of the palm tree.

All monkeys cannot hang on the same branch.

Those who are absent are always wrong.

God has created lands with lakes and rivers for man to live. And the desert so that he can find his soul.

Do not allow the belly to make you useless.

 

Little by little grow the bananas.

If you overtake a leader, you break your neck.

The big game often appears when the hunter has given up the hunt for the day.

A clever king is the brother of peace.

Do not call to a dog with a whip in your hand.

The blame of the antelope is on the hunter.

Good music goes with good food.

Haste and hurry can only bear children with many regrets along the way.

A fully grown up tree cannot be bent into a walking stick.

 

No matter how full the river, it still wants to grow.

Birds of all kinds will end up landing.

I shall come for the cows after the donkeys have grown horns.

If love is a sickness, patience is the remedy.

 

Other people’s wisdom prevents the king from being called a fool.

Knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand.

Ingratitude is sooner or later fatal to its author.

The laughter of a child lights up the house.

Even an ant can hurt an elephant.

Examine what is said, not him who speaks.

One camel does not make fun of the other camel’s hump.

 

If you educate a man you educate one individual, but if you educate a woman you educate a family.

The sun never sets without fresh news.

The good mother knows what her children will eat.

 

When the mother goat breaks into the yam store her kid watches her.

Even as the archer loves the arrow that flies, so too he loves the bow that remains constant in his hands.

Rich people cook their food in a potsherd.

 

Sudanese Wedding in Khartoum
Rising early makes the road short.

If the elders leave you a legacy of dignified language, you do not abandon it and speak childish language.

The elephant does not limp when walking on thorns.

An ox shits more than a hundred mosquitoes

A person with too much ambition cannot sleep in peace.

There is no return, worse luck for could I return, I would foresee what has come into the country.

Around a flowering tree there are many insects.

He is like a drum which makes a lot of noise but is hollow inside.

Coffee and love taste best when hot.

When the food is cooked there is no need to wait before eating it.

Baboons do not go far from the place of their birth.

 

The chameleon looks in all directions before moving

Lonely is one.

Time destroys all things.

Little by little the bird builds its nest.

Numbers can achieve anything.

 

A brave man dies once, a coward a thousand times.

Only someone else can scratch your back.

It’s like removing a hyena from a pit.

He who does not seize opportunity today, will be unable to seize tomorrow’s opportunity.

Misfortune of soup made of shanks and feet.

Rich people sometimes eat bad food.

 

He who refuses to obey cannot command.

The cow that bellows does so for all cows.

The chameleon changes color to match the earth, the earth doesn’t change colors to match the chameleon.

 

If an arrow has not entered deeply, then its removal is not hard.

Where error gets to, correction cannot reach.

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors we borrow it from our children.

 

If you damage the character of another, you damage your own.

He who doesn’t clean his mouth before breakfast always complains that the food is sour.

You cannot climb to the mountain top without crushing some weeds with your feet

Even the best dancer on the stage must retire sometime.

If you have no teeth, do not break to clay cooking pot.

 

When the moon is not full, the stars shine more brightly.

Leadership comes from God

The friends of our friends are our friends.

The elders of the village are the boundaries.

 

Those who are born on top of the anthill take a short time to grow tall.

When a fish rots, the head stinks first

One foot isn’t enough to walk with.

 

An empty pot makes the loudest noise.

If you are building a house and a nail breaks, do you stop building, or do you change the nail?

Where a woman rules, stream run uphill.

 

If a stranger comes to stay with you, do not forget when you lay aside his weapons that he is hungry.

Do not call to a dog with a whip in your hand.

Good millet is known at the harvest.

Family names are like flowers, they blossom in clusters.

 

One fly does not provide for another

It is not the cook’s fault when the cassava turns out to be hard and tasteless.

It is the belly which daily gives thanks.

No matter how big a child is, he cannot deny that he was once carried on the back of a woman.

If you do not know death, look at the grave.

When the lion cannot find meat, it eats grass.

When a woman is hungry, she says, Roast something for the children that they might eat.

 

One whose seeds have not sprouted does not give up planting.

A king’s child is a slave elsewhere.

He who loves the vase loves also what is inside.

 

What is bad luck for one man is good luck for another.

Prepare now for the solutions of tomorrow.

The bee is the doctor of flowers.

 

A bridge is repaired only when someone falls into the water.s

What is inflated too much will break into fragments.

However much it rains on you, no wild banana tree will grow on your head.

A snake that you can see does not bite.

One who relates with a corrupt person likewise gets corrupted.

The words of the elders become sweet some day.

More precious than our children are the children of our children.

 

The Rhinoceros never dances with the monkey.

Confiding a secret to an unworthy person is like carrying grain in a bag with a hole.

Unity is the real thing

 

A bird that allows itself to be caught will find a way of escaping.

Better little, than too little.

If you are ugly you must either learn to dance or make love.

If there were no elephant in the jungle, the buffalo would be a great animal.

 

The brother or sister who does not respect the traditions of the elders will not be allowed to eat with the elders.

No tattoo is made without blood.

Live patiently in the world know that those who hate you are more numerous than those who love you.

A child one does not instruct on return, one instructs him when going.

Suppression of hunger leads to death.

 

A canoe does not know who the leader is when it turns over, everyone gets wet.

We should put out fire while it is still small.

Water that has been begged for does not quench the thirst.

Let it be a bite of a cockroach and fly with the wind.

 

The song of a stranger-woman is answered after she has gone.

The humble pay for the mistakes of their leaders.

Discord between the powerful is a fortune for the poor.

No person is born great great people become great when others are sleeping.

 

A person who has children does not die.

Dance, father, people’s eyes don’t eat, they just stare.

Who ever suggested that rats should become chiefs?

 

Rain does not fall on one roof alone.

He who dictates separates himself from others.

The jungle is stronger than the elephant.

He has rubbed shoulders against a baobab tree.

Women have no chief.

If your sister is in the group of singing girls, you name always comes into the song.

The antics of a market buffoon provide laughter, but nobody prays that his child becomes the market buffoon.

A rooster is not expected to crow for the whole world.

To lead is not to run roughshod over people

If while climbing a tree you insist on going beyond the top, the earth will be waiting for you.

One arrow can knock down an elephant.

All errors are amendable.

 

A weaning baby that does not cry aloud will die on its mothers back.

No water without waves.

Even if you bewitch in the night, you will be known.

Glory does not come by calling.

 

He who cannot dance will say, The drum is bad!

The stick in the hand kills the snake.

 

A tree cannot stand without roots.

Horn blowers, blow in unison.

A Tutsi liked to warm himself by the fire someone else took the bull.

Crying a lot does not give you peace of mind.

 

If a leader loves you, he makes sure you build your house on rock

Old and new millet seeds end up in the same mill.

If while climbing a tree you insist on going beyond the top, the earth will be waiting for you.

Love is a despot who spares no one.

 

When you mention the person with one eye, the one with the eye problem reacts.

A tree does not move unless there is wind.

Love is like a baby: it needs to be treated tenderly.

 

A quarrelsome chief does not hold a village together.

The belly does not swell if a woman is not pregnant.

We are what our thinking makes us.

To love someone who does not love you, is like shaking a tree to make the dew drops fall. from The Congo

A slippery person is not a king.

It is difficult for two long-nosed lovers to kiss.

The vultures would not land at the village in which there is a wise old man.

The strong bull is overcome when it limps

The eye cannot penetrate darkness.

He who learns, teaches.

Copying everyone else all the time, the monkey one day cut his throat.

The strong do not need clubs.

 

When a king reigns, it is thanks to the people when a river sings, it is thanks to the stones.

If the palm of the hand itches it signifies the coming of great luck.

He who is unable to dance says the yard is stony.

 

The one nearest to the enemy is the real leader

The hen pecks and wipes its beak.

A flea can trouble a lion more than a lion can trouble a flea.

 

So many little things makes a man love a woman in a BIG way.

When I think of the others’s misfortunes, I forget mine.

If a blind man says he will throw a stone at you, he probably has his foot on one.

Every door has its own key.

 

Supposing doesn’t fill the grain basket ‘if’ doesn’t fill the larder.

Every fame has a foundation.

To neglect one’s ancestors would bring ill-fortune and failure in life.

Happiness requires something to do, something to love and something to hope for.

 

A bird that flies from the ground onto an anthill does not know that it is still on the ground.

You can not tell a hungry child that you gave him food yesterday.

What has horns must not be hid in a sack.

An okra tree does not grow taller that its master.

He is a fool whose sheep runs away twice.

When your neighbour’s horse falls into a pit, you should not rejoice at it, for your own child may fall into it too.

All heads are the same, but not all thoughts are the same.

Even the fiercest leader in the world is overcome by sleep.

Supposing doesn’t fill the grain basket ‘if’ doesn’t fill the larder.

 

Fear no forest because it is dense.

An empty pot makes the loudest noise.

One head alone does not go into council

 

Birds sing not because they have answers but because they have songs.

A slave has no choice.

Children are the reward of life. from the Congo

Obstinacy does not redeem anyone.

 

When a thing becomes perfect, it soon fades.

A man’s wealth may be superior to him.

No masika (rain season) without mosquitoes.

Only a medicine man gets rich by sleeping.

The rain does not recognize anyone as a friend it drenches all equally.

The betrothed of good is evil the betrothed of life is death the betrothed of love is divorce.

Never marry a woman who has bigger feet than you.

 

No matter how beautiful and well crafted a coffin might look, it will not make anyone wish for death.

The heart of the wise man lies quiet like limpid water.  from Cameroon

Hope does not disappoint.

Those who accomplish great things pay attention to little ones.

 

A child’s lie is like a dead fish in a pond that in the end, always comes to the surface, explains his mother.

If two wise men always agree, then there is no need for one of them.

If you are filled with pride, then you will have no room for wisdom.

 

The key to a healthy body is a good head.

If the wind blows, it enters every crevice.

The more feathers a chicken has, the bigger it looks.

Don’t fight a lion with a stick.

Do not tell the man who is carrying you that he stinks. from Sierra Leone

Where there is no shame, there is no honor.

 

When your neighbour is wrong you point a finger, but when you are wrong you hide.

A crowd can easily overpower a bull.

It is the grass that suffers when elephants fight.

 

If we put a hammer in every person’s hand, could they all become blacksmiths?

There is not such a thing in the world as a sheep of many colours.

The roaring lion kills no prey

 

Even in the monastery there is occasion for song and merriment.

Being happy is better than being king.

A boat cannot go forward if each rows his own way.

A little rain each day will fill the rivers to overflowing. from Madagascar

The growing millet does not fear the sun.

You don’t need a light to see someone you know intimately at night.

Gold should be sold to the one who knows the value of it.

Slowly, slowly, porridge goes into the gourd.

You cannot force water up a hill.
When a strong man sends a message, he sends it with a weak man.

A child does not laugh at the ugliness of his mother.

A deaf ear is followed by death and an ear that listens is followed by blessings.

 

A big fish is caught with big bait. from Sierra Leone

Wealth is like hair in the nose: it hurts to be separated whether from a little or from a lot.

If you think you have someone eating out of your hands, it is a good idea to count your fingers.

Even the Niger river must flow around an island.

 

Where you will sit when you are old shows where you stood in youth.

Leadership does not depend on age.

Words are sweet, but they never take the place of food.

A single bracelet does not jingle.

Pretend you are dead and you will see who really loves you.

A woman is never old when it comes to the dance she knows.

When the baobab tree has fallen, the goats start climbing on it.

 

Eat when the food is ready speak when the time is right.

One who causes others misfortune also teaches them wisdom.

When the powerful sit, they are none the weaker.

Too much discussion leads to a quarrel.

If you do not have patience you cannot make beer.

An intelligent enemy is better than a stupid friend.

He who tells the truth is never wrong.