Ghanaian Proverbs: A proverb is a succinct expression conveying a traditionally held truth based on common sense. Proverbs are not unique to Africa. Some countries and continents of the world have their wise sayings and proverbs.
African proverbs, also called wisdom nuggets, are deep, wisdom-laden phrases used primarily by elders for advice, encouragement, teaching life lessons, and conversation. While some proverbs derive from specific ethnic groups, communities, tribes or countries, others have an unknown source.
Like most cultural proverbs, Ghanaian proverbs provide a window into a community’s culture. They often reflect a community’s thoughts, principles, and ideologies through the use of cultural metaphors. Nothing defines a culture as clearly as its language, and the element of language that best embodies a society’s values and beliefs is its proverbs.
We have compiled over 40 Ghanaian proverbs related to different aspects of life.
2. A crab does not father a bird.
3. A cracked bell can never sound good.
4. A suckling calf does not howl.
5. A slave does not choose his master. A slave does not choose his master.
6. A healthy person asking for food is an insult to a generous farmer.
7. A knife does not know who its master is.
8. A powerful deity is one to whom sacrifices are made.
9. A woman is a flower in a garden; Her husband is the fence around him.
10. A good cause is worth pursuing to the end.
11. An army is pushed back by courage and not by insults, however many.
12. A stranger dances – he does not sing
13. When a bird goes and comes, it spins its nest.
14. By the time the fool learned the game, the players scattered.
15. Death has the key to unlock the miser’s chest.
16. Don’t call the forest that protects you a jungle.
17. Don’t expect to be offered a chair when you visit a place where the boss himself is sitting on the floor.
18. We must go back and reclaim our past in order to move forward. This is how we understand why and how we became who we are today.
19. Bad luck for one person is good luck for another.
20. What people get through hard work, they don’t get for their neighbors.
21. If a cheating man asks you to climb a tree, ask him to climb a tree first. If he finds a comfortable spot, you can follow him.
22. When a king has good counselors, his government is peaceful.
23. The downfall of a nation begins in the homes of its people.
24. There’s nothing wrong with going back to what you’ve forgotten.
25. If an opportunity is not taken, it passes.
26. The goat says, “You bought my mother, not me.”
27. If the young palm tree wants to stay alive, it grows next to the Odum tree.
28. The left hand washes the right hand, and the right hand washes the left.
29. People working on the side of a mountain don’t look at each other.
30. The prickly branches of the palm tree show no fondness even to friends.
31. When two selfish young men sit near a pot of water, the water spills onto the floor
32. The responsibility of power is like holding an egg. Grip it too tight and it will drip through your fingers. Keep it too loose and it will fall and break.
33. Whoever seems to be with you may be working against you.
34. The witch leaves! The witch goes! But unless you’re a witch, don’t turn to look.
35. If youthful pride were wealth, every man in his life would have had it.
36. I’ll get it because I can, they say, for a reason.
37. If we knew where death lay, we would never stay there.
38. A camel does not make fun of another camel’s hump.
39. When things get easier, things might go downhill.
40. Nobody tests the depth of the river with both feet.
41. When a woman is hungry, she says, “Fry something for the children to eat.”
42. The rain wets the leopard’s spots but does not wash them away
43. The rich may wear old clothes.
44. The monkey says there is nothing better than poverty to keep man from his conceit.