Congolese Proverbs

Sayings of Congolese origin

The nuts from a palm tree don’t fall without dragging a few leaves with it.

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

Don’t cut off the monkey’s tail before it is dead.

Pride goes only as far as one can spit.

The iron never takes advice from the hammer.

Little by little grow the bananas.

The white man never forgets Europe.

The mother-in-law shows you her thighs without shame, you are the embarrassed one.

A cat goes to a monastery, but she still remains a cat.

One knife will not cut another knife; one cheat will not cheat another cheat.

Those who inherit fortunes are frequently more of a problem than those who made them.

Mothers-in-law are hard of hearing.

Being well dressed does not prevent one from being poor.

He who is free of faults, will never die.

Two birds disputed about a kernel, when a third swooped down and carried it off.

If you tell people to live together, you tell them to quarrel.

He who doesn’t like chattering women must stay a bachelor.

Woe to the high spirited bride whose mother-in-law is still alive.

You do not teach the paths of the forest to an old gorilla.

Don’t buy a boat that is under water.

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

The teeth are smiling, but is the heart?

Great events may stem from words of no importance.

No matter how long the night, the day is sure to come.

An idiot will cross an ox with an elephant.

The son shoots a leopard; the father is proud.

Drink beer, think beer.

Without war there can be no peace.

Friendship does not need pepper to cry.

The friends of our friends are our friends.

Lovers do not hide their nakedness.

Don’t buy the salt if you haven’t licked it yet.

Man is like palm-wine: when young, sweet but without strength; in old age, strong but harsh.

I own a cow in heaven, but I cannot drink her milk.

War ends nothing.

Do not dispose of the monkey’s tail before he is dead.

Death does not sound a trumpet.

The watched chicken never lays.

The portion that a man keeps for himself is usually not the smallest.

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

Lower your head modestly while passing, and you will harvest bananas.

Those who are absent are always wrong.

A pretty basket does not prevent worries.

The flesh of a young animal tastes flat.

Even without drumbeats, the banana leaves dance.

A house with two keys is worth nothing.

The impotent man does not eat spicy foods.

The snake and the crab don’t sleep in the same hole.

Children are the reward of life.

Prepare yourself for when the water comes up to your knees.

You inherit from the dead, not from the sick.

Wood may remain ten years in the water, but it will never become a crocodile.

A single bracelet does not jingle.

Sleep is the cousin of death.

A little subtleness is better than a lot of force.

Who sits down is a cripple.

What is said over the dead lion’s body could not be said to him alive.

The fly has no pity for the thin man.

Let him speak who has seen with his eyes.

A bald-headed man will not grow hair by getting excited.

If you are too modest you will go hungry.

One day of hunger is not starvation.

When the bee comes to your house, let her have beer; you may want to visit the bee’s house some day.