Proverbs: The Sayings of the Elders.

Abstract

Perhaps there is no other aspect of the African culture that proves the richness of African thought better than the extraordinary versatility and diversity of proverbs. The Esan of the southern part of Nigeria have a proverb whose English equivalent is: “truth is like oil, no matter how much water you pour on it; it will always float”. Proverbs bear the community’s taste of thought or philosophy in social, ethical, economical, political and religious life. What I present below is but a tiny part of Africa’s world of proverbs.