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Igbo Wit and Wisdom

This is a fun page.  We want you to leave a proverb here as your calling card.  At your discretion, you may choose to leave your name and e-mail address, so that we may acknowledge your contribution. 

    Because they are so deeply embedded in culture, proverbs do not translate well.  Even so, we will make every effort to provide the best possible translations in English of the proverbs on these pages. 

    The proverbs themselves are (for the most part) in the Ngwa dialect of Igbo.

 

Igbo

English
Onye ite abügh onye ahia
ÝProverbs  ÝOnye Isi na Onye Ngworo -- ÝThe Blind Man and the Lame Man--ÝCommentary
A pot trader whose fortunes are all invested in her clay pots isn't much of a merchant.  (All she has to do is stumble once on a twig!)
nwanyi ntebe dika ahia.  Öna anö n'elu nkwü ehue nkwü.  A wayward woman is like the weaver bird.  She uses her perch on one tree to scout other trees.
Nwanyi ariria ebele anagh azö üzö iyi.  A woman who needs to borrow a calabash cannot count on going early to the stream
Nkapi nd'agba abüba ödïgh ïgbasaram.  Örüya ndaa anïnï, agagh'm ïzü ya. The skunk rat can get as fat and plump as he pleases.  If his whole hind leg costs one anini, I still will not buy it.
Agwü nda aram, apü ada ara agwü. While the wooden idols are tormenting me, the termites are tormenting them.
Onye uwa nküta ikpegh, ere awa ya iri. When a poor man gets a little money, his thoughts go off in ten different directions.
Üdara dachiri üzö mpïwa gü ya. An udara fruit that falls on the side of the road is asking to be eaten.
Alawa egbuta. The big game often appears when the hunter has given up the hunt for the day.
Agwa öjö gbaa afö, öghöla omenala. A bad habit that lasts more than a year may turn into a custom.
Nwa ike kwere lia nna ya. Öbügh opara ngburu ya. Whichever son is able should bury his father.  The first son did not kill him! (Note: The responsibility for burying the father usually falls on the first son.  The proverb says that whichever son, first or last, is able to bury the father  should do so.  It need not be the sole responsibility of the first son alone!)
Onye nji uwa gwörö ajü nvu ivu ya n'isi efu. A person who uses the world as his carrying pad will find himself carrying his load on his bare head.
Miri nmara ohu nmara onye npü ya. The same rain that drenches the slave also drenches the slave driver.
ösö agbalagh akpi! A person can never run so fast as to run away from his backside!
Onye nnö nkwü-öka na ukwu ma öwü öchara. A person who underneath the tall palm tree is best positioned to tell on which side the ripe head is.
Ihie aghütara na üghü eze anagh eju önü. No one gets a mouthful of food by picking between another person's teeth.
Onye mayi ndi igbu hü onye ara ndi icha, ya amara nke bü nke. When a drunk meets a mad man, he learns the difference between being merely drunk and truly mad.
ödigh ihie ohu nmere aghara ita ya üta.  Ma ökwöfüghü aka, asi na oruru amüma.  Ya nkwö-ö aka, asi na ölara miri na imi. A slave boy is blamed no matter what he does: If he does not wash his hands, he is accused of being dirty.  If he washes his hands, he is accused of wasting water.
Agwö nloro ibe ya, ödü afüö ya önü. A snake that swallows his friend will have a tail sticking out of his mouth.
Ma nwata akpachagh anya achö ihie gburu nna ya, ihie gburu nna ya egbuokwa ya. If a young man is not prudent in seeking what killed his father,  what killed his father may also kill him.
önu nwa ezi bü önü nne ya The piglet has the same type of snout as her mother.
Aha nwanne onye bü Onye. A man has the same last name as his brother.  (If your brother or best friend is a thief, you are most likely a thief also).
Onye mbiakwutara anü na ngüsi amagh otu eji gbuo ya, ma öbü sia ya. A person who arrives at a feast when the cooked meat is being pulled out of the pot does not know what was endured by others to catch and cook it.
Onye eze nkwere ejegh akü ugiri. A man with a missing tooth does not eat ugiri (fruit) with relish.
Mbiara-mbiara abiagbula onye nwe ülö.  Onye mbiara abia nlawa, aka nkpu-nkpu afükwala ya n'azü. A guest should not cause his host's demise.  When the guest is ready to leave, his host should not have given him a hunch-back.
Nwata ngbere-egbere tüö'm nvö, ma egbere-egbere tügwara ya. If a baby crawls up to me and pinches me, I will get on my knees and pinch him back.
Agwö nloro ibe ya, ödü afüö ya önü. A snake that swallows its neighbor will have a tail sticking out of its mouth.
ONye nchörö iri awö hörö ke ndi okpokpo! If you decide to eat a toad, you should at least select one that is big!
Anagh ele ihie ero nriri eri ero. If you wish to eat a mushroom, you cannot consider what the mushroom fed on.
Nwa nkita si: "Ndaara gi, ga adaaram, öbü egwu.  Ma na ndaara gi, ga adafüghram, öbü ögü!" The little puppy said: "If I fall down and roll over for you, and you fall down and roll over for me, then we are playing.  However, if I fall down and roll over for you, but you do not fall down and roll over for me, then that's a fight!"
Onye n'achü nwa ökükönwe ada.  Nwaökükö nwe nwe-nwe ösö. A person who chases a chicken is due a fall.  The chicken is a master of the dodged escaped.
üdara ndachiri üzö mpiwa ndi igü ya.

 

 

 An udara fruit that falls by the roadside must want to be picked up and eaten.
ükwü  jia agü, ngbada abia ya ügwo.  When the leopard has a broken paw, the antellope comes to collect an old debt.
Uwa di ka ara eghu.  Ma adügh ya adü önagh agba miri.  The world (or life) is like a goat's udder.  It does not yile any milk, unless you punch and squeeze at it.
Inö na okpu Ala adü  isi na Kamanü . Swearing in the name of one god (Kamanü ) while at the shrine of another god (Ala).
Nkita si ka ya sobe ndi rijuru afö.  Ma osirö fa na önü , osi fa na ike. 

 

 The dog said that it is better to walk behind those who have had a lot to eat, because if something doesn't come out of them one way, it is bound to come out of them another way.
Onye mayi ndi igbu hü  onye ara ndi icha, ya amara nke bü  nke.

 

 When a drunken man meets a mad man, he learns the difference between being merely drunk and being truly mad.
Onye nkpükpü nküsuo ahia, asi ya lita ötö ka amara oke öha. 

 

 When a very short man causes the market to break up in a big fight, bystanders ask him to stand up so that they can see how short (or tall) he really is.
Ihie  ghara nwa ntakiri  ökö enyekwala ya nvö  oji atu ya

 

 What gives the child the itch has already given him the fingernails for scratching it.
Anu na enwegh ödu chi ya na egburu iji. God swats flies for an animal that has no tail.
Ana eji nwayö-nwayö ara ofe ndi öku. The best way to eat hot (or peppery) soup is little by little.
Obi öma nyiri nkpörö önwa isi. A calm spirit will enable a man to survive even a six-month jail sentence.
Ngwere si n.a ya amarala otu okpuru afo ya nnu.  Ya nsi makpuwa ya na ala. The lizard says that he knows the condition of his underbelly.  (And) the reason he has it pressed against the ground.
Ntukwu ada agula ngwere, ma na ödu ekwegh ya. The lizard would like to stand erect, but his tail will not permit him.
Amara akagh ngburu oke madu.  Akaa anugh ngburu onye ogbede. Knowing (the truth) but not telling it is what kills old men.  Hearing (the truth) but not heeding it is what kills young men.
Nku mba nwere nji eghere wo nri. Whatever the type of firewood found in a place, it is usually good enough for the people of that place to cook with. 
Egbe bere, ugo bere.  Nke si ibeya ebela, nku kwaa kwa ya!  

Let the kite hawk have a perch, and let the eagle also have a perch.  Whichever begrudges the other  the right to perch, may he break a wing!

 (This is probably  the most popular of all Igbo proverbs, and one that best describes the Igbo philosophy of live and let live)

"Onye gbuwa achara, onye gbuwa!  Onye akpola ibeya onye ukoni!"

  

"Everyone cut the grass!  Cut the grass!  Let no one (despisingly) call the others 'Prisoners!'"  

(Adapted from a popular prisoners' work song, this proverb essentially says, "We're all in the same boat!  So let's  get on with the work we have to do.  And let no one despise the others!)

 

Onye mberira akwa  ejegh (anagh) ebe "önuma ekelam obi."

A guest mourner (at a funeral) does not wail as though his heart is broken.

Onye akpörö-akpö nri ejegh elobi nkalari. A person who happens by a neighbor's house at dinner time, and is invited to join the meal, does not swallow such large morsels as to break the string of pearls around his neck.  (A person  who drops by a neighbor's house and finds the neighbor eating is expected to eat modestly if the neighbor invites him to join the meal).  .
Ya nruruöh, onukwagh na Ukwa nkwere.   

When a once-beautiful piece of cloth has turned into rags, no one remembers that it was woven by Ukwa master weavers. 

Efu uzo chuö ufu ösö, alogharia n'ulö maa okuko ikpe.  One first drives off the fox,  before taking the chickens home and blaming them  for straying.
Nkita raah shi, eze ere-e eghu! Dog eats excreta, but goat gets  rotten teeth!
öpita ögbafuo amagh ngbe oji gbaa ukwu aku. A man who shoots his arrows as he makes them does not realize when he has shot a whole sheaf.
Di ete akachagh ihie öhuru n'elu nkwu. A palm tree climber is not expected to tell everything he sees from up above. 
Onye evu evu aga ahia amagh na uzö ndi anya. A person who is being carried to the market does not realize that the way is long.
Afö akagh ihie ori-ri. All you can tell about a big belly is that the owner has had a lot to eat, not what he had to eat!