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Hausa Proverbs (101-200)

One bracelet will not jingle.

He who takes one sip isn't satisfied.

Speech is pulling a straw out of thatch
once out it cannot be replaced.

Throwing water over yourself once won't get rid of the dirt.

One tree does not make a forest.

However long the night, dawn will break.

One beats iron while still hot.

Character is a line on stone, none can rub it out.

Speed breeds delay.

Thanks cause the increase of gifts.

The wily man doesn't buy snuff till he has sampled it.

However good garlic is, it will not be as good as an onion.

It is the mouth that cuts the throat.

A bone in a mortar is no luck for the dog.

Let each bird cry according to its kind.

If you hear a jar rattling, it is not full.

He who farms is spared the trouble of buying corn.

He who loves you won't see your faults.

Water can drown the ferryman, much more the learner.

Because of deceit day does not refuse to break.

Birth is the remedy for death.

One bean spoils the flour.

Reducing debt is better than swelling it.

When lies finish in a free man's mouth,
he will become a slave and be sold.

The hole of lying is easily filled up.

If there is neither food nor drink, plain water is medicine.

It's not right for a race horse to despise the pace of a pony.

A hare is caught not by sitting down.

Every dog rests at his own door.

A meatless bone is the dog's.

Life in the world is like washing-you knead him who kneads you.

The quarrel that doesn't concern you is pleasant to hear about.

He who remembers last year finds not this year good.

One does not tear one's coat because of the cleverness of sewing.

The deceits of women are 99.
The one which completes the 100,
the devil knows it not.

Only by waiting is character known.

Tobacco is different from millet flour.

A poor man's drum is his belly.

One knows a man by his trade even if it is drinking beer.

Death is the revealer of secrets.

Living in peace is better than living as a king.

The knife for flaying an elephant needs not size but sharpness.

The sick man's property belongs to the doctor.

One horse in the racecourse runs the fastest.

A thing put out to dry will not stop the sun.

Every tomato is red.

Fear in the forest is shame at home.

Sharpening a knife doesn't frighten a horse.

Your enemy will not praise you, even though
you catch a leopard and give it to him.

A fish is a king in the water.

A poor man's house is no place for a war horse.

Galloping in water is the remedy for a vicious horse.

One day of prosperity is better than a year of poverty.

However debased the lion it will not play with a pig.

Put out the fire while it is small.

Patience is the universal remedy.

The strength of women is but a plentitude of talk.

Send a boy where he wants to go and you'll see his best pace.

Trade is not mutual help.

If the ear hears news of evil, the neck escapes being severed.

The fish in the well experiences no pleasure.

A good thing sells itself.

The house of one's intimates isn't a market.

The craftsman should be recognized by the tools of his craft.

A boy knows not fire till it burns him.

A needle with a piece of string will not be lost.

A smiling face removes unhappiness.

A calf will not follow horses.

A horse knows its rider.

However poor the elephant, it will be worth more than ten frogs.

Ability to swim is preservation of life.

A cow is milked by gentle handling.

However bad the bread it is better than cattle dung.

He who will not work of his own accord
will find himself forced to work by another.

The boaster dies before his days are fulfilled.

A year is a day if life continues.

The mouth knows what it will say, not what it will be answered.

One will distinguish between the bitter gourd and the sweet.

He who is angry with the world must be tired of it.

Troubles don't last forever.

Whatever the avarice of a midwife,
she doesn't come to the house of a bachelor.

Hunger is the remedy for poor cooking.

Having is better than wanting,

Haste is not strength.

Even if the forest is undone, the elephant is above running.

One does not throw away the stick that drives off poverty.

A sack is no load for a goat.

The goat learns wisdom from a cropped ear.

Patience is wealth to its possessor.

The mouth of any who eats onion will smell.

The foot does not stay where there is no ground.

The elephant's spoor treads out the camel's.

A shining face goes with a full belly.

An egg in the mouth is better than a fowl in the fowl house.

Without trouble there is no profit.

He who wants an exchange despises his own.

It is difficult to beat a drum with a sickle.

Guile excels strength.

Plenty and envy lie down together.

Even today the remedy for dirt is water.

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Hausa Proverbs (001-100)

Hausa Proverbs (201-274)