Hausa is the ancestral language of one of the largest ethnic groups in Central Africa. It is spoken throughout southern Niger and northern Nigeria.
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If the lion knew that he was going to find meat while still in the thicket he wouldn't go outside.
The useless man is like sand; though it be rolled together it will not stay rolled.
A stranger is blind even though he have eyes.
Better hunger than disgrace.
Everything the house gets is by favor of the door.
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If you're going to move, move like an elephant, not like a hyena.
Health of the body is prosperity.
The wily man doesn't buy snuff till he has sampled it.
Better sell cheap than for credit.
Don't put the roof on when the rain is wetting you.
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You can't play with eggs on a rock slab!
Even in Mecca profit is all the same.
However old the horse it is better than new sandals.
A good disposition makes a man liked.
The possessor came before the seeker.
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An ostrich chick is too much for a hawk to pick up.
Confused sounds will not make speech.
Birth is the remedy for sorrow.
Kindness and evil are not forgotten.
All love is love, but self love is strongest.
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Putting the water back in the well is not waste.
The rainbow is not God but it prevents God sending rain.
Better the poorest loincloth than nakedness.
If you don't want to resign yourself to poverty, resign yourself to work.
Fate makes a man dismount quicker than counsel.
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With rotten meat is the hyena caught.
The belly is not a treasurer.
Ignorance is an illness for which there's no medicine.
Sleep is the remedy for fear.
However pleasant the sound of a drum, silence is better.
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Silence is talk too.
The wolf doesn't concern himself with the price of a sheep.
Better to be silent than to speak ill of another.
Man is like pepper: not till you chew him do you know his heat.
Bucking will not rid a donkey of a load.
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Where one dies, there another gets up.
Medicine will not revive him doomed to die.
The antelope does not bear a child that cannot run.
A piece of meat isn't the dog's portion unless it falls on the ground.
However full the stream it won't refuse to rise higher.
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A seedling is better than a cutting.
The seed that is sown is the one that sprouts.
A day with your friend is better than a year with one who hates you.
On the day of trouble, a free man chooses patience.
He who does not lose his way by night will not lose his way by day.
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A rod is the cure for a boy's folly.
Lack of knowledge is darker than the night.
The first sign of a quarrel is gesticulation.
Seeing excels hearing.
Punishment is not putting to death, it is improving character.
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He who restrains his impatience to eat will find his food the sweeter.
He who likes you sees not your faults.
In the absence of moonlight the star shines.
The roast takes a long time to a hungry man.
The nose knows not the savor os salt.
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Poverty will not drive away freedom.
If the river prevents crossing it will not prevent turning back.
A goat cannot be cooked with the hyena.
Gratitude is what shows whether a gift is appreciated.
One doesn't climb a tree by the trunk and come down by the branches.
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The shrub with one root is not hard to pull up.
Anyone who sees a leopard knows it is not a pig.
He who continually uses an axe, must keep it sharp.
Only a donkey is patient under a load.
Food and drink both go to the belly.
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A stranger is like running water.
Seeing the case of another is enough to cause fear.
When there is nothing to eat but corn, rice is a luxury.
Better to repair than to build anew.
Everything above falls to earth at the end.
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If the hyena were peaceful, the dog would not acknowledge it.
Silence defeats the scandal monger.
The chick loved by God will grow up, though motherless.
Abundance will make cotton pull a stone.
Truth is hard to tell-if you tell it look for your sandals.
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Blood is not the remedy for thirst.
Through lack of bargaining one loses a cheap buy.
The expert rider is the man on the horse.
Hyena and dog can't share an abode.
If the music changes so does the dance.
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Blood will not wash away dirt.
The pleasant land is never near.
He who does not know a famous person surely will hear of him.
Better begging than theft.
An ostrich is too great to alight on a branch.
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Living by yourself is better than living with a bad woman.
One does not put two irons in the fire.
It is the fowl with chicks that flees from the hawk.
Similarity is not identity.
He who lacks today is he who finds tomorrow.
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The elephant does not bite, it is that trunk one fears.
He who is in the shade doesn't know that another is in the sun.
The pleasant land is never near.
Fat meat is known when taken close to the fire.
An axe with a loose head is the bane of a man up a tree.
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Give thanks for a little and you'll find a lot.
The patient man cooks a stone till he drinks broth from it.
One blow will not knock a strong man down.
Not always does one sleep on a bed, sometimes one must sleep even on the ground.
The bird that walks straight into the snare is bound to be caught.
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Hausa Proverbs (101-200)Hausa Proverbs (201-274)
