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A bird has its weight, though a mere feather.
A puppy does not hunt rabbits with a big dog.
A poor man is recognized by his sandals.
Moonlight does not dry the malt.
The bone given to you by the king is meat.
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Though a cow wanders here and there it does not trample its young.
All work asks for diligence.
A pot in the wind does not cook.
A fool laughs at himself.
The post supports the roof and keeps it from falling in the hut.
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A weapon in the workroom will not help you when you are to be mauled.
If you applaud with one hand it will not be heard.
The little goat follows its kind.
Do not go between the knife and the sheath.
Let everyone sweep his own floor.
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The porridge is cooled on the top.
A parasite cannot live alone.
God needs no help when he cuts wood.
Old frogs like croaking.
God speaks a foreign tongue.
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Cleverness and stupidity go together.
Those who live together cannot hide their behinds from each other.
The neighbor's field is easy to hoe.
A glutton is never satisfied.
Every little bird has a long beak.
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A new broom sweeps well.
Cunning is followed by foolishness.
An old dog does not growl for nothing.
The cowared follows his mother.
The ears do not lose their interest.
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Even a small axe is better than striking with a stick.
If earth had a mouth it would defend many.
The death of many is not wailed.
He who pets dogs must be childless.
He who is sweating with hate cannot rule the country.
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No one is a blacksmith at birth.
Even a blind wife is better than no wife at all.
A dogless hunter must crawl in the hole himself.
An axe is sharp on soft wood.
Hate does not build a house, it dissolves.
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Even a goat has his habits.
Curiosity caused the roebuck to be shot in the eye.
The color does not come off a zebra.
A gift is not despised.
A quarrelsome girl will not be married.
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Hunger is a good cook.
A rich man is known by his house.
The elephant does not see the fruit seed.
If a child does not resemble its father, it resembles its mother.
The fruit at the tips of branches are good.
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A promise is a loan.
Where there was a skunk there is a smell.
A weed loves the field, a lazy man loves eating.
A storm destroys the field, bad manners destroy the country.
God belongs to rich and poor alike.
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A seducer is worse than a witch.
One spark burned down a forest.
A braggart is known by his headgear.
With your mother you will not want, but alone you will.
Where the elephant died you can tell by the bones.
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He who will not give you a bone will not give you meat.
A word of peace redeems a crime.
God does not let his eggs spoil.
That which leaks cannot stay full.
A child who does not fear his father and mother will not live long.
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The frost will surely pass.
A stubborn man brings in a snake for a hairdo.
The cobra knows its length.
An old dog does not growl for nothing.
He who pets dogs must be childless.
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An old dog does not fight with a whelp.
The little bird starts with one straw.
The flatterer walks the middle of the road.
Staying and staring is the death of the buck.
Two lions equal ten hyenas.
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Whoever does not lie does not stay alive.
It is pleasant to spread rumors about the quarrels in other people's houses.
You cannot avoid what lies in ambush for you.
Where the chief walks, there questions are decided.
When the lion roars the hyena is quiet.
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Though a tree does not bear fruit, it is not cut down.
A son is the bone of hard times.
Sleep is not compared with death.
A goat is not a dog; one's own child is not a slave.
One does not fight with a spitting snake.
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When one cow has started to move it raises the others from their rest.
Do not go between a spear and a bull.
Big snakes do not live in the same hole.
Wisdom cannot be bought for money.
The stomach is the power of the legs.
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Where there are birds there is water.
He to whom things are brought does not know the length of the road.
Hunger teaches you how to chew melon seeds.
If you go first you will not drink muddy water.
One cannot teach wisdom to a fool.
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The road does not advise a man.
Though your mother be poor, she is still your mother.
A small shed becomes a house.
The drum knows its owner's hands.
Authority does not depend on age.
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One does not put a hyena among goats.
A trickle of water is better than no water.
He who does not speak does not argue.
A hunter does not get rich with his companion's game.
There is life and death in the quiver.
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He who argues builds no roads.
Trying again and again is better than stopping halfway.
Even a weak lion is not bitten by a dog.
Looking carefully is understanding.
A man is not a dog.
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Beans are not equal to meat.
A climbing plant does not stay alone.
A well-fed man does not give thanks.
You can tell lovers from there faces.
There is not enough room for two elephants to rest in the same shade.
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If you do not have patience you cannot make beer.
A carpenter is not a blacksmith.
A tadpole becomes a frog.
Noisy talk does not bring about a solution.
The world is a cattle post where the herdsman serves one day, another tomorrow.
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Where there are birds there is cattle.
In a hut one does not get wet, among the bulls one does not starve to death.
The world does not belong to the staring buck, but to the fox that is not eaten tomorrow.
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Ovambo Proverbs (001-100)
