126 IGBO PROVERBS – (Inu Igbo)

126 IGBO PROVERBS – (Inu Igbo) :

1. One with rashes does not cut his fingernails.

2. The young shall grow.

3. If the penis does not die young, it will enjoy the bearded meat.

4. No matter how lean one gets, it does not affect the size of the private parts.

5. The anus looks like what one could blow air into for musical sound but there is no
place to rest the lips.

6. The sheep says that it does not waste time or miss the opportunity to get pregnant
because there are many festivities that demand the meat of the ram.

7. One has to know the size of his scrotal sac before he takes medicine against over
grown scrotal sac.

8. The only time an unmarried woman owns up that she made love is when she is
heavy with pregnancy.

9. The anus says that if it knew that the vagina would be noisy with its frequent
rough visitors, it could not have agreed to be a neighbor.

10. No security can prevent stroke—
the attack of the spirits.

11. One laughs with his concubine even
if his teeth are rotten.

12. An old person may not try to run but not when a goat carries his snuffbox.

13. The cow will always be bigger than the goat no matter how lean it gets.

14. The vagina may be dry but it will have enough moisture to wet the penis.

15. The heart is like a bag everybody has his.

16. If your excrement is not pointed it may mean that you have running stomach.

17. The male dog raises a leg as it urinates to show that it has no over—grown scrotal
sac.

18. One that is hit by a vehicle has his ears to blame.

19. Everything in a cow is useful.

20. If you ask a woman for a favor (sex) and you ask and ask again, she may say yes
and grant you your request.

21. If every man fears a big and highly placed woman, who then will make love to
her?

22. If a child eats what is making him to keep awake, he will sleep.

23. If you are curing a sick man and his penis is always standing, he should be left to
enjoy in the land of the spirits.

24. Cough is a sickness and also food.

25. If you hold the lizard by the tail, you have
little or nothing.

26. Madness does not mean Strength.

27. If the back of a woman vibrates, it means that it is touched often.

28. One with a good healthy penis does not fully understand the plight of one with a
malfunctioning penis.

29. A rogue has always tacky hands.

30. If the bad spirits are not afraid, why do they only go in the night?

31. Bed bud said to her young ones that what is hot will cool down.

32. If the penis does not do anything to an old woman, it will cause her stomach ache.

33. Do not be like the male-goat that made
love to its mother.

34. When the moon shines, people long to go on walk.

35. What you don’t know is older that yourself.

36. If you give your little child to an old lady to hold for you and she says that her
tooth is bad, did you give her your baby to eat?

37. The aggressiveness of the ram will not stop the owner from taking it to the
market.

38. The Obi or Eze eats everything but he should not travel with a talker.

39. You may be giving all to a woman but she gives all and more to the one she
loves.

40. It is the woman who knows the father of her child.

41. People open up with greetings.

42. If a young person washes his hands well, he will eat with the elders.

43. It is how a man is that makes his in laws to ask him to pound ‘fufu’.

44. A good product sells itself.

45. The sickness of enlarged scrotal sac says that it should be welcomed by anybody
that it attacks because it discriminates a lot.

46. You do not sell your bad product
to your neighbor.

47. If you are generous to a ‘salad woman’, she will bring some more to you another
time.

48. A wise person uses his wealth to protect his life.

49. You may pinch somebody’s snuff and get off with it but you may not be so lucky if
you pinch his wife.

50. There is nothing that will not rest after a fight or hard work.

51. The breasts first point straight before they point downwards.

52. If you sell your dog and buy a monkey, you still have a squatting animal.

53. A head cutter does not feel comfortable if somebody is touching the neck of his
child.

54. A mother does not train her son by making
love to him.

55. The real poor have little or no choice.

56. The beetle that is not edible has the advantage of living long and there is good
chance that it will not die out. This great advantage is enjoyed by the vulture because
both humans and animals don’t hunt it for food. The vulture feeds on carcass and it
does not have many rivals.

57. Azuntu, a mad man told his wife to make the sign of the cross at his back while
he signs himself in front because he does not know from which direction Jesus Christ
would come.

58. The Flashing of the vagina does not
set any house on fire.

59. Mr. Express said that if it is not because of getting babies, what will one be
looking for in the smelly buttocks of another person?

60. No one can contain the intestine of a sheep in the palms of his hands.

61. The seller of smelly “Ogiri” knows a one eyed fly.

62. The dog says that it follows a person with large stomach because he may stool or
vomit.

63. The vulture is happy with his wife’s pregnancy, if the baby comes out alive, it has
a baby and placenta, if the baby is dead it will have both the placenta and the dead
baby to eat.

64. If you continue to wash and wash the clothes of old people, you may wash off
excrement.

65. Nobody tells his people to get set with first aid because he is going to fall from a
great height.

66. If you are going to the toilet, you have to have enough cleaning materials because
at times one may not finish the business at a go.

67. A bad spirit that wants to kill a man will
ask him for vagina.

68. If you tell a blind man to catch the music,
he raises his hands up.

69. A deaf that goes to church goes on sightseeing.

70. The agama lizard fell from an Iroko tree, and said that if nobody praises it, it will
praise itself.

71. If a cyclist is dragging his bicycle and he starts to look at the pedal, he is about to
mount it.

72. The male goat says that it has large scrotal sac so that it will have enough sperms
for all its wives who do welcome him for few seconds. The male goat is an ugly, short,
strongly built unique animal with an enlarged scrotal sac. It is very aggressive and
uncompromising when Another male is near or on its territory. It is normal that the
strongest male fathers nearly all the young ones no matter how many the goats are.
This nerving animal has a very strong smell, which attracts female goats. Its meat is a
delicacy in Igbo land.

73. A flint gun that did not fire brought back gun powder to the owner.

74. One who runs into a war does not understand that it could mean death.

75. We may not because of death avoid wars.

76. You look for tall people when you want to hang the roof of a mud house.

77. You learn much about the ground from the rabbit.

78. The leg of palm oil sucking cockroach must be strong.

79. The crab that escapes from a trap may not have all its appendages intact.

80. If you continue to count the impurities in water, you may not be able to drink it.

81. Surprise may surprise the most powerful.

82. Fast and quick actions may avoid future obstacles.

83. Steak, ribs, beef, and milk are all from the cow.

84. Truth is life.

85. The vehicle mechanic dress does not make it easy for us to identify mad people.

86. People go from scratching to gassing

87. Every lizard lies on its stomach so nobody knows which one has stomach ache.

88. The bitter kola does not taste as good as it sounds in the mouth.

89. One who has been bitten by a poisonous snake fears the head of a lizard.

90. The hare says that it will run as far as God has land to avoid being hunted down.

91. The wood pecker boasted that it would peck down an Iroko tree if her mother
died. When it happened, it had a boil under its beak.

92. Do not kiss a child with pretence.

93. A criminal could be anybody.

94. The knowledge about a leaf could make the difference between medicine men.

95. You will not hold up a baby’s toy forever.

96. You will not laugh wildly when you have a roasted hen in the mouth.

97. If you believe that you have the devils luck, put your hand in the mouth of a
cobra.

98. It is odd to carry an elephant on the head and at the same time search for an ant
with the toe.

99. If you are taking a bath and a mad man takes your clothes and you run after him
who is then madder?

100. A heady fly may be buried with the dead.

101. If you plant yam on your knee and you
attach the stem to your goatee, have
you given it adequate protection?

102. There is always a good angle on every bad event.

103. Tell the truth in time and avoid the back log of shame when it eventually
surfaces and comes to light.

104. The house fly says that it is hated and that people want to kill it anywhere and
whenever they see it because they are jealous that it can go on any type of delicious food
any time and also kiss the lips of beautiful ladies without problem.

105. It is a mixed bag of feelings if you are suspected when you know that you are
clean.

106. One should not use the same trick often.

107. If a group of people urinate together in a container, much foam is formed.

108. When the sound of the drum changes, the dancing changes too.

109. God knows it all.

110. Do not be like the penis that vomits what it has in its mouth when it goes to
eat.

111. If a child crawls to you and pinches you hard, you crawl and pinch him hard too.

112. The right hand washes the left hand and the left washes the right.

113. If you get a small young python and feed it till it gets big, you could be its next
meal.

114. If you set your trap and the prey escapes,
you got to reset it.

115. When the wind blows, we see the anus of the fowl.

116. If a dog gets mad, it could bite the owner.

117. You do not test or unset a lion’s trap
with your head.

118. Do not underrate or look down on anybody.

119. If a woman has no child, she should have good and attractive body and good
character.

120. If a woman marries again after divorce she will know which one is a better
husband.

121. Be careful about how you treat children because they do remember quite a lot.

122. If you advice the ears and they do not listen, when the head is cut off, the ears
follow.

123. A woman who trains her children and is crowned a chief of Cocoyam (Kwaa Ede)
has pride of place in Igbo land.

124. You do not remind some one that has just lost his mother to cry.

125. If you kill your good voodoo priest (native doctor) you have many evil spirits on
your back.

126. Nothing can harm you if God loves you.