Elder status has bestowed upon me the wisdom to accept the fact that I will not leave this earthly existence as I once envisioned it would be.
I do recognize, however, that my tiny (size 11) footprint in the sand has changed the course of the mighty ocean.
Not everyone can attest to a similar impact. Particularly if they don’t own the shoes—wisdom—to make a significant impact.
This week I offer shoes for the soul.
Find the gem that shines brightest for you, and pass on those that can inspire or educate someone else. Remember, before there was history, there was African wisdom:
• Knowledge is a garden. If it isn’t cultivated, you can’t harvest it.
• He who is afraid to ask is ashamed of learning
• Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one individual can embrace it.
• No man can outwit their ancestors.”
• The fool speaks, the wise man listens.
• Walk like you have 3,0000 ancestors walking behind you
• The eye never forgets what the heart has seen
• In the moment of crisis, the wise build bridges, and the foolish build dams
• Money, if you use it, comes to an end; learning how to use it, increases
• Knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand.
• Silence is a fence around wisdom
• A bird that flies off the earth and lands on an anthill is still on the ground.
• When deeds peak, words are nothing
• Traveling is learning
•Rain does not fall on one roof alone
• A soft word causes anger to turn back, a humble heart helps settle quarrels.
• Home is not where we live, home is where we belong
• Teeth do not see poverty
• No matter how tall a man may be, he can never see tomorrow
• When you say one thing, the clever person understands three
• A closed mouth and open eyes never did anyone harm
• A man’s ruin lies in his tongue
• He who is guilty has much to say
• A wise man fills his head before emptying his mouth.”
• If you close your eyes to facts, you will learn through accidents
• A fool cannot untie the knot tied by a wise man
• When the door is closed, you must learn to slide across the crack of the sill
• You always learn a lot more when you lose than when you win.
• What you help a child to love can be more important than what you help him to learn.
• If you close your eyes because of the bad people around you, you will not see the good people passing by.
• Love, like rain, does not choose the grass on which it falls.”
• Do not treat your loved one like a swinging door: you are fond of it but you push it back and forth.
• A fool has to say something. A wise person has something to say.
• If love is a sickness, patience is the remedy.”
• To love someone who doesn’t love you is like shaking a tree to make the dew drops fall.”
• Truth should be in love and love in truth.”
• If you think you’re too small to make a difference, try spending the night with a mosquito.”
• When two elephants fight, only the grass gets hurt
• One falsehood spoils a thousand truths
• Don’t think there are no crocodiles just because the water is calm.
• Confiding a secret to an unworthy person is like carrying grain in a bag with a hole.
• The axe forgets but the tree remembers
• No matter how beautiful and well-crafted a coffin might look, it will not make anyone wish for death
• Even the lion protects himself against flies
• No medicine exists that can cure hatred
• No shortcuts exist to the top of a palm tree.
• Whoever lets himself be led by the heart will never lose his way
• If you want to know the end, look at the beginning
• One cannot stop sleeping because of a fear of bad dreams
• If a woman doesn’t love you, she talks about…
• Do not stand in a place of danger trusting in miracles
• To get lost is to learn the way
• Strategy is better than strength
• If men swear that they want to harm you when you are asleep, you can go to sleep. If women say so, stay awake.
• Don’t find fault with what you don’t understand
• The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes didn’t have tears.
• Kindness to all, friendship to few
• A horse has four legs, yet it often falls
• Where there is love there is no darkness
• Coffee and love taste best when hot.
• A patient man will eat ripe fruit
• You glow differently when your confidence is filled by belief in yourself instead of validation from others
• I am what I need to be when I need to be it
• If you cut your chains you free yourself
• The sun does not forget a village just because it is small
• A man dies when he stops working
• Children are the reward of life
• The young can walk faster, but the elder knows the road
• A happy man marries the girl he loves, but a happier man loves the girl he marries
• A fight between grasshoppers is a joy to the crow
• Love many, trust few and always paddle your own canoe
• One who marries for love alone will have bad days but good nights.
• Love doesn’t rely on physical features.”
• If anyone makes you laugh, it is not always because they love you.”
• You know who you love but you can’t know who loves you.”
• Love is a painkiller
• Let your love be like the misty rain, coming softly but flooding the river.”
• If love is a sickness, patience is the remedy.
• If you think education is expensive, try ignorance
• Do not say the first thing that comes to your mind
• A fool is thirsty in the midst of water—Ethiopian proverb
• It is difficult for two long-nosed lovers to kiss.”
• When you show the child the moon, it sees only your finger.
• A fish and bird may fall in love but the two cannot build a home together
• When the legs do not walk, the stomach does not eat
• Wise man never knows all, only fools know everything
• Good character like good soup; its usually homemade
• At the bottom of patience, one finds heaven
• The plan kills; the weapon only does the deed
• It’s much easier to fall in love than to stay in love
• If you educate a man, you educate one person. If you educate a woman, you educate a whole family.”• A husband with a good wife will never be on the road without supplies.”
• A home without a woman is like a barn without cattle.”
• A woman is a flower in a garden; her husband is the fence around it.”
• The mother hen does not break its own eggs
• If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
• A united family eats from the same plate
Hotep
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