Akan Proverbs

Akan Proverbs grew from matrilineal clans and the gold-rich Ashanti states of Ghana. They honor eloquence, elders, and communal duty, using forest and marketplace images to guide conduct and leadership.

When a shield wears out, the framework still remains.

Akan Proverb

When the hen steps on the feet of her chicken, she does not mean to kill them.

Akan Proverb

You are the subject of he whose handcuffs you wear.

Akan Proverb

You do not need a big stick to break a cock's head.

Akan Proverb

Although the snake does not fly, it has caught the hornbill, whose home is in the sky.

Akan Proverb

Fowls will not spare a cockroach that falls in their midst.

Akan Proverb

If a horn deserves a jawbone, they attach one to it.

Akan Proverb

If an ass goes a-traveling, he'll not come home a horse.

Akan Proverb

If you do not have sandals, find some, if you do not have gun powder, find some for a score to settle with you on the battle grounds.

Akan Proverb

The child is capable of splitting open the snail, not the tortoise.

Akan Proverb

The clever bird is easily trapped in the leaves at the edges.

Akan Proverb

The good mother knows what her children will eat.

Akan Proverb

The knot tied by a wiseman cannot be undone by a fool.

Akan Proverb

The gun catridge-belt of akowua has never been known to lack bullets.

Akan Proverb

The one who asks questions doesn't lose his way.

Akan Proverb

Death's ladder is there for everyone to climb.

Akan Proverb

The tsetse-fly is perched on the tortoise's back in vain.

Akan Proverb

One should never rub bottoms with a porcupine.

Akan Proverb