SherifWe are not surprised to have a lot of people interested in African proverbs about love and marriage. And our reason for saying this is that Africa has got a lot of great proverbs. We have a lot of great proverbs, even though, African countries may not rank as some of the most developed in the world. Whether it’s Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Sudan, Ghana, Togo, etc, they all have great proverbs. And for those who wonder what some of these proverbs are, they are what we intend to provide in this article.
In this article, we would be providing over 50 African proverbs on love and marriage, as promised in the title. And these proverbs are selected from a good number of African countries. In other words, all proverbs listed here are not restricted to a particular country. However, you should note that we’re providing these proverbs in their English form. We decided not to provide them in their native languages, to make these proverbs readable for many more people.
50+ African Proverbs About Love And Marriage
1. A man’s first wife never complains of neglect from the penis, the first morsel never complains of insufficient sauce.
2. The shadow of a man is better than that of a wall [i.e. it is better to behave a man than not to].
3. A woman who is not successful in her own marriage has no advice to give her younger generations.
4. If there were no cold Friday evenings and boring Saturdays, no one would get married any more.
5. You have captured my liver (the liver is considered to be the organ of love among the Berber).
6. One who pervades the great universe is seen by none unless a man knows the unfolding of love.
7. Take a wife while you are young that she may make a son for you while you are youthful.
8. Getting married is nothing, it’s assuming the responsibility of marriage that counts.
9. Instruct a man, you instruct an individual. Instruct a woman, you instruct a nation.
10. “Now the marriage begins,” says the woman who has been beaten with thorns.
11. The husband is the tie and the wife is the parcel; when the tie breaks, the parcel loosens.
12. The man who says he will not marry a woman with other admirers will not marry a woman.
13. It is only when you look at a bride’s eye is when you know she is crying.
14. If you marry a monkey for his wealth, the money goes and the monkey remains as is.
15. It is the habit that a child forms at home that follows them to their marriage.
16. A woman married without consultation runs away without consultation.
17. Marriage is like a groundnut; you have to crack them to see what is inside
18. It is Mr.Old-Man-Monkey who marries Mrs.Old-Woman-Monkey.
19. So many little things make a man love a woman in a big way.
20. One who is looking for a wife does not speak with contempt about women.
21. If you laugh at your mother-in-law, you’ll get dirt in your eye.
22. If you marry a beautiful woman, you marry trouble.
23. Sadness is a valuable treasure, only discovered in people you love.
24. Don’t be so much in love that you can’t tell when it’s raining.
25. The man that is loved by his wife has no trouble conversing.
26. The quarrel of lovers is the renewal of love.
27. Do not correct with a strike that which can be taught with a kiss.
28. Marry the girl of a good family, though she be seated on a mat, very poor.
29. Marry amongst strangers, thus you will not have feeble posterity.
30. If you are wise, look after your house, love your wife without alloy.
31. Marry the distant, marry not the near.
32. The thinnest bread finds itself married to bread.
33. Where there is love there is no darkness.
34. A good “live with” is better than a bad marriage.
35. The same mouth that courts you doesn’t marry you.
36. Don’t play matchmaker for your son but rather for your daughter.
37. Marry for love, work for money.
38. The way you got married is not the way you will get divorced.
39. He who loves a thing often talks of it.
40. If you love, love the moon; if you steal, steal a camel.
41. If you have no relatives, get married.
42. He who has nothing to die for has nothing to live for.
43. A wise woman has much to say and yet remains silent.
44. Whoever marries my mother, I will call him uncle.
45. Like a bride’s mother… does nothing yet acts busy.
46. A man that begets a barren cannot have a grandchild.
47. A beautiful thing is never perfect.
48. Many are the roads that do not lead to the heart.
49. Never marry a woman who has bigger feet than you.
50. There is no queue at the gate of patience.
51. When in love, a cliff becomes a meadow.
52. He who marries a beauty marries trouble.
53. If a friend hurts you, run to your wife.
54. It is the wife who knows her husband.
55. The hand you cannot bite, kiss.
Looking at some African proverbs in details
The shadow of a man is better than that of a wall [i.e. it is better to behave a man than not to]: Here in Africa, it is strongly expected of a woman to get married as soon as she can. Even though there isn’t any doubt about the fact that we have women who can do a lot of things for themselves, there’s actually a lot a woman can gain from having a husband.
So in short, as long as a woman has nothing to lose by getting married, she shouldn’t stay unmarried.
African Proverbs About Love And MarriageThe man who says he will not marry a woman with other admirers will not marry a woman: We have a lot of men who get easily jealous. And some prefer marrying a woman who is hardly disturbed by other men. While it’s not completely a bad thing to be jealous, this proverb is trying to say all women would be loved by other men. In other words, you shouldn’t give up on women because of how much attention they’re getting.
Marriage is like a groundnut; you have to crack them to see what is inside: This is hands-down one of the very popular African proverbs. The proverb is another way of saying the outcome of marriage is quite unpredictable. And this is very true.
And when talking about the outcome, we are not just talking about how the couples are going to get together. We are also talking about things like if the marriage is going to produce a child or not.
There is no queue at the gate of patience: Another proverb we find really interesting in this one. For those who don’t understand what it means, this proverb is another way of saying people are not patient. And not only do we find the proverb interesting, it also happens to be very true.
One thing a lot of people have failed to realize, is that patience can help accomplish anything. You only have to be willing to accomplish patience, to get anything you want. But unfortunately, a lot of people aren’t like this. However, this isn’t to mean that you should just sit down and expect good things to happen. Rather, you’re expected to work and exercise patience, at the same time.
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