proverbs Quotes

“Having spoken plainly so far, Okoye said the next half a dozen sentences in proverbs. Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten. Okoye was a great talker and he spoke for a long time, skirting round the subject and then hitting it finally.”

“As the elders said, if a child washed his hands he could eat with kings. Okonkwo had clearly washed his hands and so he ate with kings and elders. ”

“To have peace there must be strife; both are part of the structure of the world and requirements”

“If you are mighty and powerful, then gain respect through knowledge and through your gentleness of speech. Don’t order things except as it is fitting. The one who provokes others gets into trouble. Don’t be haughty lest you be humbled. But also, don’t be mute lest you be chided.”

“By living a life based on wisdom and truth, one can discover the divinity of the soul, its union to the universe, the supreme peace and contentment which comes from satisfying the inner drive for self discovery.”

“Do not assess a man who has nothing, and thus falsify your pen.”

“True knowledge comes from the upward path which leads to the eternal fire; error, defeat and death result from following the lower path of worldly attachment.”

“Be industrious, let thine eyes be open, lest you become a beggar, for the man that is idle cometh not to honor.”

“Evil as well as good, both operate to advance the Great Plan.”

“Seek to perform your duties to your highest ability, this way your actions will be blameless.”

“The worst things: To be in bed and sleep not, To want for one who comes not, To try to please and please not.”

“Suffering in search of truth gives true meaning to the truth.”

“One does not run to reach success, one does not move to spoil it.”

“Man is separated into soul and body, and only when the two sides of his senses agree together, does utterance of its thought conceived by mind take place.”

“The impious soul screams: I burn; I am ablaze; I know not what to cry or do; wretched me, I am devoured by all the ills that compass me about; alack, poor me, I neither see nor hear! This is the soul’s chastisement of itself. For the mind of the man imposes these on the soul.”

“Take the fare from him who is wealthy, and let pass him who is poor.”

“They who have received some portion of God’s gift, these, if judged by their deeds, have from death’s bond won their release; for they embrace in their own mind, all things, things on the earth, things in the heaven, and things above the heaven - if there be aught. They who do not understand, because they possess the aid of reason only and not mind, are ignorant wherefore they have come into being and whereby, like irrational creatures, their makeup is in their feelings and their impulses, they fail in all appreciation of things which really are worth contemplation. These center all their thought upon the pleasures of the body and its appetites.”

“I wept because I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.”

“Tomorrow’s world will be shaped by what we teach our children today.”

“It is better to give others a piece of your heart than a piece of your mind.”

“When you speak, always remember that God is one of your listeners.”

“He who has no money is poor; he who has nothing but money is even poorer.”

“Mentioning the faults of others does not rid us of our own.”

“People with a heart for God have a heart for people.”

“Be slow to anger and quick to forgive, and you will have friends for as long as you live.”

“A clear conscience is a soft pillow.”

“The straight path must sometimes be crooked.”

“All answers lie beyond the gate of experience.”