100 Multicultural Proverbs

Festus E. Obiakor, Ph.D., is the Chief Executive Manager, Sunny Educational Consulting, Shorewood, Wisconsin. He has served as Department Head and Professor, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, Georgia and The City College of New York, New York. A teacher, scholar, leader, and consultant, he has served as Distinguished Visiting Professor at a variety of universities. He is the author of more than 150 publications, including books, articles, and commentaries; and he has presented papers at many national and international conferences. He serves on the editorial boards of reputable nationally and internationally refereed journals, including Multicultural Learning and Teaching (MLT) in which he serves as Executive Editor. Dr. Obiakor is a leader who has been involved in many landmark scholarly works in the fields of general and special education, with particular focus on African American and other culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) learners and he continues to prescribe multidimensional methods of assessment, teaching, and intervention for these individuals. Based on this premise, Dr. Obiakor created the Comprehensive Support Model (CSM), an intervention model that values the collaborative, consultative, and cooperative energies of students, families, teachers/service providers, communities, and government agencies.

"A rich, lively, and positive commentary on our global cultures. Obiakor′s selection of proverbs and the conceptual framework for the book is, to say the least, powerful. Equally impressive and effective are his brief interpretations and prescriptions for the appropriate use of these proverbs for those involved in education, leadership, and service provision."

• ForewordPrefaceAcknowledgementsAbout the Author1. Proverbs That Teach Self-ResponsibilityProverb #1: If Everyone Loves You, You Will Not Know Who Poisoned YouProverb #2:If You Tell a Tree that You Will Kill It...Proverb #3:The Rat That Joins the Lizard to Get Wet in the Rain...Proverb #4: What You’re Looking for Is What You Will GetProverb #5: What a Person Does Is in His HeartProverb #6: If You’ve Not Reached Where You’re Going, You Should Keep GoingProverb #7: Eneke the Bird Noted That Since Men Have Learned to...Proverb #8: Your Intelligence Is Your Handbag, and You Carry It...Proverb #9: When a Young Man Washes His Hands Properly...Proverb #10: The Lizard That Fell From the Iroko Tree Said That If...Proverb #11:The Person Who Blows the Flute Must Sometimes Wipe His MouthProverb #12:The Dog Does Not Chew the Bone That Is Hanging Around Its NeckProverb #13: If You Do Not Allow People to Know What Your Size...Proverb #14: If You Pull a Tree and It Pulls You Back, You Should Leave it AloneProverb #15: If One Is Not Careful, What Destroyed His Father Might Destroy HimProverb #16: As You Make Your Bed so Will You Lie on ItProverb #17: If You Try to Wrestle Down Your Father, His Wrapper Will Cover Your EyesProverb #18: When You Chew the Dried Meat, it Fills Up Your MouthProverb #19: You Can Cry All You Want, But You Cannot Cry Out BloodProverb #20: Where You Live Is Where You ProtectProverb #21: Money Is the Beauty of a ManProverb #22: It Is Not the Load That Breaks Us Down; It Is the Way We Carry ItProverb #23: A Good Name Shines in the DarkProverb #24: A Person Who Does Not Concede Defeat Is Not a Good SportProverb #25: A Person Who Praises the Rain Has Been Rained On2. Proverbs That Teach Collaboration and ConsultationProverb #1: Life Is in the EarsProverb #2: To Come and Eat Is Not to Come and Work!Proverb #3: A Tree Cannot Make a ForestProverb #4: When Mother Cow Is Chewing Grass, the Younger Ones Look at Her MouthProverb #5: It Takes a Whole Village to Raise a ChildProverb #6: When You Wrestle Someone to the Ground, You Also...Proverb #7: A Fool Does Not Know That His Brother or Sister Is a VisitorProverb #8: The Fly Without an Advisor Follows the Dead Body Into the GraveProverb #9: A Gathering of Kinsmen and Kinswomen Is an...Proverb #10: When Two Elephants Fight, Grasses SufferProverb #11: Laughter Is Just a Matter of Moving Back the CheekProverb #12: A Good Friend Is Better Than a Bad Family MemberProverb #13: The Tiger’s Cub Does Not Chew GrassProverb #14: If You Give Your Mother a Counterfeit Money, You...Proverb #15: The Person Who Sits Next to Someone Can Easily Smell His MouthProverb #16: The Knife and the Axe Do Not CompeteProverb #17: You Cannot Climb a Tree Without SupportProverb #18: Let the Kite and the Eagle Perch and Whichever One...Proverb #19: The Crazy Person and His Mind UnderstandProverb #20: In My Poverty, Let Not Poverty Befall the Person Who...Proverb #21: The Child’s Home, Even If It Is Trashy, Is Always a Palace Away From HomeProverb #22: The Rooster Does Not Forget Who Plucked Its Feathers...Proverb #23: When the Moon Is Shining, a Person With a Physical...Proverb #24: When a Child Is Tired of Working, He Resorts to FightingProverb #25: When You Dig a Ditch for Others, You Might Fall in It3: Proverbs That Teach SpiritualityProverb #1: If You’re Eating With the Devil, You Must Use a Long SpoonProverb #2: If You Fall Down and Do Not Stand Up, Evil Will Take OverProverb #3: God Does Not Give You a Load That You Cannot CarryProverb #4: Evildoers Are Usually Pursued By Their Own ShadowsProverb #5: Do Not Put Yourself Where Your Faith Will Fail YouProverb #6: I Am Holding My Staff and You Are Holding Your...Proverb #7:The Toughest Head Carries the MasqueradeProverb #8:Let’s Continue to Sacrifice and Let the Blame Go to the GodsProverb #9:God Gives and God TakesProverb #10: If You Are Better Than Someone, You Might Be Better...Proverb #11: No Person Is GodProverb #12: God Knows the Heart of EveryoneProverb #13: The Same Mother Delivers the Children, but the Same...Proverb #14: When You Believe, Your God Will BelieveProverb #15: God’s Time Is The BestProverb #16: You Can Never Become Someone Else’s GodProverb #17: The Opportunity That God Sends Does Not Wake Up...Proverb #18: Everyone Has His/Her Own GodProverb #19: There Is No Partnership Between Good and EvilProverb #20: A Person Who Ridicules Good Will Become Overtaken by EvilProverb #21: The Fear of God Is Not Based on What We WearProverb #22: A Person Who Trusts in God Lacks NothingProverb #23: A Witch Doctor Does Not Cure HimselfProverb #24: Where There Are Many People, There God IsProverb #25: The Veil Spirit of a Person Is a Person4. Proverbs That Teach Other Life LessonsProverb #1: Nights Have EarsProverb #2: As Much as You Love Your Husband, You Will Not Want to be Buried Alive With HimProverb #3: When a Poor Person Is Told What It Takes to Be Rich...Proverb #4: The Frog Does Not Come Out in the Daytime for NothingProverb #5: A Traveler Is More Knowledgeable Than an Aged PersonProverb #6: The Dying Dog Does Not Smell the Bad OdorProverb #7: We Never Go Back to YesterdayProverb #8:Patience Is KingProverb #9:You Do Not Tell the Deaf Person That...Proverb #10: The Hot Soup Is Usually Licked SlowlyProverb #11: When the Wind Blows, You See the Chicken’s ButtocksProverb #12: Truth Is LifeProverb #13: Soiled Hands Lead to the Oily MouthProverb #14: The Patient Person Eats the Best Part of the FishProverb #15: All Lizards Are Lying on Their Stomachs, and...Proverb #16: When the Child’s Sore Is Healed, He Tends to Forget the PainProverb #17: A Child Must Crawl Before WalkingProverb #18: The Look of a Child Determines If You Will Take Food From HimProverb #19: It Does Not Matter How Bad the Yam Is; It Is Still...Proverb #20: When Dried Bones Are Mentioned, Old People Feel UneasyProverb #21: A Person Who Is Already on the Floor Does Not...Proverb #22: Tomorrow Is Pregnant; No One Knows What It Might DeliverProverb #23: There Is No Use for a Dry PorridgeProverb #24: As the Cow Gets Older, Its Nostrils Get BiggerProverb #25: Anything With a Beginning Must Have an EndAfterword