All Tsumo

Shona Proverbs

• Chinoziva ivhu kuti mwana wembeva anorwaraIt is the ground alone that knows when a mouse's young one is ailing.
• Chipa muchena / kupfuma mudzimu wake. (K)Gifts can keep a poor man out of hardship, but they will not make him wealthy. Real prosperity depends on his own effort and resourcefulness — and, as the proverb puts it, on his ancestral spirit.
• Chipitipiti chakazvara chimwandamwandaCloseness taken too far too early is what produces the scattering. A tie that starts at full heat rarely lasts: before long the two no longer get on, they are let down and at cross purposes with each other, and it can end in fighting.
• Chirambakuudzwa akazoonekwa nembonjeThe one who would not be told anything was later seen nursing a gash on the head; refusing advice ends in painful consequences.
• Chiranda chinogara chanamataA servant only becomes properly settled once he has paid his respects to the people of the place.
• Chirango chehuku / chiri mumusongoraOf all the parts of a fowl, the neck ranked first for flavour. That made it the portion owed to a husband: any woman who had slaughtered a bird had to set the neck before him, and by that she let him know the bird had been killed on his account.
• Chirega kutya kununa / iwe wakasasikwaFor one whom the fire already holds, fear about fat being lost is out of place.
• Chirema ndechina mazano / chinotamba chakazendama kumadziroA disabled person gets by through ingenuity: he still dances, only propped against the wall.
• Chirere / mangwana chigozokurerawoCare for something well now, and in time it will turn round and care for you.
• Chiri kumunda ngechiri kuna amai.
• Chiri mubwe / chiri mugoneraWhat is shut inside a stone is as good as honey inside a wild hive — out of reach. When the only person who knows a matter is a tight-lipped elder, however much people want to hear it, they may as well give up hope of getting it out of him.
• Chiri mudundu / chiri muningaWhatever is held in the chest is as good as hidden away in a cave. What a person keeps inside is out of everyone else's reach.
• Chiri mumushunje / hachichingurwiWhatever is tied up inside a bundle of grass ought never to be accepted. Do not take on something whose contents you cannot see.
• Chiri pamumwe / chiri padandaEach person has to bear their own troubles; what strikes someone else lands as remotely as if it had struck a log. Onlookers are not moved enough by another's hardship to go without their own food at home.
• Chirimo hachina guti.
• Chiripo chariuraya / zizi harifi roga nemhepoThere must be a cause behind the owl's death; mere wind would not have killed it. Something out of the ordinary always has a real reason behind it.
• Chiro irombo / kuroora mbuya ikazvaraDo not bank on something you cannot be sure will happen; if it does turn out as you hoped, that is pure good fortune.
• Chirombo chenherera / kudya ikarutsaNo sooner does the orphan eat than he has to bring the food back up again; such is his lot.
• Chiruka makudza / haakoniwi kuruka nhavaSomeone accustomed to handling big and risky undertakings finds the small ones simple by comparison.
• Chirumbwana chitumiki.
• Chirume chakapota negwenzi chakapona chakarinzvenga chakafa.There is safety in avoiding temptation rather than exposing yourself to it.
• Chirume igumbu / chinoparukira kamweA man is likened to a sack: he gives way only once, and when he does the rupture is final.
• Chirume kufumira pachimwe / kumuromo chakatakuraA man who sets out at dawn to another's home comes carrying something on his lips. Such an early visit means he has news or a matter he is keen to speak about.
• Chirungu chakauya nechirunguriraEuropean ways displaced African custom so thoroughly that the upheaval is spoken of as a sickness spreading through the people.
• Chirungurira chirwere / kunyarara unofa nachoHeartburn is an illness, and keeping quiet about it can cost you your life. Any grievance, however slight, hurts, so a wronged person should speak it out and have it settled instead of storing up bitterness.
• Chirungurira ndechowadya maradzwa / chowerinopisaWhoever eats left-overs is the one indigestion troubles, while nausea comes to whoever eats food while it is hot.
• Chirungurira ngechowadya munya / cheungopisa masvotoA small slight can be shrugged off, but a man who is openly attacked will not stay quiet — he strikes back.
• Chishamiso kuona munhu afa achidziisirwa mvura.To do something sacred, that is not usually done by people.
• Chishashavira chine mombe dzokwaGutu, dzinokuma nedzisina mhuru dzose.
• Chishashavira chowadye ganda / kukunda wadya mushunaThe truly knowledgeable make no display of themselves; it is those with little learning and little to their name who trumpet their own praises everywhere. Bragging is what the saying holds up against modesty and humility.
• Chisi chako hachibatsiri / unodya wakaringa kumusuoWhatever you have borrowed should be put to use quickly, since the owner may come to reclaim it at any moment.
• Chisi chako idya wakatemana, rega kugarira pasi kunge chako.
• Chisi chako / igonza-hopeWhat is not your own leaves you untroubled, so you can sleep.
• Chisi chako / kuita musoko-musoko / unodya wakatarisa kumusuoWhat does not belong to you you eat in hurried mouthfuls, with your eyes on the doorway.
• Chisi chako pembera wachidya.
• Chisi hachieri musi wacharimwaBreaking the chisi rest-day does not bring its penalty on the very day the field is worked. Wrongdoing is rarely punished at the moment it is done, but the reckoning arrives later all the same.
• Chisingaperi chinoshura / mutengeni hauna zvigwegweduEverything has its limit; nothing in this world, however celebrated or agreeable, carries on without reaching an end one way or another.
• Chisiri chako / pembera wadyaDo not celebrate over what is not yet truly yours; wait until you have actually eaten. A hunter does not rejoice over an animal still caught in the snare, since it may break free and leave him with nothing.
• Chisiri chako rembedza maoko / rega kukungira hata sechakoCarry what is not yours dangling in your hands rather than coiling a head-pad for it as if it belonged to you. Do not settle into treating borrowed property as your own.
• Chitaurirwa / mbare dzokumusanaNobody can see his own back, so no account of the scars on it will ever satisfy him; news received second-hand is equally unsatisfying compared with seeing a thing for yourself.
• Chitaurirwa mbare yegotsi (yokumusana).
• Chitema hachiuyi pamunhu mumwe / asi voseMisfortune never lands on one person alone. What happens to an individual is felt by his whole circle of kin and friends, just as a death in one household sets everyone mourning together.
• Chitende chinorema / ndechine mhodziThe calabash that weighs anything is the one with seeds still inside it.
• Chitiyo kupinda muzai / kuona maiEveryone copies the ways of their parents and the customs of their own household. A child's conduct is a mirror of the family it came from.
• Chitsva-chitsva / hazvienzani nechitsaruWhenever people get hold of something new, everything else strikes them as outdated and loses its appeal. Novelty pushes aside the old ways however useful those once were.
• Chitsva-chitsva / munamba wejenachenaWhatever is new carries its own freshness and appeal, like porridge made with milk.
• Chitsva chomumwe / chitsaru chomumweOne person's old thing is another person's new one.
• Chiutsi hachipfungairi / pasina motoYou will not see smoke curling up unless a fire is burning somewhere.
• Chiutsi hachipwititiki / pasina moto.Nothing comes about without a sufficient cause; any wrong that comes to light was done by somebody.
• Chiuya chidya murimi.
• Chivendekete anoseka chimedureA plate with a crack in it mocks the one that is broken, though both are damaged.
• Chiverevere ndechokubaya mombe / chamakombo maitiudzawoSlaughtering an ox may properly be done in secret, but when it comes to handing out land you should have let us know as well. Some matters may be kept private, but those affecting everyone must be announced.
• Chiverevere ndechousiku / chamasikati vazhinji vangouyaOnly what is done under cover of darkness can really be kept quiet; anything done in daylight will draw people to the spot.
• Chivhurumukira hachina imbwa horaYou will not find an old dog giving a hasty bark.
• Chivi chinodya mwene wachoWrongdoing consumes the person who commits it; a man usually pays the debt he himself incurred, and his ruin comes by the very road of his misdeeds.
• Chivingwi kumeso / mwoyo wacho imandaSomeone with an unattractive face may still have a heart padded with fat.
• Chivingwi kuseka bere imo mumwoyo macho imandaSomeone may be unpleasant to look at and yet have a generous heart and a character worthy of respect. Outward ugliness says nothing about the person inside.
• Chizungu manyoka / haatani kusereraThe word of the Portuguese was like a bout of diarrhoea that soon settles: what they said one day they had reversed by the next. It speaks of people whose statements cannot be depended on.
• Chokuchikidzira ndicho chamunoshaya / chokuringa jeya-cheya ndicho chamunowanaWhat you chase after with all your heart is what escapes you, while what you go after casually falls into your hands. A young man who sets his heart on a particular girl is turned down, yet the girl he approaches half-heartedly accepts him.
• Chomudura / hachienzani nechokupiwaWhat comes out of your own granary is a different thing from what is handed to you. If you have tried to provide for yourself and still fall short, you have no one to blame; but if you begged from others and were refused, you have grounds for resentment.
• Chomujiri ndechemhanza / chomudzimu ndechawadanirwaWhat you find for yourself among the wild fruit trees comes down to luck; what you are invited to share is the gift of the ancestral spirit.
• Chomukuru anopa omeneWhatever belongs to an elder is something he hands over himself, of his own accord.
• Chomukuru hachikumbirwiOne does not go begging an elder for what belongs to him.
• Chomumunda wezunde / tenda wachibataAnything you actually receive from the chief's communal field should be treated as good fortune rather than an entitlement.
• Chomungazva chinodyiwa nowabata mwanaThe share belonging to a woman who has just given birth goes to whoever holds and nurses the baby.
• Chomushambadzi chinozara tsvinaGoods that a trader carries around for sale inevitably get soiled.
• Chomutiri ndechokukomborerwaWhat simply comes to you — picked up or handed over — is a piece of good fortune to be thankful for; anything you actually want for yourself has to be sweated and laboured for.
• Chomwene wejira kufuka nokuwarira
• Chousiku tenda muperekedzi / kutsurwa chinorasikaThank the carrier when a gift reaches you at a late hour; whatever is sent along could have been lost on the way.
• Chovoruzhinji / awana ndowatangaWhat belongs to everyone goes to whoever gets there first.
• Chura kugara mumvura / handi kunwaLiving among wealthy people does not make a person wealthy, and even the rich themselves lack plenty of things despite their possessions.
• Dai pasina nyimo / makunguo aizodyei?Were there no bambara groundnuts, the crows would have nothing to feed on.
• Danda hariponi rutsva kaviriA log does not survive the bush fire twice; it is rare for anyone to slip out of the same danger or the same charge a second time.
• Dare harizondi munhu / rinozonda mhosvaThe court bears no grudge against the accused; it is the offence it condemns.
• Dede kuzorora / hunge rabvakoA baboon only sits down to rest once it has got somewhere. Rest is earned by having accomplished something first.
• Dembo harivhiyiwi paruzhinjiWhile you are still hoping to win a favour or obtain something of value from others, you must keep your faults out of sight. Letting people see what you really are will destroy your chances.
• Dende ringorema / ngerine mbeuWhat gives a thing its worth is the quality it carries inside, not how it looks from outside; a poor man with a sound mind is thought more of than a rich fool.
• Denhai vari semwa tiwane nyaya.
• (Deno) Ndakaziva / haitungamiri"If only I had known" never comes first — it arrives only after the deed is already done.
• Dindingwe rinofara richazvuva / kana rozvuviwa roti mavara angu azara ivhuThe leopard enjoys dragging others along, but once it is dragged itself it complains that its spots are covered in dirt. Some people take pleasure in mistreating others yet are outraged when the same is done to them.
• Dindingwe rinonakirwa richikweva iro / kana rokwehwa roti mavara angu azara ivhuThe cheetah is delighted to be the one doing the dragging, yet the moment it is dragged itself it grumbles that its markings are getting covered in dirt.
• Diro haripinzwi mumundaWhoever owns the food should be the one to serve it out, especially to a visitor. Let the guest help himself and he may take far more than he needs, or even clear out his host's whole store.
• Diro munhu / kurinyengedza rinozivawoEveryone keeps some odd habits hidden away from other people, and the one being deceived often senses it. Nobody behaves in company exactly as he would on his own.
• Diro raba huku / ratorunzaGreed takes hold of the baboon once it has made off with a fowl.
• Dondo harina mbikiraThe forest offers nowhere to hide something.
• Doro ndimapedza mhosvaBeer drives a charge hanging over a man clean out of his head. Deep in drink, he loses sight of his poverty and takes himself for a chief, living for the moment in easy, untroubled plenty.
• Doro romunyimi rinovavaA mean person's beer turns out bitter: she either rushes the brewing because she is anxious to keep it from others, or hoards it so long that it spoils and can no longer be drunk.
• Dzaiva nhungo / dzave mbariroPoles that once served as the main roof beams are now only the lighter rafters. Positions have been swapped: what held the first rank has been reduced to a lesser one.
• Dzanza kusakara / rine mwene waroA basket only wears out because somebody owns it. People handle their own possessions with care and know how to use them, so the things keep serving them for a long time even once they are worn or fragile.
• Dzapinda musvo ramambo / dzawira muzindaCopying what others do without understanding it is foolish, and it is worse still to live beyond your means in order to keep up with the wealthy. Know your own position and act accordingly.
• Dzatsvo kuuya / nyemba kutsva dzarungwaIf beans are to catch and burn, the fortunate thing is that it happens once the salt is already in them.
• Dzimba dzinotsva dzakavimbikanaHuts standing side by side go up in flames together: whatever befalls one household catches the neighbours in it too. If someone is killed in a village, every person living there is expected to give evidence.
• Dzimbabwe harina dandaroThe chief's place is not a spot for lounging about (dandaro: a place of entertainment). Those judging cases cannot feed everyone who comes, so each person must see to his own food and sleeping arrangements; once your business is done you leave room for the next caller.
• Dzimbabwe muswero / harina uraroThe chief's homestead is somewhere you pass the day, not somewhere you stay the night.
• Dzingidzi gonyera pamwe / chomudzimu chikuwanirepoWasp, settle and curl up in one spot, and let what the ancestors have set aside for you find you there. Stay put in your own place and accept the end that comes to you naturally.
• Dzingidzi gonyera pamwe / maruva enyika haaperiWasp, settle yourself in one place — the world's flowers will never be exhausted. A narrow escape should be taken as a warning: having got away once, with injuries, a person should be careful afterwards and not walk back into the same danger.
• Dzingoenda ngokudyana. (M)Things keep moving along by feeding off one another: whoever gets ahead has usually done so on the strength of other people's labour.
• Dzinobva ruuya / dzinoenda ruuyaSomeone who leaves a place without quarrelling or causing an uproar will usually find peace at the place he moves to.
• Dzinoendera madzoko / marindo ariko mberiPeople set off meaning to come back the same day, yet a night spent away may be waiting for them. Something unexpected can hold a traveller up, so no one should promise to return, not knowing what lies ahead.
• Dziva rine ngwena / idivakamweA pool holding crocodiles is one you bathe in a single time. A place already known to be dangerous is not worth returning to.
• Dzorera chomumwe / chisina vendeAnything you have borrowed should go back to its owner still in good order. Returning a thing damaged or ruined is a bad way to repay a favour.
• Dzvinyu kuzambe zuva / huona bakoThe lizard only basks where its crack in the rock is within reach. A person who walks into risk has already worked out his way back out of it.
• Fimbi huru / iri mumwoyoWhat you keep inside your heart is as well hidden as something stored in a cave; no one can guess your thoughts unless you yourself speak them out.
• Findikirai / panotamba ndumureLeave plenty of room around a small child who is dancing. Some people are erratic and hard to predict, so one must allow for anything when dealing with them, just as a young child who cannot yet tell good from harmful needs grown-ups watching over it.
• Fodya haina manenji semhambaBeing refused a pinch of snuff is easily pardoned and forgotten, but being refused beer plants lasting ill feeling between the two people.
• Gapakapa ndere fodya / remhudzi rinokura nokusakurirwaTobacco comes up on its own, but pumpkins only thrive if someone weeds and tends them.
• Gapo rimwe harisvitsi zhizhaA single small handout does little for someone whose need is ongoing and substantial; the relief lasts only a moment and the want returns.
• Gapu irindwa nomumwe chete, vaviri muto unotsva.
• Gapu irindwa nomumwe / vaviri muto unotsvaA single pot of relish needs a single person watching it; put two in charge and the sauce burns. Responsibility cannot be divided — a task with several supervisors is unlikely to succeed.
• Gara kwazvo namavara engweRemain in good health, you and the leopard's markings.
• Gengezha mukombe / hazvienzani nokunwa nedemheA worn-out ladle still beats having to drink from a broken gourd. Something poor in quality is preferable to nothing usable at all.
• Godzi paakadya nhiyo / haapakanganwi. (M)A hawk remembers the spot where it once caught a chick. In the same way, someone in difficulty goes back to the people who helped him before, knowing that is where willing hearts are found.
• Gomba harifutsirwi nevhuA debtor cannot promise to clear what he owes only once those who owe him have paid up. He must first honour the terms he agreed with his own creditor, and chase his own money afterwards.
• Gomba harina mwana.
• Gomba rinosiya rauraya muridzi womukadziThe man who carries on with another man's wife ends up bringing about the death of her husband.
• Gombarume kudze soro / kukudza dumbu wonge wave chanaA grown man should enlarge his head rather than his stomach, for a big belly only makes him childlike. A leader is respected for judgement and understanding, not for appetite.
• Gombo rine chitsva / ndiro rino kudyaLand newly broken is the land that yields a good deal to eat.
• Gomo guru rakapera nokumwaukiraEven a great mountain is worn down little by little. Large things are reduced by small, steady action over time.
• Gona haribati pasina rimweA charm only works when it meets another of its kind; likewise, bare accusation cannot turn an innocent person into a guilty one. If someone really is guilty, that will come out on its own.
• Gonda pasi / mapapiro ane udyiStay down on the ground, since having wings carries its own dangers.
• Gonde chako / chimwango chokukumbira hachina ndimaDepend on what actually belongs to you. The book glosses only the opening phrase, 'gonde chako', as leaning on one's own possession.
• Gondo harishayi / kuti rashaya rapunga mararaAn eagle rarely comes away empty-handed; on the occasions it does fail, all it gathers is refuse.
• Gondo kuengerera / raona zumbuSomeone who keeps circling and loitering in one place will not leave because he has caught sight of something there that he is after.
• Gone ana gone wakewo / tsuro akatambwa nakambaEvery capable one has someone more capable above him, as the hare was outdone by the tortoise. In human affairs nothing exists that does not have something else able to overcome it.
• Gonzo hariiswi mudura rine nzunguYou do not shut a rat inside a grain store that holds groundnuts.
• Gonzo mhini gara mumhango / chomudzimu chikuwaniremoA rat that has lost its tail had better stay inside its hollow tree, where whatever fate is due to it can find it in the ordinary course of things.
• Gonzo mhini rambira mumhango, chomudzimu chigokuwaniramo.
• Gonzo nachin'ai / zvatosvoranaThe rat and the soot have got on each other's nerves.
• Gonzo usavi.
• Gore musanduEach year brings its own change: good fortune this year is no guarantee of the same next year, and a bad year does not condemn you to another one. It also carries the sense that a chance seldom comes round twice.
• Gore nderinoThis year is the only one of its kind; no year comes round again the same way.
• Gore rakarima nyope / haisakanayaSomeone who habitually keeps putting a thing off finds that, by the time he finally sets about it, outside circumstances have got in the way and spoilt it.
• Gore rinorima nyope mvura hainayi.
• Gore rinorima simbe / mvura hainayiThe one year a lazy man finally tills his field is the year the rain fails to come. The idle person's rare effort is met with bad luck.
• Gotsi rutsitoThe back of one's head is a fence — it shuts off what lies behind you.
• Gudo guru peta muswe / kuti vadoko vakutyeSomeone who holds a senior position must carry himself with decorum and good manners. Without that, those beneath him will not hold him in respect.
• Gudo harivingirwi pachiroYou do not chase a baboon all the way to the rock where it sleeps. An opponent should not be hounded right into his own stronghold.
• Gudo kutya zvaro asi haribatirwi mwanaEven a naturally timid person will fight with surprising bravery once what he holds dearest, such as his child, is threatened.
• Gudo munhu / kuvandaidza rinokuzivawoThe baboon is like a person: it too has mastered the trick of stealing on the sly.
• Gudo rakapona namanainaiThe baboon came through alive by dodging this way and that; slipping aside from danger rather than standing still is what saves one.
• Gunde repwa rinonaka / asi hariiswi muduraWhatever sweetness sugar cane has is gone with the chewing; a granary is no place for it. Some enjoyments come to hand easily, but nothing of lasting good comes of them and they themselves do not last.
• Gunguo kuseka zizi / iwo muromo waro uchinge dendeIt is the crow, carrying a mouth the size of a calabash, that finds the owl's beak worth laughing at.
• Gunguo nyangwe rogeza sei / idema cheteHowever much a crow scrubs itself, it stays black: a person of lower rank cannot put himself on a level with his superior and act as he pleases, since it is the chief, not his subject, who does as he wishes.
• Gunguo rakaramba kumirira museve / rikapona nehwakumukwakuThe crow would not sit still waiting to be shot, and saved itself by hopping away.
• Gunguo rinodya mbamba / rino muchero waro.Were there no open-hearted people, those in hardship would have nobody to turn to for help. God created every person knowing how that person was going to live, and so even the crippled and the blind are able to get by, sustained by those who have compassion.
• Guyo kuchena / kuona zviyoA grinding stone goes pale only because grain has been milled on it. What shows on the surface is the mark of what has actually been done.
• Gwanza harizivisi.The path gives no warning of who is travelling along it. If it could speak, people would know in advance whether a friendly guest or an enemy was approaching and could prepare to meet him.
• Gwara harina mbonje.A timid person (gwara, a coward) neither provokes others nor fights them, so he is never walking around with wounds. He does everything he can to keep out of danger.
• Haiahwa mbiri hadzibidzani rwizi.
• Haitongwi yokunonoka / soro rakandwaArriving late carries no penalty of its own, provided the person does eventually turn up. Turning up late is a far smaller fault than staying away altogether.
• Hakuna chikwari chinotetera chimweNo francolin scratches up the ground for another bird's benefit. People want whatever is good for themselves, and even in danger a person will see to his own safety before thinking of anyone else.
• Hakuna machenjera mhosvaNobody is shrewd enough to talk his way out of a conviction. No one keeps wealth set aside to pay for an offence he has yet to commit, and a case always catches a person at a moment he was not expecting it.
• Hama haipiwi munhuA kinsman is not a possession that can be handed over to somebody else.
• Hama ndisheA blood relation carries the weight of a chief, because kinship is not something one can purchase or hand out — it simply exists. Even a relative who has quarrelled with you will put himself through trouble to help when you are in danger.
• Hamba hairemerwi namakwati ayoA tortoise is never weighed down by its own shell: what belongs to a person is not felt as a burden, however demanding. A man with many children does not regard raising, clothing and bringing them up as a hardship.
• Handira inorwa / inoonekwa nemivareYou can tell a fighting bull by the scars it carries.
• Hanga inobatwa namauruko manaIt takes four flights before a guinea fowl is finally caught. Nothing falls to a person until he has worked for it; the hunter knows only patience and persistence will bring him his bird.
• Hangaiwa iyemberwiRush at whatever is hard to lay hold of and it escapes you. Because birds take fright so readily, all kinds of lures and contrivances are used to trap them.
• Hapana angagona nechisingagonekwi nagoneWhere the expert fails at something, nobody else is able to do it.
• Hapana anogona mwana asiri wakeNobody looks after another person's child as well as the child's own parent would. In the same way, anything belonging to someone else is never handled with the care its owner would give it.
• Hapana chembwa / tenzi wararira mutakuraWhen the master himself has had to make do with boiled grain, there is nothing left over for the dog; too little food means everyone goes hungry.
• Hapana chinonakira chimweNothing is inherently better than anything else; whoever acquires a thing treats it as new, even if someone else has already used it. A worn item looks fresh to the person who had none, just as a divorced woman is welcomed like a bride at another man's home.
• Hapana chisingadi ushe / gwavava ndiye nevanji woruwareNobody is without an appetite for rank: sit a man beside a chief and he carries himself as a chief, put a poor man among the wealthy and he takes himself for one of them, though he has nothing in common with them.
• Hapana chisingawanisiAnything at all can end up leading to a marriage.
• Hapana kunomera sora rogaThere is no ground anywhere that brings forth nothing but weeds.
• Hapana kusina duraAlmost anywhere on earth offers some means of keeping alive. Even a newcomer in unfamiliar country, or one working poor soil, will get a crop out of it if he puts in the labour.
• Hapana (mhou) inokumira mhuru isiri yayoA cow will only call out for the calf that belongs to her.
• Hapana muchero usina masvisvinwaEating fruit always leaves something to be spat out. So too with work of any kind, bad or good: it carries its own return, and nothing a person undertakes ends without producing something.
• Hapana munwe unoiswa mukanwa / ukabuda usina mateA finger placed in the mouth always comes out wet with saliva.
• Hapana murume anofa asina ngavaNobody goes through life without borrowing from others, and it has always been so. Hardly any man dies with every obligation settled; some debt is left for his sons or relatives to clear.
• Hapana mutunhu / usina nyokaNo district exists that is free of snakes. Every place has its own hidden danger or troublesome person.
• Hapana nyika isina rindaEvery land has its graves — death is found everywhere. One can die at home just as easily as abroad.
• Harahwa mbiri hadzibidzani rwiziWhere the same ignorance is shared by both, neither is able to be of help to the other.
• Harahwa mbiri hadziurayaniTwo people burdened by the same hardship rarely turn on each other, since each depends on the other to get by. They help one another as far as their means allow.
• Hari haiviri isina mukuchidziri.Whatever a person sets out to do, they need the backing and encouragement of relatives and friends to keep going until they succeed. Without someone to keep the fire going, nothing comes to the boil.
• Hari isi yako haisiyrwi muto.
• Hari mbiri dzinovirirana / hadzina mabikiroIf two pots are on the boil together, there is no cooking them.
• Hauzivi chakakodza nguruveYou have no way of telling what it was that put the fat on the pig.
• Hauzivi chingaunza tsapfuThere is no knowing what may bring on the calves of the legs; the cause of a thing is not something you can foresee.
• Hauzivi tsanga inokodza tsambakodziYou cannot tell which grain is the one that thickens the porridge. Do not throw a thing away as useless, because the very item you dismiss today may be the one that serves you tomorrow.
• Hombarume haatyi mumwe. (hombarume: expert hunter)You should not back away from something you have set out to do just because another person is after the same thing. A young man courting a girl has no reason to give her up simply because a rival is courting her too.
• Hombarume haiiti shura nesangoA hunter reads no ominous or mysterious meanings into the forest.
• Hombarume kutema tsvimbo / kuona sango kukuraA skilled hunter shapes knobkerries because he has sized up a wide stretch of bush to hunt. When a person starts preparing in a way no one expected of him, it shows he has a plan in mind.
• Homwe yerombe, haina chainosiya.
• Hope ndimapanungo / maoko haaswedziA job looks heavier to the eye than it really is; it is the face that flinches, not the hands. Once someone actually sets to work he usually finds the thing far lighter than he feared.
• Hove dzine murongaJust as fish follow a set channel, a community's life runs along a path already laid down, and those who keep to the customs handed down to them build a strong line. That inherited pattern is what secures the future and spurs people on.
• Huku haibiwi / inotandisa botsoWhat is done in secret eventually comes to light, and every deed carries its own consequence, which may come back on the doer.
• Huku kudzidzowana gonye / inopedza musha naroSomeone raised in poverty who suddenly comes into plenty cannot contain himself, parading his good fortune about and fretting that others may take it from him.
• Hukwana inodya / ndeiri pana maiThe chick that feeds well is the one that stays beside its mother. Staying close to the source of provision is what keeps you well supplied.
• Humburira chishapisoTo treat something as of little account is to bring shame on yourself.
• Hunguhwe cherire / mangwana ichauya yava nomukwendeThe jackal that keeps roaming about will come back tomorrow carrying a bundle of prey. One who wanders off in search of something eventually returns with a haul.
• Huru ingokudzwa ngedzayo.
• Huru inokudzwa newayoWhen someone owns something great and well known, others envy him and play it down, so the great thing ends up being praised by its owner alone. People dislike seeing another acquire plenty while they themselves have little.
• Hurudza inofa ichinzi inodyaA skilled farmer can go hungry while everyone around him assumes his granaries are still full. People refuse to accept that someone once well off can fall into want.
• Hwahwa muroyi aedzerwa,
• Hwaro hwerongo hahurasi nyamaNothing gets lost at the bottom of the pot: when an elder starts probing small details, he already knows the whole story behind the matter.
• Hwoni hwenyoka / kuruma chaisingadyi. (K)Someone who destroys for the sheer sake of destroying is like a snake that bites what it will not eat. Such spite brings the doer no benefit at all.
• Ibangano kugumwe / pava pakudzoka rwava rumwe rumwe.A person gathers others around him while he needs their labour, but keeps the rewards to himself when the time comes to share; people may start something together and still end up going their separate ways.
• Ibangano muchateya / kuzondoona kwava kwomumwe cheteSetting the trap takes everyone working together, but going back to inspect it is left to a single person.
• Idambudziko rehope / kurota kwawakarambwaDreaming about the person who turned you down is its own kind of torment.
• Idya zvose / gudo harina nhunziTake people as they come rather than picking and choosing, for everyone has the same worth. A man in particular should recognise that there is no difference between women who can bear him children.
• Igangaidza mukwenyi / mhezi kuvavira mudumbuWhoever would do the scratching is left baffled when the itching sore is inside the belly. Some troubles sit where no helping hand can reach them.
• Igangaidza-vavigi / kusvunura kwemufiWhen trouble strikes in a way that leaves a person no means of fighting back, he is thrown into complete helplessness and finally gives up — like a father watching a snake go after his child from the far side of a flooded river.
• Igaroziva kuti amai mukadzi wababaThat mother is father's wife needs no saying. Asking about what is plain to everyone marks a person as foolish, and in the same way custom simply settles what may and may not be done.
• Igaroziva kuti zai harisehwi mutoEveryone already knows that no gravy can be drained from a boiled egg. Some facts are plain enough that they need no demonstration.
• Igonyodzo / kudya chegadzinganiEating food that belongs to a tight-fisted woman brings resentment out into the open.
• Igonza-urombe / mhezi kuvavira mumwoyoAn itch felt in the heart is a sign that hardship is on its way. It announces coming destitution the way a scab announces itself by itching.
• Imbwa haipfigirwi mune nyamaYou never shut a dog inside a hut that has meat in it.
• Imbwa huru haihukuri nhandoA seasoned dog barks only when there is cause, and likewise an experienced person does not speak or act rashly. He weighs his thoughts first and moves at the proper moment, unlike a child who rushes in.
• Imbwa ine hona / haihukuriSomeone holding something precious that he could lose keeps his mouth shut rather than draw attention to it; a mother with a baby will not trade insults with a witch, choosing silence over risking her child.
• Imbwa inoba mazai / mangwana inodya hukuEggs are where the dog starts; fowls are what it takes next. Petty wrongdoing now can end in grave offences later.
• Imbwa inogwauta / haina ngozi.The dog that barks is not the dangerous one; a person who lets his anger out in words spends it there, while the one who stays silent is to be feared because he may repay the injury quietly.
• Imbwa inoruma vaenzi / mangwana inoruma vatenziThe dog that bites visitors today is liable to turn on its own owners tomorrow.
• Imbwa inotanda ndeyo munyepi, younyerere haitandi.
• Imbwa ivete haimutsirwi sadzaA dog that has fallen asleep is not woken up just to be given its food.
• Imbwa kudya matehwe / kushaya wokuvhima nayeA dog falls back on chewing hides because it has no one to go hunting with. Deprived of the proper occasion, one makes do with a poor substitute.
• Imbwa kupiwa bvupa / yoti mudzimu wangu wabva nepiA dog handed a bone wonders which ancestral spirit sent it; likewise a destitute person treats any scrap or cast-off as a blessing from the mudzimu.
• Imbwa mbiri hadzitorerwi nyamaTwo people acting together cannot be overpowered by the strength of a single individual.
• Imbwa nyoro ndidzo tsengi dzamatooDogs that look tame are the ones that chew up the hides: the quiet, harmless-seeming people are often the ones who stir up discord. Their mild manner hides the danger they pose.
• Imbwa payadyira / haipakanganwiA dog remembers the spot where it was once fed.
• Imbwa yakaipa haione bumhiSomeone who habitually does wrong neither notices nor reproves the wrongdoing of others, since they are all of one mind in it.
• Imbwa yakaipa kazhinji mukanwa munowira bvupa rakanakaIt is often the person you take for a fool who ends up blessed, while the sharp and hardworking one falls short. Good fortune has a habit of landing on those who least deserve or need it.
• Imbwa yapinza musoro mupfuko / yatorunzaOnce someone has had a taste of something he enjoys, he will rarely give it up, even when it is bad for him.
• Imbwa yavata / yatyaA dog that has lain down has given in; the posture itself is an admission of defeat.
• Imhashu yomurerwe / inogochwa yakabatwa gumboA person with very little clings tightly to whatever small thing comes his way, because he cannot afford to lose it — like an invalid roasting his locust while still gripping its leg.
• Imire haimiriri iveteThe animal already on its feet does not hang about for the one still lying down.
• Imire haimiriri yakararaYou cannot excuse yourself from doing something that needs doing simply because others are still sitting idle. Willingness and quickness to act vary from one person to the next.
• Indemo dzomutenda / kukumbira mvura imwe anayoSomeone pushed to the edge by suffering starts behaving senselessly, grasping at laughable measures that could never work. Desperation drives people to absurd and impossible attempts at self-help.
• Indemo hadzo dzeane nyota / asi mvura haikokotwiThe book presents this as a hopeless mismatch for someone suffering from thirst: water cannot be gathered up by scraping at it with a finger.
• Ingwe haipfigirwi mune mbudziA leopard is never shut up in the same pen as goats.
• Inhemwa zvayo / nherera kudya ichiseverwaThere is no room to grumble at a small return if you supplied little in the way of tools or means for work done in common: what comes back to you answers to what you put in.
• Ino muto ndiyo inei / yokugocha ikagodyiwa wani?What makes stewed meat so special, when roasted meat is eaten just as well? One option is not inherently superior when the alternative serves the same purpose.
• Inochema ndeiri paurimbo / iri muriva inoti denga rawaThe bird stuck on the bird-lime cries out, while the one pinned under the stone-trap imagines the whole sky has collapsed on it. Those who suffer differently judge the size of their misfortune differently.
• Inotanda yomunyepi / younyerere haitandiA silent man's dog does no chasing; the hares are run down by the dog of the man who talks.
• Inyasha-guhwa / kuperekedza wamanyimaWalking someone out after refusing them is kindness of the gossiping sort. The courtesy shown to a stingy or stubborn person is only a pretence — under the friendly surface lies the wish to expose or needle them.
• Ishavi / kuridzira munda tswinya (tsamwa)Only a fool expects to receive what he never worked for, and then grumbles at the field when the harvest is thin. A farmer who hopes for a full granary without tending his land has himself to blame.
• Ishe itsimeThe chief is a well: he is where everyone's troubles are finally settled. Whoever holds a grievance against another takes the matter to the chief's court.
• Ishe kukura / nokuwandirwaA ruler's stature rises in step with how many people follow him; his greatness is measured by the size of the community under him.
• Ishungu dzomutana waswera padare / kuramba nemhandireSome people are so grudging that they withhold from others even what they themselves are incapable of using. A man with no teeth who still will not part with hard maize he cannot chew is acting out of sheer spite.
• Isimba kaviri / kurwa nomukadzi wousipoFighting the wife of an absent man costs you twice the strength, because when he returns he will take up the quarrel himself. Wronging someone who is away means answering later to him as well.
• Isimba rehwiba / kuvaka mhatso yaisingagariThe ant-bear spends its strength for nothing, digging out a home it will never live in. Pouring effort into what you plainly cannot manage is wasted labour.
• Itsvimbo dzokutamba nadzo / kupotsera makunguo idzo shiri dziripoThrowing your knobkerries at crows is throwing them away, since edible birds are there to be had. Effort spent on what is worthless is wasted when something of real value is within reach.
• Ivhu harigutiThe soil is never full: it swallows the dead and will in time swallow the living too.
• Izivangechomo / kupa rombe rehamaDeep sympathy is what makes a person help a relative who is begging. Where donations are collected for those in need, whoever has a kinsman among them gives more, knowing his own relative will be helped by it.
• Izwi rabuda mumuromo / haridzivirirwiOnce a word has left the mouth there is no warding it off. What has been said cannot be blocked or taken back.
• Jaha kutizisa mhandara / kuona danga.A young man only runs off with a girl when he has cattle behind him.
• Jaya ratizisa mhandara. ravimba nechikwama charo.
• Jee ndiyo mhosvaJoking around can land a person before the court. Saying improper things in jest is exactly how one ends up answering charges.
• Jenga mhosva / ndiye muiti wezvakaipaThe one who makes a show of having no guilt is usually the one who did the wrong. Watching whoever acts most innocent is the simplest way to find the culprit.
• Jenje kunyangata izvo kuruma harigoniNoise is all the big soldier termite has; behind it there is no bite at all. Threatening sounds need not mean the one making them can do harm.