All Tsumo

Shona Proverbs

• Kwako hakuna radokaFor work of your own that you are set on finishing, the sun never sets: you keep at it, even into the night, without minding the hour, until it is done.
• Kwamairidigikira ndiko kwomoringa benya / kwamairinga benya ndiko kwomoridigikiraThe place you once hurried to is now the place you look at down your nose, and the reverse is equally true. People's regard shifts with changing fortunes.
• Kwamaridigikira ndiko kwomoringa beya, kwomoringa beya ndiko kwomoridikira.
• Kwaunobva kanda huyo / kwaunoenda kanda huyoPut down a grinding stone at the place you are leaving and at the place you are heading for.
• Kwava kusakara kwedoo / kuita 'serisakambodyiwaOnly through being worn out does a hide come to look as though meat had never been inside it.
• Mabasa kuwanda / muzvere kurarira tsenzaWith so much work piled up in the household, a woman who has just given birth is left with nothing but a tuber to see her through.
• Machena ose / zai rehanga risina demaWrongs done by those we love or hold in respect are brushed aside as if nothing were amiss, just as a guinea fowl's egg is taken to be all white with no dark spot on it.
• Madanetsetswa mavende emhandara.
• Madanha etsvimborume / kudya yawariraA bachelor's peculiar habit is to lay out his bedding first and only then sit down to eat.
• Madzinganyadzi / kukumbira uine shavoAsking for something carries no shame when you have goods of your own, because you know the helping will run both ways; it is asking with nothing to offer in return that shames a person.
• Madzishe maviri haatongi mutunhu mumwe chete.
• Mafutura avakatanga / kuturikidza svinga nechirongoSomeone who has been in a place or a job the longest often comes to think of himself as the one who knows and can do everything. That kind of swagger tends to be what eventually brings him down.
• Mago anoruma waadenhaWasps only sting the person who provoked them. Having beaten an opponent, do not drive him further; a man cornered in his own home will fight back fiercely and the humiliation will come back on you.
• Mai kunatsa muroyi / ziso riri pamwanaA mother is gracious towards a witch, but only because her eye never leaves her child. Kindness may be a form of watchfulness over what one is protecting.
• Mai Munyarari vakangwarira panhimbeA trusting, guileless person is easily taken advantage of and suffers for it. Mixing with craftier people is precisely how such a person eventually learns the tricks and grows shrewd.
• Mai musuva usingasehwi mumutoA mother is loved by her child no matter what she is like — poor, disabled or bad-tempered — and to that child she is the finest person alive. One cannot dislike one's own mother, whatever others in the community think of her.
• Mai veimba / igonzoThe woman of the house is compared to a rat, because she quietly gathers and hoards supplies for the household.
• Mai vevana kufa / pwere dzinorezvwa naani?Should the mother die, there is no one left to fondle and comfort the children.
• Maisiri haatyi manenji esangoSomeone who knows his trade well is confident in it and is not thrown by anything he meets; the hunter keeps hunting even on days he kills nothing, knowing luck does not come daily.
• Maisiri ngeune gobvu. (M)The renowned hunter is the man carrying the thick scar. Hard, daring work leaves its marks on the hands and body, while a timid or idle man has no scars to show.
• Maisokwadzo / nyemba kutsva dzarungwaTrouble that finds you already prepared holds no terror. The example given is of a man who spots a crack in his wall and clears everything out of the house, so that when it falls in nothing is lost and no one grieves.
• Makara mazezanwa / mvura haipindi neshureEveryone has someone they in turn are wary of, so no person, however lowly, should be treated as beneath respect.
• Makudo anosekana makumaBaboons laugh at one another's foreheads, though every one of them has the same. People are loud about the failings of others while overlooking the identical faults in themselves.
• Makudo ndamamwe, kubata mhani mhani (marize) anobvutidzana.
• Makunun'unu (ndiwo) maodzamwoyoDwelling on a wrong done to you eats at the heart and wastes the body. Endless brooding leads nowhere, like a road that simply stops.
• Mambo kudya nengoya / kutsvaga urandaA chief who sits down to eat alongside an ordinary person reduces himself to the rank of a servant. Familiarity with those beneath you costs you your standing.
• Mamutsamwoyo anoda paine gateA woman who keeps no store of meal and cooks only what she has just ground is caught out when visitors arrive. It is wiser to allow for more than people are likely to need and to keep supplies ample.
• Manaka kumunda / kumusha achava man'unuWhat looks fine out in the field turns into grumbling once it is back home; outward attractiveness often hides serious flaws of character.
• Manatsa chako / kutsa hamba wakadzivira kunge inotizaAnyone can spot the failings of others, yet few can see their own — like a man pleased with himself for barring the escape of a tortoise that was never going to run.
• Manatsamukanwa ndonda kurota ichiyamwaWasting your time striving to get something you know you will never obtain.
• Manatsira pwere / imhanjeIt is the woman with no children of her own who is sure she could handle them best; those who actually have children know how hard they are to control.
• Manenji anongotanga mberi. (M)Disaster tends to announce itself in advance through odd signs and forebodings. People have been known to speak of ominous happenings before the calamity that struck them.
• Manenji haaonekwi maviri.It is like a person getting out of one problem and getting into another.
• Manetsa huma / kuchonya uri murimaThere is no point in acting for or against someone if you already know the person will never notice it or be touched by it. The effort is wasted, like signalling to a person who cannot see you.
• Manga chena inoparira parere nhemaA pale pumpkin gives away the spot where the dark one is lying hidden.
• Manhenda waidya pfuma yomukuwasha wechirungu.
• Manokoro haasiri madiroScooping things out by the handful is not the same as putting them in. Grain and money are far easier to take out than to build up, and what is taken does not come back.
• Maoko ihamaDo not sit waiting for others to carry you; your own two hands are the kin that never fail you. Exhaust what you can do for yourself before you ask anyone else for help.
• Maramba kukombwa / maramba hweniSomeone who does not want people gathering around him ends up with no callers at all. How many guests come depends on how welcoming the host is.
• Mari haina musi waisinganakiThere is no day on which money is unwelcome. A creditor should accept whatever the borrower brings, on whatever day it comes, rather than insisting on the whole sum at once, since money still helps even when it arrives long afterwards.
• Mari ifuza / hairambi munhuMoney is a simpleton: it has no loyalty and refuses no owner, passing from hand to hand without caring whose it is.
• Mari ine chitema / mai vakatengesa mwanaThere is something wicked about money; it drove a mother to sell her own daughter.
• Mari inoda pane imweWealth tends to pile up where wealth already is: those who have much keep gaining more, while the poor are left with nothing at all.
• Mashanje echakata / kutsvukira mumuti kuti ndiposherweThe chakata fruit reddens conspicuously on the tree so that it will be pelted down — that is, one makes a show of oneself in order to be noticed. People who want another's attention behave in ways calculated to attract it.
• Mashura angu kudyirwa munda nembwa / sendakarima nyamaHaving a dog raid my field is as freakish as if I had sown meat there. Something that could scarcely be expected to happen is read as an ill omen.
• Masuka mukanwa / bere harirariri chipashupashuIt amounts to no more than rinsing out the mouth: one small locust will never make a meal for a hyena.
• Matakadya kare / haanyaradzi mwanaMeals eaten long ago do nothing to quiet a child crying with hunger now. Past provision counts for nothing against a present need.
• Matanda makuru mazunguniswa / pamwe ungasiya nerisina midziBig logs should be given a shake — you may well pass over one that has no roots holding it. Plenty of obstacles and people look formidable at first glance yet give way easily once tested.
• Matanda masairirwa / unosiya nerino muchenjeStanding logs are there to be tried out, and you pass over the one that the white ants have eaten through.
• Matione akaendisa vaRungu kureThe urge to see things for oneself is what carried the Europeans to distant lands. That same appetite keeps drawing a person toward sights that end in sorrow, and turning up wherever a crowd gathers eventually lands one in danger.
• Matsotsi haageraniOne tsotsi cannot 'barb' another. Between people of the same stamp or the same trade there is neither trust nor agreement, each being jealous of what the other does, and so they keep out of one another's company wherever they can.
• Matukano akabva munyayaInsults grow out of ordinary talk, since most quarrels begin with badly chosen words. Guarding the tongue keeps a friendship intact, whereas one careless remark can breed misunderstanding and bad feeling.
• Matukirwo ababa / kunema mwanaThe way to rebuke the father is to tease and mock-scold his child.
• Maunga marema / kudya muti waagereHairy caterpillars are foolish because they eat the very tree they live on. It shows a want of thought to ruin something that will serve you later or that your own survival rests on.
• Mavi ndiwo mauyaWhat is bad can also turn out good: a day of disaster or grief may carry some benefit with it. Misfortune has its consoling side.
• Mazano marairanwa / zano ndoga wakapisa jiraIdeas are meant to be exchanged with others; the man who trusted only his own counsel ended up setting his blanket alight.
• Mazino marema / anosekerera nowakadya babaTeeth have no sense — they grin even at the man who killed one's father. Someone may greet a guest warmly while knowing nothing of the hatred or murderous intent the guest carries.
• MaZungu manyoka / haatani kuumbukaThe Portuguese are like a griping stomach: they turn over again in no time.
• Mazvake-mazvake / tsuro haina homweEach person looks after himself, for the hare carries no pocket in which to keep anything for others.
• Mbavha ibatwi / mbavha rutsoka ishamwariGuilt for theft is settled by catching the person at it. Where nothing but a footprint points to someone, that person may be as innocent as a friend, and the suspicion may be wholly mistaken; so hold back the accusation.
• Mbavha nechidima zvinonzwanana. (M)A thief wants to steal without being seen, so he must do his work at night. Darkness and thieving are therefore natural companions.
• Mbende inosimbira kutete / ichisiya kukobvuThe grey-backed gerbil presses its effort where the ground is soft and leaves the hard part alone.
• Mberi kwenzara / magutaHunger is followed by plenty: hardship is rarely permanent, and someone who strives will in time have enough. A household short of food this year may be among the best providers in years to come.
• Mbeva zhinji hadzina mariseWhere mice are too many, their nest ends up with no lining in it.
• Mbhandara inosara yoseka / kumba yashandaSomeone with nobody to help them gets their work organised in good time, knowing that otherwise the tasks will pile up once the time is gone. Enjoyment comes only once the ordinary duties have been dealt with.
• Mbhanje isina mwana / hainzi ichembereA woman who has borne no child is not to be counted among the old women.
• Mbhanza chironda / inotevera akuraBaldness comes with age, and so does the bearing that age demands: someone of standing is owed respect but is equally expected to carry himself with dignity rather than like a child.
• Mbhosva yomumwe / mangwana ndeyakoThe trouble another person is answering for today may well be your own trouble tomorrow.
• Mbhuno hainwi mvura muromo usina kunwaNot until the mouth has had its drink of water does the nose get one.
• Mbira yakashaya muswe ngokutumira. (M)Business handled through messengers cannot be relied on; attend to your own affairs yourself, because what you leave to others tends not to come off. In the folktale the rock rabbit sent other animals to collect a tail for him, was told to come in person, and arrived to find the tails all given out.
• Mbudzi kudya mufenje / kufana nyinaWhen a goat browses on cabbage-tree leaves, it is doing exactly what its mother does.
• Mbudzi kukwira mufuta / kufana rudzi. (M)A goat that climbs a castor-oil plant is only doing what goats of its own kind do. Behaviour follows the stock one comes from.
• Mbudzi yafura mumera / yatorunzaBy grazing on the sprouting grain the goat has given away its greed.
• Meso ihunza nungo / kubata hazvidyi muswereMerely staring at a task breeds idleness, whereas actually setting to work does not take up the whole day.
• Mhamba haina duraBeer gives no thought to the grain store. Drink leaves a person so merry and so heedless that he hands out even the things he cannot do without.
• Mhamba haina uko ndashanyira.Drink strips a guest of his self-control, until his talk and behaviour make him act as though the place were his own rather than his host's.
• Mhandakadzi / ihonza varandaA quarrelsome, complaining woman wears her servants down until they waste away.
• Mhandara kuita mavende / kuda kuti vanhu vasekeA gap-toothed girl invites laughter whenever she opens her mouth. Something that happens unexpectedly both astonishes people and makes them laugh.
• Mhanza kutsvukira / kuona pfuta. (M)A bald head shines because oil has been rubbed on it; visible contentment likewise has a cause behind it. A small child looks well and cheerful because it is being properly fed and cared for.
• Mharadzano dzakabva munziraThe forks and side tracks all grew out of the one main road.
• Mhosva haina dikiNo offence counts as a minor one. Once a wrong has been committed it is tried according to the law and paid for at whatever level is found fitting.
• Mhosva haipfumirwiNo one can set money aside in advance for a court case that has not yet happened. Trouble of that kind cannot be budgeted for ahead of time.
• Mhosva haitongwi nokurwaEvery dispute is meant to be talked through, not fought out. Reaching for violence to force a settlement is itself an admission that one has lost the argument.
• Mhosva haizvitongi. (M)A case cannot sit in judgement on itself. However senior a person is, once he is the one at fault he cannot judge his own wrongdoing and must accept the ruling of others.
• Mhosva ibakatwa / rinopakatirwa nokwawaendaAn offence clings to the offender the way a large knife is carried about wherever he goes. Even if he runs off and settles far away for years, the charge will be waiting for him when he comes back.
• Mhosva inorondwa / hakuna mhosva yakaita honyeAn offence is traced back to its source; no case has ever sat long enough to breed maggots.
• Mhosva ndeyomwene / vazhinji zvapupuA case belongs to the one who did the deed; everybody else stands only as a witness.
• Mhosvakadzi / muripo mweneWhen the offence concerns a woman, she herself is the compensation that settles it.
• Mhuka hairondwi isina kusiya gwara reropaAn animal that has left no blood trail cannot be tracked. A suitor should pursue a woman who has given him some encouragement, but with no sign of interest from her there is nothing to follow.
• Minwe misiyanwaJust as the fingers on a hand are not all of the same length, people differ from one another in their ways and conduct; no two were created alike.
• Miromo yavanhu haiwiri pasiWhat people say does not drop to the ground; human talk carries weight and does not simply come to nothing.
• Misi mizhinji ndiyo minaki / musi wenjodzi ndimumweThe great majority of days pass uneventfully; the day on which calamity strikes is a single one.
• Mizhezhekedzwa ndiyo inosukudzaWhat looks ready to give way at any moment often lasts far longer than anyone expects; in the same way, frail and sickly people frequently outlive the young and healthy.
• Mombe chena inoparira pavete nhema.When two people are hiding together after a risky venture, the carelessness of one exposes the other as well. One partner's lack of caution is enough to get both of them caught.
• (Mombe) Dzafura churu chimwe / dzave zivaniFeeding at one and the same ant-hill leaves cattle no longer strangers to each other.
• (Mombe) dzinofura nzivaniBeasts that are acquainted feed side by side: people who have met before will know one another again, however far apart in place or time the second meeting is.
• Mombe dzinotizira kuchisango china mafuroJust as cattle make for the bush where the grazing is good, people tend to visit the homesteads where they know food is to be had.
• Mombe inobva kusina uswa / inodyira kufaSomeone who arrives from a place of hunger eats as though eating were the last thing he would ever do. The proverb likens such a person to a beast brought in from pasture where there was no grass.
• (Mombe) Inonanzva / inoinanzvawoAffection answers affection: you are loved by those you love. Anyone wanting the goodwill of others must show goodwill first, so that it is returned later.
• Mombe inopfuura haipedzi uswaAn ox that is only passing through will not eat up the pasture.
• Mombe kurasika / inoenda mune dzayoA beast that wanders off will in time find its way back to its own herd. What belongs together eventually returns together.
• (Mombe) yavovora / yatya kubayiwaThe beast that bellows has already shown its fear of the knife. Once a person kneels and begs pardon he has admitted defeat and abandoned the quarrel, so he ought to be pardoned.
• Mombe yetsiru / manhenda waikamaWhether a young heifer will ever give milk remains an open question. People are right to hold back their trust in anyone or anything that has not yet proved itself, and it is unwise to be talked into certainty about an outcome before it happens.
• Moto chidodo chomukonde wesadzaFire is as indispensable to people as food itself: it goes with the meal, and in cold weather it serves as a blanket to anyone who has none.
• Moto mushoma / ndiwo unondombesa zviri mugapuIt is the small steady fire that cooks the relish right through; work done gently and thoughtfully, without haste or careless handling, is what usually succeeds.
• Moto mushoma / (ndiwo) unonyautsa mutoIt takes a small, steady fire to bring the soup along properly.
• Moto wakanakira kubika zvinhu / kana kuri kupisa chikamukiraAnything is only good while it is put to the use it was made for; turned to a bad purpose it destroys. People too are made good, but a mind bent on evil brings ruin.
• Moto wesora / tiza uchiri kureRun from a grass fire while it is still at a distance; deal with a threat before it reaches you.
• Mubayi wetsumo / anowana zvaanodaSomeone who speaks their mind — and does so with well-turned proverbs — obtains what they are after, while keeping silent gains nothing. Proverbs lend an argument a persuasive weight that settles it.
• Mubayiro wezvivi rufuWhatever wrong a person does tends to end in trouble and suffering for him, and wrongdoing ultimately leads him to the grave.
• Mubvandiripo imombe yakabva yakaruma uswa pamuromoA child who comes into the household from outside is like a beast that arrived already chewing grass: however well he behaves at first, he later turns against the family's own children and shows he does not belong to their blood.
• Mucheche wenyoka unotizwa neane makonaEven a tiny snake sends running a man who carries horns of medicine. Small things can still frighten someone who is supposedly well protected.
• Mucheri wegurwe mutevedzeri / mudimbidziri anorasa mwena.Anything worth doing has to be done by its proper steps; someone who is always looking for a short cut usually ends up with nothing.
• Muchero wakurumbira / wakuvaOnce something is on everybody's lips it has already reached its peak and is on the way out. A person at the height of pleasing the crowd is near the end of what he has to offer.
• Muchero wejiri / hauvimbwe nawoLoquat fruit is not something you can count on. Some sources of supply are too uncertain to build your plans around.
• Mudondo hamuna mbikoThe bush offers no safe hiding place (mbiko being a spot where something is concealed). Anyone who stumbles on goods left out in the wild is likely to take them, since what lies in the forest rather than in someone's house is not treated as having an owner.
• Mudya nameso / musvita wapamawereFruit on a tree up a steep bank is there to be looked at and nothing more. Certain things simply cannot come about, however pleasing and however strong the pull they exert: a sister may have beauty enough to put out a fire, yet her brother cannot marry her.
• Mudyi wegudo / ndiye muvhiyiWhoever eats the baboon is the same person who does the skinning of it.
• Mudzimu ishiri / kutukwa unobhururukaAn ancestral spirit is bird-like: insult it and it takes wing. Offended ancestors are believed to desert the family they watch over and never come back to help it.
• Mudzimu unoteurwa usiku / ndowomuroyiAn ancestral spirit honoured with offerings at night belongs to a witch.
• Mudzimu waro bonga / kuwana huku dzichirwaLuck is with the wild cat when the chickens it comes upon are already fighting one another. A man whose enemies were lying in wait for him, but who were seized before he got there, declares with joy that his mudzimu kept him alive.
• Mudzimu waro bveni / kuwanika mukuni wakatinhukaWhen a baboon comes upon a falling-log trap that has already been sprung, it owes its escape to its ancestral spirit.
• Mudzimu wemvana / kuroorwa ikarambwa. (M)It is the ancestral fortune of a woman with a child that she is married and then sent away. Bad luck seems to follow the deprived: whatever help they are given is lost or dies, leaving them empty-handed once more.
• Mufudzi weboka anodya mukaka waroThe person who looks after the herd is the one who drinks its milk; whoever does the tending shares in what the animals produce.
• Mufudzi wembudzi anopiwa nzeveThe one who herds the goats is given an ear to eat: a worker has a right to his reward. Occasional rewards are what give him the strength and the willingness to keep doing the job.
• Mugarire wekondo / kudzudzura dumba namatopeIt is simply the hammerhead-bird's way to build up its nest by plastering it with mud.
• Mugomberi wemhuru anopiwa mutuviWhoever watches over the calf receives the whey as his share.
• Mugoni wepwere / ndousinayoThe one who seems best at handling children is the one who has none of their own.
• Mukadzi akanaka / ari womumweA woman seems most appealing when she belongs to another man.
• Mukadzi akanaka / ndoune mukutuThe wife worth praising is the one who has a carrying cloth for a child.
• Mukadzi akarambwa / inhema yokumutsirwaA woman who has been divorced is compared to a rhinoceros that someone else has already stirred up and left roused for the next man.
• Mukadzi imbende / inokwaturwa pamutiA woman is compared to a gerbille that can be prised off the tree it clings to; long-standing custom allowed a girl to drop one suitor for another, so a man courting a girl who is already attached does no wrong.
• Mukadzi isango rehuni / rinotsvakwa naani naaniA woman is compared to a woodland where firewood is gathered: anyone at all may go looking there.
• Mukadzi itsime / rinoti asvika anocherawoA woman is like a well: anyone who comes to it draws water. Almost any woman will draw a man's interest, so each one who passes puts his words of admiration to her, whether or not she accepts him.
• Mukadzi muchero / adimura anonhongawoA woman is likened to fruit, which anyone passing may pluck.
• Mukadzi mukuru / igonzoThe senior woman of a household is the one who knows where everything in it is. Just when the rest of the family concludes that the supplies are finished, she is usually the one who produces some more.
• Mukadzi mumwe inhehwe yomubundwa / ikakochekera pamuti unosara wava mukunaHaving only one wife is like a poor man's single skin apron: let it snag on a tree and you are left uncovered. The old people feared that a man with one wife would be left with nothing if she died.
• Mukadzi mupinyi webadza / wasvika anomboedzawoA woman is compared to the handle of a hoe: whoever comes along will have a go at gripping it. Any man who turns up feels free to try his luck with her.
• Mukadzi womumwe / ndaambuyaAnother man's wife is to be held in the same awe and respect as one's mother-in-law. Joking familiarity with her can slide into desire and land a man in trouble, so a sensible man does not trifle with other people's wives.
• Mukadzi womumwe / ndimbuyaAnother man's wife is to be treated as one would treat a mother-in-law.
• Mukanwa mumba / munoda kugara muchitsvairwaWhatever sustains life deserves proper care and regular attention. Just as a swept house is pleasant, a mouth given good food — meat above all — leaves the whole body content.
• Mukarirano wakapedza mbuya munzaraWhen everyone leaves a duty for someone else to do, the one in need is the one who suffers — old women died in times of famine because each person assumed another would feed them.
• Mukarirano wakapisa umba. (M)When each one holds back and leaves the task to the other out of grumbling, it goes undone and every one of them is left without it; people who live like this make no headway. The wrangling over whose duty it was eats up time and can end in real damage.
• Mukuru anodya chine zembo.
• Mukuru haataurwiAn elder is not a fit subject for talk behind his back.
• Mukuru mukuru / hanga haigari pfundeAn elder is an elder and stays one, just as a guinea fowl does not settle on a sorghum stalk.
• Mukuru mutumwa / svosve rakatuma nzouCustom has it that the older person gives orders to the younger one, yet circumstances can arise in which a junior sends a senior on an errand. Even a great person may be called upon by someone small.
• Mukutanda mapfeni / ndimo munowanikwa ndimoNothing comes to the person who simply sits still; anything worth having is gained through effort. The one who moves around and sees many places is the one who learns the most.
• Mukuwasha ibani / rimwe zuva unoputsikirapoA son-in-law is like open ground you may one day come down upon: custom does not expect him to settle the bride-price all at once, and he remains someone his father-in-law can turn to for help in work or trouble.
• Mukuwasha mukoko, hauperi kumorwa.
• Mukuwasha mukuyu / haaperi kudyiwaA son-in-law is a fig tree that is never eaten bare; his wife's people can keep drawing on him without end.
• Mukwata-runa / rweshanu anobuda ave nezvomoSomeone who keeps coming back to live off others eventually leaves carrying off the household's property.
• Munda hauperi nezuva rimweIn the space of a single day, no one gets to the end of a whole field.
• Munda wokuna makudo / hauradzwiWeeding is never neglected in a plot that baboons frequent.
• Mune chironda, chinorwadza mwene wacho.
• Mungozva haabikiri vamwe sadzaCooking the food for other people is not the business of a mother fresh from childbirth.
• Mungozva (muzvere) kutukana nachiremba / hunge achinyinda notwake.Once a woman who has recently given birth starts quarrelling with the doctor, her trust in her own strength has come back.
• Mungwaru haati chandareva ndicho / asi benzi ndichandagwinyiraA sensible person never treats his own word as the last word, whereas a fool digs in and insists he is right. People are meant to advise one another, and leaning only on your own knowledge usually ends in failure.
• Munhu akanaka afa.
• Munhu anodya zai / mangwana achadyawo hukuWhoever helps himself to an egg today will take the whole hen tomorrow. A person who does not hold himself back in small wrongs will not shrink from grave ones, and petty pilfering ends in full-blown thievery.
• Munhu anonzi gara tidye / kwete kuti gara tifePeople invite one another to sit down and eat, never to sit down and die; nobody welcomes death, and if its approach were announced everyone would try to get out of its way.
• Munhu asina mutimwi / haasimiri mugwadaSomeone who owns nothing has no base from which to build anything up, just as a man without a waistband has nothing to hold up a loin cloth. Nothing demanding money or resources can reasonably be expected of him.
• Munhu haarehwi asipoYou should not discuss a person while he is not there to hear it or answer for himself.
• Munhu haarerwi nebondeA sleeping mat cannot nurse anyone back to health. Someone worn down by long illness, who does nothing but lie there day after day, looks so wretched that others take him for as good as dead.
• Munhu haarongerwi midziyo yake asipo / kupfudzunura kunokunetsaiDo not sort and pack away another person's belongings while he is away, or you will be the one left to undo it all. Settling someone's affairs behind his back is unwise, since on his return he may see the matter quite differently.
• Munhu kubata ushe / makotaA man holds chieftainship through his councillors: they are the ones who put him in office, and his rule only prospers if they do their work well.
• Munhu mukuru / kurehwa mundaFor a grown person, being talked about is as ordinary as working the fields. Anyone of standing must expect to be discussed and faulted by others.
• Munhu - munhu / chirema chinotungamira nziraEveryone counts as a person, and even someone as limited as a cripple may be the one who shows the road. Listen to what others advise you while it can still help, instead of regretting later that you did not know.
• Munhukadzi ishavhi / anoteverwa neshiriA woman is like wild figs, which birds keep coming after.
• Munhumbu manyachide / munobarwa mbavha nomuroyiThieves and witches are born out of the womb of a woman who is loved.
• Munoda paura pari penyu / pembeva moisa motoYou keep your own innards out of harm's way but throw the mice's on the fire. Everyone wants his own affairs to prosper while other people's come to nothing.
• Munongedzo hauzvinongedziThe finger used for pointing cannot be turned to point at itself.
• Munyozvo huya negushe.
• Muonde haufambiri shiriIt has always been plain that whoever wants something is the one who must go to it; the fig tree does not travel to the birds.
• Mupanje wekunze unodzivirira iri mukatiThe ridge running along the outside of a field shields whatever is growing within it.
• Mupanje wekunze unodzivirira wemukati. (M)Keep family disputes and secrets away from outsiders, who could otherwise use them against you; a relative stands up for his own when they are threatened or spoken against.
• Mupurisa chitanda chine masvosve.
• Muramu haagarotungamidzwi mberiYour sister-in-law should not be put out ahead of you all the time. Playing with her does not turn her into your wife; another man will marry her one day, so she is to be left untouched.
• Muramu inzungu yakateya gonzoA sister-in-law plays the part of the nut laid down to trap a rat.
• Muramu mukoko / unodya wakatsigaA sister-in-law is a beehive: you can only enjoy her company if you go about it carefully.
• Muranda muuya ndowembwa / hairevi zvokwayabvaA dog that changes hands simply guards its new home and never tells anything about how its old master treated it. A human servant is different: he talks about the good and bad he received at his last place, and will talk the same way about this one once he leaves.
• Muranda nyangonaka sei / haatongerwi mhosva asipoNo matter how well-behaved or well-regarded a subordinate is, a charge against him should not be judged while he is away. Everyone deserves to be present to answer for himself.
• Murevi afa / haasiri iye muroyiThe dead person who let a secret out is not thereby the witch.
• Murevi afa / handi muroyiBringing something out into the open does not make the one who reports it the guilty party. Many people end up dying for offences that were never theirs.
• Muridzo wembwa ndomumwe cheteA single whistle calls every dog, so one rebuke can teach a whole group at once. Correcting one person where the others can hear lets everyone learn what is expected of them.
• Murima ngeune dura / ranhasi rapera. (M)The good farmer is the one with a granary; what was there today is already finished. The man said to have beer is the one whose brew is still on the fire, not the one whose beer is being drunk up.
• Murimi haadyi agere / anodya amireA farmer worth the name is not found sitting down to his food; he takes it on his feet. Nothing comes of its own accord — one has to labour for a living, and a good harvest is the fruit of hard work in the fields.
• Murombo chirega chinyaTemper gains nobody anything: it is foolish to turn down what you need because you have been wronged. A poor man in particular should hold himself in check and wait for his opportunity.
• Murombo haana chinya.
• Murombo haarovi chine nguoA poor man never brings down game whose hide is worth anything. Those who are always struggling tend to gain only worthless things, while the well-off get the lucky breaks and grow richer.
• Murombo munhuNo matter how lowly or wretched someone's condition, he remains a human being and is owed the treatment any person deserves.
• Muromo chipfuto / unopedza maturaThe mouth works like a weevil, steadily eating away until the granaries are bare.
• Muromo chiponza / unopotseraThe mouth is a throwing club: words, once let fly, are hurled at others.
• Muromo haudyiri mumweOne person's mouth cannot do another person's eating. Each individual has to see to their own needs.
• Muromo hauna mukwidza (makata).
• Muromo hauna ndima.
• Muromo haupi / chinopa maokoSpeech hands nothing over; it is the hands that actually give. What a person says counts for less than what they physically do.
• Muromo hauzarirwi norwiziNot even a river in flood can shut a person's mouth. Speech travels where the body cannot.
• Muromo inhume.The mouth is a messenger: whatever a person harbours in his mind is what he ends up saying aloud.
• Muromo inyore kuvhura / kupfiga unonetsaOpening one's mouth costs nothing, but shutting it again is hard. Making a promise is easy; it is the hands that must finally make good on it.
• Muromo ipfumo / ungozvikaniraThe mouth is a weapon you can fight for yourself with: speech is what defends you when you are accused. Even a truth the heart already knows still has to be spoken aloud to do any good.
• Muromo itsvimbo / unozvidziviriraThe mouth serves as a weapon like a fighting stick — it can protect itself through speech.
• Muromo ndichikumo / unopedza matura. (M)The mouth works like a wood borer: it takes only a little at a time, yet it will empty whole granaries. However big the harvest, steady eating will bring the stores down.
• Muromo ndikadzinge, wakadzinga mwene wawo.
• Muromo unodavidza nomuroyiThe mouth will reply to anyone at all, even a witch. Avoiding speech with people we dislike is often hard or impossible, and courtesy obliges us to respond when they address us.
• Muromo wazivira kudya mavara / kuona chivambo wosekereraA mouth accustomed to certain food grins as soon as it catches sight of some. Someone in the habit of taking what is not his will seize on any opportunity that presents itself.
• Muromo webenzi / imhutsi.A foolish person's mouth ruins things. The book points to a diviner's pronouncements after a divination, which can turn relatives against one another by naming a person's own people as his enemies.
• Muromo wen'anga / ibaradziWhat comes out of a diviner's mouth has the power to ruin people.
• Muroyi haana ndagonaNobody can claim to have got the better of a witch. A thoroughly bad character cannot be reformed by anyone, since good treatment and harsh treatment come to the same thing with such a person.
• Muroyi munhu / kubayiwa angangochemawoSomeone who is forever wronging and provoking others feels the hurt just like anyone else when he is wronged in turn. Nobody is beyond feeling pain, whether of the body or of the spirit.
• Muroyi munhu / kubayiwa anochemawoA witch is a human being like anyone else; prick her and she too cries out.
• Muroyi ndimamboA witch is like a chief: no rule restrains her, she acts entirely as she pleases, and she fears no one when she practises her craft. She speaks out bluntly and nobody dares contradict her.
• Muroyi royera kure / ugowana anokuvigaEven a person who does harm should keep some good conduct so that there are still people who care for him. Practise your mischief far from home and you will at least have someone left to bury you.
• Muroyi wousiku haaurayi.
• Murume akanaka / asiri wakoAttractiveness belongs to the man you are not married to.
• Murume haarohwi netsvimbo imwe cheteA man is not struck with just one stick: once you have decided to help someone, give again so that the gratitude is real. The same holds in a fight, since a single blow will not make an enemy submit.
• Murume ijongwe / rinokwegura richiitaA man resembles a rooster: his appetite for sex stays with him into old age.
• Murume ijongwe / rinoonekana narwo rapinda murongoUntil the day he dies a man can still father children; there is no point at which he stops being able to, as happens with a woman.
• Murume kufuma kubuda mumba / kutumirira muromoA man who sets out early in the morning is going somewhere to say something. Nobody knocks at a neighbour's door at dawn without a matter to raise.
• Murume kutora tsvingudze / kunyinda nedangaA man who takes another's wife must have cattle enough to cover the consequences. When someone takes on an obviously risky undertaking, they are relying on resources or safeguards that will see them through.
• Murume-murume / anoti chamuka inyamaA real man treats whatever turns up as game worth chasing. He tries everything, failing at some and succeeding at others, and shrinks from nothing.
• Murwere anofa nebota rakeSomeone near death clings to whatever has sustained or comforted him, asking for the things dearest to him.
• Musachema muzvere afirwa nomwana / muchisiya uyo afa nomwana wakeDo not pour out your grief over a mother who has lost her newborn while passing over the woman who died along with her child. Mourning should go where the loss is greatest.
• Musakurudzira benzi nomupururuDo not cheer a foolish person on with ululation; someone who has behaved badly should not be given praise for it.
• Mushambadzi haagari pasiA trader never settles in one place; because he has no way of knowing who will buy his wares, he asks everywhere and leaves nobody out.
• Mushonga haubati pasina rondaA remedy has no effect where there is nothing wounded for it to act on.
• Mushonga madyiwa / kupindwa nenhunzi mukanwa idyaMedicine is for swallowing; should a fly get into your mouth with it, down it goes too.
• Musi muvi ndiwo muuyaA day that starts off badly may yet turn out to be a good one.
• Musikana chihambakwe / asvika anokanda chibweA girl is like a roadside cairn: everyone who passes by throws on a stone.
• Musikana idziva / asvika anokanda duoA girl is likened to a pool of water: whoever comes along may drop in a fish trap.
• Musikana ihambakwe, asvika anokanda ibwe
• Musikana ihwati / inokwaturwa pane imweA girl is compared to a loosened strip of green bark, something that can be peeled away from where it sits.
• Musikana ihwati yomuti inoti wada wakwatura.
• Musikana muuya kamwe / chikuru imvanaA girl's goodness counts for one occasion only; the woman who has borne a child is the greater.
• Musikana rufuta / runobarikaA daughter is like castor-oil seed flung out when the pod bursts: on marrying she leaves her father's homestead for a distant one, where she and her husband begin a household of their own.
• Musoro kutekenyedza / unozivikanwa nomuridzi wawoAn itching head is known only to the head's owner. Only the person who feels the discomfort truly knows it is there.
• Musungusungu wakakunda mowa / muzukuru wakakunda mwanaA nephew is treated better than a man's own child, the way the vegetable black nightshade ranks above wild spinach.
• Muswe wokutumira haurebiA tail sent off on an errand never turns out to be long enough. What you delegate to another falls short of what you would achieve yourself.
• Mutambirwi naiye anogwinyawoSomeone who is being entertained ought not to sit back idly; they should play their part in the merriment too.
• Mutengesi ibere / hapana musha waanopfuuraA trader behaves like a hyena: there is no homestead he will pass by without stopping.
• Muto wenyemba ndiwo mumwe cheteBean relish tastes the same whichever pot it comes from: women are all fundamentally alike. A married man therefore gains nothing by abandoning his wife for girls or other women he imagines to be better.
• Muto wetsenza ndiwo mumweTuber roots all yield the very same soup.
• Muto wokupungurirwa / haupedzi sadzaRelish that somebody else dishes out for you never stretches far enough to see you through your sadza. What is handed to you in someone else's measure is never quite sufficient.
• Mutombo wepfuma / kurarama. (M)A person who lacks possessions should not lose heart: as long as he stays alive, time itself may bring him wealth. Long life is the only charm needed for becoming rich.
• Mutoro unorema / wasvikaA burden feels at its heaviest just as you are arriving at your destination.
• Mutsa worutsoka / kuperekedza zisoIt is an act of kindness when someone puts himself out to help a relative with something from which he himself gains nothing, just as the foot carries the eye.
• Mutumwa haana mhosva.Someone sent with a message carries no guilt for it; the message belongs to the sender, not to the one who delivers it.
• Muvhimi anourayiwa nenyoka.
• Muvhimi haadyi nyimo nederere / mhuka dzinosvodzaA hunter keeps off bambara nuts and okra relish, since such foods are held to make the game slither away from him. Men on duty, whether hunting or at war, are expected to set aside choice dishes.
• Muviri / mwene wawoThe one who owns a thing, or works with it daily, understands it better than anyone else. If you want to know about wild animals, go to the seasoned hunter.