Tsumo starting with G

Shona Proverbs

• 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.