Tsumo starting with I

Shona Proverbs

• 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.