Tsumo starting with NH

Shona Proverbs

• Nhaka dzinoguranwa musi wenyatwaKinship ties get cut off on the day trouble arrives. Relatives are happy to claim a person while he is prospering, but once he falls on hard times they quickly deny the connection.
• Nhaka ndeyemombe / yomunhu inozvisarudzira yogaLivestock can be handed down as an inheritance, but a person has a mind of their own and must not be treated like an animal. Everyone is entitled to accept what they want and refuse what they do not, without being coerced.
• Nhaka yambuya ndeye mombe / yomunhu ingouyisa yogaPeople cannot be handed round like cattle; a person goes to the relatives they themselves choose, and forcing them to live with people they dislike only breeds resentment or an eventual return home.
• Nhambetambe inoregwa ichanakaA game is best broken off while it is still enjoyable.
• Nhambetambe inoregwa ichapisaFun and festivity should be brought to a close while they are still enjoyable, before they sour. Anything carried on without restraint loses its appeal and can end in ill feeling or lasting distaste.
• Nhamo haibatirwi pfumoYou cannot take up a spear against misfortune. Hardship is not an enemy that can be attacked with a weapon.
• Nhamo haisekanwiNever mock someone's suffering, because the same blow could fall on you another day. Here nhamo covers every kind of misfortune, death included.
• Nhamo haityi imwe. (M)One trouble does not keep another away. A person already in difficulty may be struck by a second at the same moment, since misfortunes seem to gather on one head.
• Nhamo haizivisiHardship does not sharpen a person's judgement; on the contrary, it confuses him so that he grabs at one thing and drops it for another. Someone desperate to escape trouble may end up making his position even worse through reckless attempts.
• Nhamo ine dzimba dzayoSuffering keeps returning to the same households: the person already burdened is struck again and again, while in a settled home it soon passes. Wealth behaves the same way, avoiding the poor man and sticking to those who already have.
• Nhamo inotya rombeMisfortune gives the destitute a wide berth. Disasters tend to strike ordinary people while the beggar and the outcast come through untouched.
• Nhamo ndeya vanhu / suka maokoTrouble is something everybody meets, so do not let a common misfortune eat away at you as though you were the first ever to suffer it.
• Nhamo urimbo / inonamiraHardship behaves like bird-lime: once it catches hold of a person it clings and will not let go.
• Nhamo yomumwe / haiburitsirwi misodzi. (M)Another person's hardship does not draw tears out of you; grief is only truly felt by the one it falls on.
• Nhamo yomumwe / hairadzisi musoro pasi. (M)Another person's misfortune is not enough to make you lie down with your head to the ground. Trouble that is not your own does not weigh on you the way your own does.
• Nhamo yomumwe / hairambirwi sadzaAnother person's misfortune is not a reason to refuse your own meal.
• Nhandanyadzi ihumbira neshavoThere is no disgrace in asking for something when you have something of your own to offer.
• Nharokadzi / ihunza mhosvaSquabbling among women is best left alone; anyone who gets drawn into it ends up on bad terms with everybody. A woman, especially the mother of a household, who is forever bickering robs the whole family of its peace.
• Nharokuudzwa / mangwana unoponaA contentious person who still listens to counsel will come through danger in the days ahead.
• Nhasi mapuruuru atandavara nokuti kondo dzinonzwa mesoThe tadpoles stretch out at ease today because the hammer-heads have sore eyes. Those who are habitually preyed upon relish the stretches when their tormentor is away or laid up.
• Nhava (homwe, tswanda) inorema / yasvikaThe carrying bag or basket feels at its heaviest just as you arrive at the destination.
• Nhava yebenzi haitani kusakaraA foolish person's carrying bag wears out in no time, because someone who handles their possessions badly soon ruins them.
• Nhenha isibi / inoroyaTake a beautiful girl: if stealing is not her vice, then witchcraft is.
• Nherera inoguta musi wafa maiKindness and generosity pour out on the day of a death, so the child who has lost a mother is fed and given things then. Once the mourning is over, no one remembers that the child still needs feeding, and the road ahead is hard.
• Nherera ngeisina muredzi / ine muredzi inodya ichisiya. (M)A child is truly orphaned only when nobody looks after him; with a guardian he eats his fill and has some left over. Some things thrive on their own, but others amount to nothing unless someone tends them carefully.
• Nhomba yavarume iri pashori youtaA man's hunger for meat is settled at the aiming point of his bow.
• Nhonhongora kudya chayo / kukumbirirei uchi kudondiThe large bee feeds on what is its own; it has no reason to beg honey from a smaller bee.
• Nhoro haimoni nyanga iri panzvimbo imwe cheteA kudu does not grow its curved horns by remaining in one spot. People who move around in search of a better life find new openings and a fuller experience, while never leaving one place makes life flat and dull.
• Nhumbu ibakwa rehuni / inochengeta nyoka namakonzoThe womb resembles a stack of firewood, which can shelter snakes as well as rats.
• Nhumbu ihuru / isina wayoSomeone weak with hunger pictures a huge stomach and expects to eat far more than usual, but once the meal begins he finds he can hardly exceed his ordinary capacity.
• Nhumbu inorema / yasvikaA pregnancy weighs most heavily on a woman once the time of birth has come.
• Nhumbu iziso risingatauri zvaraonaThe belly never announces what it has swallowed, and in the same way a person of standing keeps to himself what he learns and what lies in his heart.
• Nhumbu mukadzi mukuru / hairevi chayadyaThe belly behaves like a senior wife: it keeps quiet about whatever it has consumed.
• Nhumbu nditenzi wayo. (M)The belly answers to the one who owns it: whoever wants to eat has to work, since every meal is won through toil and hardship.
• Nhumwi ndiyo inouraya muridzi womundaIt is the go-between sent on an errand who brings destruction on the owner of the field. The person you entrust with your affairs can be the very one who ruins you.