Tsumo starting with NZ
Shona Proverbs
- Nzanga inokura yerema / yomuchenjeri inopararaIt is the foolish man's village that swells in size, while the clever man's village falls apart.
- Nzanga seka dumba / dumba seka nzangaLife turns about: those who have plenty today may go hungry tomorrow, while those who are now destitute may end up wealthy. Fortunes swap places.
- Nzara chikomba / chinonyenga asingarambiHunger courts like a suitor no girl turns down. Anyone worn out by hunger will go looking for food, because nobody can hold out against it.
- Nzara ingodyisa mutupoHunger on its own is enough to make a person eat the animal of his own totem. Once hardship bites hard enough, a man will break what he holds most inviolable and act in ways nobody, himself included, ever pictured.
- Nzara makavi / inosvuurwaHunger is compared to bark fibre: just as fibre is stripped away, hunger is something that can be stripped off and got rid of.
- Nzeve hainzwiri umweNo one can do your listening for you; each person has to hear a thing with his own ears.
- Nzira haidzimiri munhuA path never vanishes in front of a traveller; follow it and it will take you somewhere. In the same way, someone with a clear goal will keep looking until he finds a way to reach it.
- Nzira hairasi munhuA traveller who keeps to the path will not be lost by it. Following the established way brings you safely to where you are going.
- Nzira ine minzwa / ndiyo ine usheWhere thorns lie on the road, that road is the one ending in chieftainship: difficult work is what pays out most.
- Nzira inofamba yomuzvinamimba / yomuzvere haifambiA pregnant woman still moves freely and can do as she pleases despite her bodily discomfort, whereas a woman who has just given birth is weak and tied down by the baby, so she cannot move quickly.
- Nzira masangaPaths are where people meet: nobody can say in advance when or how good fortune will arrive. Like a hunter setting nets, you keep trying different things until one day something comes of it.
- Nzou mutupo pana vanhu / paseri ava machikichoriIn front of others the elephant is declared forbidden meat, but out of sight it becomes a tasty dish. People profess one standard publicly and act otherwise in private.
- Nzou yakafa nesvosveA bad habit starts as something trivial, but left unchecked it grows into a serious flaw that ruins the person and harms those around him.
- Nzou yakaramba kuudzwa ikabudisa nyanga nomukanwaThe elephant refused to listen to counsel, and so its tusks ended up coming out through its mouth.
- Nzvimbo imwe haipfumisiStaying in a single place will not bring you wealth.