Niger Proverbs for playing the Aphor Game

These modified aphorisms will prompt new ideas or inspire you to discover even more obscure ones.

List of Proverbs – Proverbical – Special Dictionary – The Spiritual Life

1. A bird remembers where it hides its eggs.
2. A blind man should ask for assistance to know where he should throw the stones he is holding.
3. A boaster’s accomplishments are found only in his mouth.
4. A child becomes what you expect of him.
5. A child does not die because his mother’s breasts are dry but because he isn’t fed enough food.
6. A child speaks from what he knows, and what he knows he learned at home.
7. A child who fears punishment will not admit to playing with the missing item.
8. A child who is carried on his mother’s back will sleep through some of the journeys.
9. A cook doesn’t go far from his roasting corn.
10. A country with a glorious past has raised many glorious men.
11. A couple of years later, a glutton who becomes prosperous discovers he can’t get through his kitchen door.
12. A cricket’s eyes have evolved, so the sand it burrows through doesn’t blind it.
13. A crowd of people is like a smoldering flame ready for a conflagration.
14. A diviner’s future is obscure.
15. A dying man cries because of the opportunities he didn’t explore.
16. A dying man isn’t saved with more medicine.
17. A family name is not cooked and eaten; one’s own life is the thing.
18. A farmer doesn’t know if his harvest was adequate until he has the next year’s in storage.
19. A farmer must test his corn’s readiness for harvest by stripping a few samples.
20. A farmer who won’t work in the hot sun or cold rain will have poor harvests.
21. A few minutes in the midday sunshine helps alleviate the suffering of most illnesses.
22. A fight between grasshoppers means an easy dinner to a crow.
23. A fish that can see a dangerous problem is looming quickly vanishes.
24. A forest takes years to regrow after a fire.
25. A friend doesn’t feel unintended pain because they don’t want to acknowledge a friend hurting them.
26. A friendly person is always good for something, an unfriendly one maybe yes, maybe no.
27. A friendship based on a happy stomach at friendly meals will endure hardships.
28. A good fence between adjacent farms makes two farmers into friends.
29. A good reputation helps you find honest friends.
30. A housewife must discuss the good things the family needs so her family can discover them.
31. A hunter with a single arrow will get close to his prey and aim carefully.
32. A laughing jackal summons a witch to move into your rafters.
33. A little good advice was given to a wise person and stayed with him, and he applied it to his world.<
34. A man cursing another man degrades himself into humanity’s lowest form.
35. A man may seek shelter under the same tree many times during his life.
36. A man should sit down with a team of self-motivated people to plan for their mutual prosperity.
37. A man that begets a barren daughter will not have a grandchild from her.
38. A man that won’t marry a woman with other admirers will never marry.
39. A man who an elephant tramples must be both blind and deaf.
40. A man who lives beside a river washes his hands with water and not spit.
41. A man who pees in public loses respect.
42. A man who seeks honors must first value the honors being sought.
43. A masquerade is not only a spirit because of the mask; it requires spooky sounds and actions.
44. A masquerade is performed at home to perfect the techniques before going public.
45. A monkey among dogs won’t bark.
46. A mother whose child has been eaten by a witch fears their cunning.
47. A mouse was not born a little rat that failed to grow up.
48. A one-eyed person does not thank God for his good eye until he encounters a blind person praying.
49. A pad that lets a pot of water slip off the head and get broken is discarded.
50. A parent should make a mild condemnation of their child’s playmate’s misbehavior to prevent an enmity from forming between them.
51. A person who doesn’t bathe must realize they are dirty and smelly.
52. A person who has a child only half dies when their own body dies.
53. A person who routinely quits work with a partially finished task in his work area creates confusion for others.
54. A person who takes something and keeps it should think how he would feel if someone took it from him.
55. A person whose head lice are successfully removed must show deep gratitude to their picker.
56. A person’s character is exposed by what they find funny to laugh at and who they laugh with at the same time.
57. A piece of iron only becomes the shape the blacksmith beats into it.
58. A porous clay pot of water will cool itself.
59. A powerful stream won’t let you swim up.
60. A proof that the world is getting more beautiful is that this year’s most beautiful young woman looks better than last year.
61. A proverb is like a horse to a conversation, and when the conversation drags along, a perky proverb sets it on a roar.
62. A rotten old banana leaf was once young, healthy and beautiful.
63. A single man takes four times as long to build a house as two men.
64. A skilled wrestler is remembered for the day of the match, and a glutton for the day the yams were being thrown away.
65. A sleeping lizard catches no crickets.
66. A songbird listens to its elders before singing its family’s song.
67. A soon-to-be miserable person drinks the water from the bottomless well of envy.
68. A spacious ground is a suitable place to demonstrate athletic prowess.
69. A tiger does not need to advertise its lethal power with a roar.
70. A toad doesn’t leap around in the daytime unless something wants to eat it.
71. A traveler to distant places must be friendly and make no enemies, and if hostilities arise, be even friendlier.
72. A tree does not move unless there is a wind or earthquake.
73. A tree is best measured out between the people, when lying on the ground.
74. A tree is named for the name of its fruit.
75. A very sick man will not refuse medicine.
76. A visiting friend is an honored guest for a day or two, but on their third day, they become an intruder.
77. A watched pot never boils, but it boils over and puts out the fire if you don’t watch the pot.
78. A weak warrior wearing sandals overcomes a more powerful one with a thorn in his foot.
79. A wealthy man always has followers until he is no longer wealthy, then he discovers who likes his tall stories.
80. A woman who had a poor marriage has no advice worth a younger woman’s attention.
81. A woman who has not been happily married twice can not know what’s a good marriage.
82. Accomplishing a purpose is better than making money, and little goals perfectly done create that powerful habit.
83. Acknowledging gratefulness to someone who helped you achieve a goal, makes you worthy of future help.
84. After millions of years of evolution, people, naked mole rats, snails, and terns are still getting where they want to go.
85. All is said and done, is only accomplished by those who have mastered that intentional habit.
86. All lizards lie on their bellies but no one knows if any of them have stomach aches.
87. All Muslims seek their hajj to Mecca even though people make money there.
88. All of the things we purchase were created in part by workers earning the food they eat.
89. All people have a lovable side; unfortunately, competition for resources is part of life, so there are inevitable conflicts.
90. Allah made the silk-cotton tree beautiful, and the fig tree with healthy fruit.
91. Allah preserve us from … Allah preserve us from… “If only I’d known!”
92. An archer loves the arrow as it flies away and loves the bow he still holds in his hand.
93. An evolutionary reproduction of ancestral tortoises not being eaten by predators resulted in the modern tortoise’s shell.
94. An herbalist must find experienced pickers to collect good specimens.
95. An oil lamp feels proud to give light even though in doing so it destroys its ability to give light in the future.
96. An old woman is young when singing a song of her youth.
97. An old woman will chase a goat if it grabs her snuff-box.
98. An orphaned calf must lick its own back.
99. Antagonism is not good for birds or goats, and worst of all for humans.
100. Ants can survive multiple attempts by elephants to destroy their colony.
101. As long as you stay in a group, the lions will stay away.
102. Ashes fly back into your face even if you throw them downwind.
103. Asking for advice and then applying it means you are acting twice from your own free will.
104. At a performance of a masquerade, it is foolish to get extreme effects by exposing one’s anus.
105. Banana trees are so soft they can be cut with a dull machete.
106. Beauty is sold in the form of healthy food and good exercise.
107. Before firing you must aim at your target.
108. Before you buy clothes from a merchant, look at the clothes that he likes to wear.
109. Before you cook meat, you must have meat.
110. Before you set off on a journey, choose to be with people compatible with you and have the same goal.
111. Being content, vigorous, forethoughtful, and prepared can be achieved with effort.
112. Being happy in one’s home is better than being a king.
113. Birds are weatherproof and don’t need to change their feathers for the weather, but they fluff them for cold times.
114. Birds will not spare a cockroach’s life that comes between them.
115. Black panthers lurk in the darkest corners of the night.
116. By the collective strength of their colony, army ants can dominate everything in the jungle.
117. Carnivores bite other carnivores but don’t eat them.
118. Choose your country, city, and neighbors before buying your new home.
119. Courage is to pursue your goal drives your success in reaching it.
120. Criticism is easy and often valuable, but it doesn’t create new ideas or do the work that moves us to achieve our goals.
121. Decisions by an experienced decision-maker, having been counseled by wise advisors, are as good as can be hoped for by their public.
122. Don’t ask for speed from an old horse, but be content with its progress.
123. Don’t let someone who can not pay you back borrow your watch.
124. Don’t urinate in a stream we get drinking water from and I won’t either.
125. Don’t use your bare feet to search for thorns.
126. Early risers may get the worms, but they also get cold and wet.
127. Elephant and hippo tracks cover over a camel’s.
128. es, spank my erring child is spoken by a mother, but don’t hurt him comes from her heart.
129. Even after a fire has destroyed your home, you must use it to make dinner.
130. Even the biggest living things began as tiny ones.
131. Even the holy Niger river must flow around islands that form in its bed.
132. Every form of love is pleasing, but self-love is the most delightful.
133. Every river flows over land that will not soak it up, or it doesn’t and is no longer a river.
134. Everyone joins in reproaching the child who knocked over tonight’s pot of soup.
135. Evil knows where to go to find a compatible pal.
136. f men were to become hostile toward domestic cats, they would go wild in the tropics and extinct in the colder temperate regions.
137. Fear of hungry lions is reasonable, but otherwise, they are no problem.
138. Fine words don’t produce money and food unless spoken into a microphone.
139. Fire’s brother is sunshine on a hot day.
140. Fishing without a net is just going for a swim.
141. Flies permanently follow a corpse into the grave.
142. Give me a helpful push from my back, doesn’t mean to break my back.
143. Goats kick back at leopards and lose; however, if the leopard is injured, he won’t be able to catch the next goat, and he starves.
144. Grass does not grow on rolling stones or the nose of a thief.
145. Greatness and beauty belong to the ordinary person as well as Gods.
146. Guilt goes deep into the mud in the soul, like the footprint of a hippopotamus on a riverbank.
147. he one who can find a way by night can find the best way by day.
148. He who blindly runs away from a single ant may stumble upon a column of army ants.
149. He who digs a pit for others will never dig himself out.
150. He who is courteous, even to hostile people, is not a fool.
151. He who is not attracted to the road ahead is left behind.
152. He who lives in the attic knows where the roof is leaking, those in the house only know where the ceiling is leaking.
153. He who marries a beautiful woman, who enhances her natural beauty, marries a future life of troubles.
154. He who pursues a terrified chicken always runs in chaotic circles.
155. He who waits for a perfect opportunity will wait forever.
156. He who wishes to barter doesn’t like what he has for a reason.
157. He whose talk is faster than his walk must always be asking for help.
158. He, who has no place he calls his home, moves quickly through life.
159. Hold your friends with both your hands.
160. Horns don’t grow before the head fills with lust, which detracts from the substances that make the bones stronger.
161. How can I know where I am going when it is obscure where I have been?
162. However hard a thing is thrown into the air, it always falls to the ground, said Isaac Newton when a young man.
163. However small the value of an elephant, it is always worth more than ten frogs.
164. Hurrying and worrying both impede your progress, but hurrying will get you somewhere other than the nowhere that worrying provides.
165. If a bull approaches you in a field and might attack, lie down.
166. If a calabash leaks, pack it with rubbish instead of smashing it into little pieces and then discard it.
167. If a child is sent to the store to buy turnips, she might return with candy.
168. If a child shoots an arrow over the top of a palm tree, it must have been made by an adult.
169. If a greedy eater is near a bedridden patient, the patient will starve.
170. If a man is not clean and smooth, he shouldn’t enter a formal party.
171. If a person has good character, and an ugly appearance is acceptable, but a beautiful face is seen as ugly if their character is bad.
172. If a soup is sweet, it has added sugar, which costs the cook money.
173. If a thorn pierces the toe, it should be gently cooked several times per day for a week to kill the disease.
174. If all the seeds that fall were to grow the whole surface of the earth would be covered next year.
175. If gold is corroding, what will iron do if subjected to that environment?
176. If hunger forces a farmer to eat his seed crops, he becomes enslaved to whoever will feed him.
177. If is the fear of condemnation that drives men to swallow poison.
178. If one finger touches oil, the others will soon be slippery.
179. If the load is too heavy to carry, let the ground hold it.
180. If the pain of stomachaches were in the feet, many people would appear lame.
181. If there is no drum in the school, it is the fault of the teacher, but if it isn’t beaten, it is the fault of the children.
182. If we forget yesterday, we will soon forget today and tomorrow.
183. If we imitate honorable men, we become honorable, and if we imitate birds, we can fly.
184. If we remove every smoking log from a fire, it goes out.
185. If we visit Rome and do as Romans do, and we see some with their ears cut off, we will return home without ears.
186. If you are not an animal or vegetable, you must become with the elements when you die.
187. If you can’t dance well, stay seated and applaud those who do.
188. If you chew up a razor blade, you will spit blood.
189. If you fail to remove an angry man’s sword when he is on the ground, you will soon be facing an angry man with a sword.
190. If you fear death, the fault doesn’t lay in your inevitable death but your worldview.
191. If you give a starving man fishing equipment and access to your pond, you will feed him and his customers until the pond is empty.
192. If you have one finger pointing at the guilty one, you have three pointing at yourself.
193. If you play with a porcupine, expect to pull some quils.
194. If you put off a problem for tomorrow, tomorrow comes with a vengeance, but you will sleep tonight if you don’t wait for tomorrow and fix it now.
195. If you want to prove that your medicine works, wait until your patient is sicker, and he is more thankful when it works.
196. If you want to see how profitable enterprises thrive, go to Mecca and observe the beauty.
197. Ignorance makes problems darker than night, and stupidity makes them darker.
198. Important speeches must convince even the densest person.
199. In a game, you cannot be on competing teams simultaneously because it’s defined to be one against the other.
200. In Africa, if one person in the street kills a dog, the street is named dog killers.
201. Intimate familiarity breeds children and responsibilities.
202. It is a fortunate person that a physician believes he can help.
203. It is a proverb that the wise man who knows proverbs keeps a party going.
204. It is common for a guilty person to boast of his innocence, which he will reveal in the retrial.
205. It is fun to see the effects of his copied calls that inspire parrots to imitate other creatures’ sounds.
206. It is more interesting and fun doing evil things than putting them right.
207. It is not enough to take a trip; you must enjoy the traveling and know when you get where you were going.
208. It is often little things that spark the biggest problems.
209. It is the brutally honest man who earns universal enmity.
210. It was the woman’s cold water that impeded him and the doubting public that drowned him.
211. Jealousy is like ash, and when you throw it into the wind, it comes back into your face.
212. Languages are learned and differ, but coughs expose the underlying similarity of people.
213. Lending creates worry in the borrower and the lender.
214. Little things are easily forgotten.
215. Man is only known when you challenge him with a difficult problem.
216. Many different species can make a good from the same environment.
217. More mothers than you know can make a tasty soup.
218. Mud houses don’t burn.
219. No one can ever steal your inner juju.
220. No one claims a lonely oasis in the middle of a desert is a happy place because of a bit of water.
221. Not acknowledging the wonderful things the world freely gives us is the cause of half our misery.
222. Not to know the relevant facts is bad, but to wish not to know them is stupid.
223. Not to oversee most workmen it to give them money for lounging.
224. Old age comes slowly but is lived one quick day at a time.
225. Old men see what young men don’t, and young men see what old men see, but ignore.
226. Once a cock begins to crow, it never goes quiet for long.
227. One can never return to the farmer from whom one borrowed seeds and asked for more.
228. One cry of “Thief!” alerts the whole marketplace.
229. One does not become a master diviner overnight; it takes practice.
230. One man sees a garden snake, but another sees a boa constrictor.
231. One must wait until the last months of life to pay gratitude to one’s living spirit.
232. One pebble doesn’t make a floor, but it can help mark out its corners.
233. Only a medicine man makes money while sleeping.
234. Only a mother would nurse a biting child.
235. Only God will keep flies away from a tailless cow.
236. Only the tortoise and some humans carry a shell about with them and make it their home.
237. Only those things which you struggle to get will you value enough to keep forever.
238. Our abilities do not perform miracles by themselves but by our intentional use of them.
239. Our elders say that sunset takes away the cloth that covers the village.
240. Our examples of how to live are like seeds that spread far and wide to show young people how to grow old and contented.
241. Overabundance produces famine because it brings more babies into the world than a normal year will provide food to sustain.
242. Patient people live and work quietly without stressing their minds with worry or their bodies with fatigue.
243. People are more likely to help fill a half-full pot than begin to fill an empty one.
244. People don’t want to be evil but feel a necessity to retaliate for evils done to them, but if we forgave wrongs, retaliation would end.
245. People in desperate trouble turn to Allah to help them cope with those things which everyday actions can not help.
246. Poor old women are forced to live away from the village and eat things like toads, snakes, and demons.
247. Preparing this year’s crops to be planted doesn’t mean the weather is ready to receive and nurture them.
248. Properly earned money grows beautiful things, but improperly earned money buys showy things that wither away.
249. Proverbs are like palm oil which contains ideas that are then easily understood and applied to daily life.
250. Putting on a smiling face and happy greeting gets similar expressions from your friends, and you all feel good.
251. Quarreling men do not share the same seat on a canoe, or a fight will tip over the canoe.
252. Rain makes friends with everyone and helps them grow their daily food.
253. Rather than tell a lie to help a friend, it is better to pay the law for his offense.
254. Raw onions burn the eyes and nose but taste great.
255. Sane behavior today may be insane tomorrow.
256. Seeing an event gives you a more accurate knowledge of it than hearing about it, or watching the news reports.
257. Sleep and indolence do not produce a good harvest.
258. Snakes don’t fly but they do succeed in catching and eating birds.
259. Some birds love water, and others avoid it in their quest for a good life.
260. Some eggs become chickens, others turkeys.
261. Some people are so oblivious to their reality they don’t notice when they have pepper in their eyes.
262. Some things are not possible, like one goat carrying another goat’s tail.
263. Someone else’s legs do you no good when traveling unless they are carrying your baggage.
264. Stupidity loves ignorance of the harm it causes others while doing foolish things.
265. Success is 10% ability to see the right thing to do, and 90% doing it.
266. The beautiful fruit hanging on its tree may contain a living maggot.
267. The best one can do sometimes is wait.
268. The blind say the eyes have no sense of smell or taste because that part of their brain used to see is now dedicated to smelling and tasting.
269. The bringing to competent adulthood a new generation is our legacy to the future.
270. The cocks crow as the morning begins to glow to define their territory as being as far as their voice will carry.
271. The day of departure on a long trip is ideally not the same day as planning.
272. The dinner drum sounds when the hawk returns with a rabbit.
273. The dog stays out of sight when a hyena is in the neighborhood.
274. The eagles overhead have seen many seasons and many floods, but when will they come this year?
275. The earth is a wonderful bed to lay upon and view the stars.
276. The edible frog jumps into ponds for a good reason.
277. The elders of a village are speaking with the experience of the gods.
278. The elephant and the tiger do not go looking for dinner on the same field.
279. The elephant is proud of his big tusks and uses them to prove his superiority to other elephants.
280. The environment sends gentle breezes when the conditions are right.
281. The first step is difficult because of the forethought of the coming of unknowable problems.
282. The gods only hear one wish at a time, it that.
283. The gods will come to claim a portion of the world’s bounty.
284. The habits a child forms with his parents guide him through his marriage.
285. The happy cry of the hyena and the loss of your goat are one sound.
286. The head of your neighbor is like a block of wood, with many growth rings.
287. The honest words of a friend may make you cry, while the words of a lying enemy will help you believe in false hopes.
288. The house roof defends against the rain, but we quickly forget unless it leaks.
289. The hyena is accused of every crime, but it doesn’t steal money, gold, or your laundry drying on the clothesline.
290. The king’s ambassador is a perfectly honorable man.
291. The leech that does not let go even when it is filled, dies on the dry land.
292. The love of doing something productive gets more done than a whip that only inspires avoidance of pain.
293. The man who eats peppers desires to spice up his life.
294. The man who values other people understands his origins.
295. The moment a cockerel matures, he begins to crow when the sun shines.
296. The Moon disappears and always comes back looking different.
297. The most easily caught chicken finds its path to a pot of soup shorter.
298. The mouse has no power to punish a lurking cat except by not being caught, but squirrels can lure a cat up a tree that it can’t climb down.
299. The offspring of the same mother always have their unique point of view and thus always disagree a little.
300. The old man is here to tell us the stories of the successes and failures he has witnessed.
301. The only insurance against fire is to have no flames in the house.
302. The pillar of the world is the hope that tomorrow will be better than today.
303. The poor man who does not mend his clothes will soon be naked.
304. The quest for money destroys more people than weapons do.
305. The river carries the exact atoms of water of the cool mountain springs to the ocean.
306. The river may dry up, but the river’s bed keeps the name meaningful.
307. The same Moon with different relative angles to the sun makes its ever-changing face.
308. The source of a man’s wealth of often an ugly thing to witness.
309. The spider waits patiently in its web for dinner.
310. The stars shine brightest when the Sun and Moon are gone.
311. The stones on the river bed below have not been hit by this year’s rain runoff.
312. The thirsty fig tree waits and waits for the rains.
313. The tree that cannot shed its old leaves in the dry season cannot survive a drought.
314. The water from a spring flows back to the ocean after residing in a mountain for years.
315. The well has water, but the bucket refuses to accept it.
316. The whip hits and punishes the man’s innocent legs, but it was his mind that committed the crime.
317. The work of one’s hands decides what one chooses to eat or is forced to eat.
318. The work you do in black hair allows you to eat well in white hair.
319. The world of joy is not so small it can’t be found.
320. The young bird that remembers its flock-mate’s song won’t miss the migration to where they breed.
321. There have been a hundred billion people live, and they were all different.
322. There is no medicine against old age, except eating lightly, exercising moderately, and having a good time every day with friends.
323. Thinking which includes foresight and caution, is the most important habit to cultivate.
324. Those carrying elephant flesh home today don’t need to dig up crickets to survive.
325. Those who derive pleasure from watching freaks in a side-show ought to experience the sadness of raising one.
326. Thoughts and dreams based on reality are the foundations of a healthy personality.
327. Time gives reality its opportunity to move toward its later conditions.
328. To a personality, a mother is like inner gold, and the self, a reflection in a mirror to the father.
329. To do one’s duty in dangerous circumstances is honor in action.
330. To eat a meal with an honorable man is to form a permanent bond with him.
331. To find a black sheep at night, shine a flashlight around while making a strange noise; their eyes will shine in reflected light.
332. To have no enemies is a form of wealth.
333. Toothless creatures eat the softest foods.
334. Truth endures the passage of time because it is based on reality, but fantasy evaporates back into its despondent hopes.
335. Two footsteps do not make a path, but they point the way.
336. Two raindrops to not forecast a typhoon.
337. Voluntary working toward a glorious goal is a joy-filled honor.
338. Water may wash away the footprint formerly on the ground, but it will not wash away the words spoken by the mouth.
339. We can not choose who our ancestors are, but we can choose which qualities they bred into us to express.
340. We could survive on soup made with curried yams if we refuse to eat yams because of their texture.<
341. We find our way through life exposed in daylight and must avoid the temptation to do selfish things in the obscurity of darkness.
342. We have been molded into our present selves by our thoughts and actions.
343. We lie by hope for a better future but keep living by the inertia of our habits.
344. We may forget that we are embedded in history, but we, humanity, and all life are meaningless without history.
345. We must bring into their barn our black goats before it gets dark.
346. We only take what we can carry home from a dead elephant.
347. We treat our stomach as our supreme God and we make sacrifices to it several times every day.
348. What can you do that will make you recollect while the tree in your yard is still flourishing?
349. What is past is a prologue to the future, as seen from a future perspective; history is always the prologue.
350. When a face is sullen, the person behind it is sullen too.
351. When a fire starts inside a shrine, there isn’t much that can burn.
352. When a laborer is praised for his workmanship, he feels appreciated and does better work.
353. When a man loses his prestige, he doesn’t regain it by going where he is unknown.
354. When a man’s teeth fall out, his jaw comes up, and his nose comes down.
355. When a mother cow is cropping grass, her calf watches, and learns how it’s done.
356. When a palm-branch reaches its full growth is stops, and gives it energy to the new branch.
357. When a person regrets endlessly, he gets to suffer more for what it is that he regrets. Practice makes perfect.
358. When a ripe fruit sees an honest man coming, it drops into his hand.
359. When a woman has ten children, there’s nothing that she doesn’t know about children’s antics.
360. When any part of a tree shows decay, the whole tree is exposed to more sickness.
361. When it is a man’s turn to become the village elder, he doesn’t need a fortune teller to forecast his new role in life.
362. When lions have their biographers, they will be the heroes.
363. When the adults leave the kids alone in the house for a day, the kids learn to take more responsibility because it’s their house.
364. When the birds eat your neighbor’s grain, drive them away because they will be hungry again tomorrow and eat yours.
365. When the house next door is on fire, help them put it out, and if the fire threatens your house, defend your exposed wall.
366. When the music changes rhythm, the dancers must change their steps, and the whole world is a dance floor.
367. When there are no trees available, birds will perch on men’s heads.
368. When there’s a stampede, the person with a big butt realizes they are at a disadvantage.
369. When trouble becomes overwhelming, people call to God and beg for help.
370. When you are afraid of doing too much, you will always do too little.
371. When you are designated as “a man,” you must behave like a man.
372. When you are having dinner with a devil, you must be careful not to acquire his habits.
373. When you are taking eggs from a hen’s roost, she is bound to be annoyed with you.
374. When you cook a chicken, the turkeys get worried.
375. When you follow an elephant hunter, there is certain to be excess meat they will share.
376. When you help your neighbor’s yard stay clean, he will help you, it’s like one hand washing the other, and they are both clean.
377. When you run out of bullets, use your gun as a club.
378. Whenever someone stands for something, another will stand beside them.
379. With an abundance of cotton fibers, you can make a rope strong enough to lift a huge stone.
380. Words are sweet, but the basis of all life is eatable food.
381. You can attract and catch hyenas’ with rotten meat usually thrown away.
382. You can compare something with nothing, yet all nothings are different when compared with something.
383. You can cover the sun with your hand, but you can’t force it to set.
384. You cannot roast corn with your eyes because you have to do the work to get the roasting going.
385. You cannot shave a man’s head, or break his leg, in his absence.
386. You know a lion is hungry when he’s eating you instead of a gazelle.
387. You know who you love, but unknown others may love you.
388. You must row the boat you are in if you want to get anywhere.
389. You promised a goat to your nurse when you were sick, but a chicken seems to be a sufficient reward when healthy.
390. You will have a more contented life, with friends and a dog, than a rich man without them.
391. Your clothes fit you better than another’s fancy gown.
392. Your death by heart attack begins with your appetite for more food than your body needs.
393. Your hand can always find your mouth, if you have food in it.
394. Your head would not be where it is if you didn’t do the right things.
395. Your heap of yams at harvest is proportional to the number of furrows you plowed at planting.
396. Your mother’s soup is always the best.
397. Your ox will die, but its working equipment remains for another ox to use.
398. Your parents believed that if they took good care of you until you cut your teeth, you would take care of them when they lost theirs.
399. Your pig that just wallowed in the mud wants to share its positive experience by rubbing against you.

Australian Proverbs for playing the Aphor Game

These modified aphorisms will prompt new ideas or inspire you to discover even more obscure ones.
Business – Culture Trip – Inspirational Stories – Joy of Museums – Proverbicals – The Spiritual Life

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1. A bird makes her nest one twig at a time.
2. A businessman seeks to possess other people’s money without being picky about inconvenient laws.
3. A champion team is more pleasing to watch than a team of champions.
4. A face like a meringue pie dropped on a cow pie.
5. A fair go for all, regardless of ethnicity, race, religion, except for Poms, Yanks, and Kiwis.
6. A flounder fish avoids locations where there have been disturbances.
7. A gardener exposes his inner life in how he cares for his garden.
8. A happy person chooses to enjoy the detours life drops on them.
9. A man may have great skills and still be a bad example.
10. A prison dog must not steal from other prison dogs because they can’t turn to the law and must punish the offender directly.
11. A self-motivated man will accomplish more with a rusty hammer than a loafer can with a truckload of tools.
12. A wowser is more shocked at a minor local flaw than a horrendous public injustice.
13. Angry words in a crowd fan reactive anger like one burning tree in a forest sets others ablaze.
14. As lonely as Bambi standing in a burnt-out forest.
15. At the first step, one considers the final step, which is beyond many unknowable and probably difficult steps.
16. Australia is like fusion-power, always greatly improving the world, a decade or so in the future.
17. Australian Aborigines believe they will discover in their dreams the deeper meaning of their life’s purpose.
18. Be humane, shoot straight, and don’t let them suffer.
19. Being different is easy, but doing something better isn’t.
20. Better to have something you use than to wish for something you can’t have.
21. Call on God’s help, but stay away from the rocks.
22. Dying is easy because it is inevitable, but living forever is difficult.
23. Even the local mayor is driven by self-interest and has the paved highway come out to his house.
24. Everything is going to be all right, and in the end, we will prevail.
25. Experience is the source of wisdom, and you can learn cause and effect by the experience of other people’s actions.
26. Happiness only comes to those who appreciate what they have, and the more they have, the happier they become.
27. He bought the biggest hat and the most expensive boots to prove that he would be a successful rancher.
28. He drinks like a flat-out lizard on a hot day.
29. He has a mixed bag of fruits and nuts in his head.
30. He’s flaming like the beautiful galah bird, but he’s a nerdy fool.
31. Help the poor by not giving all your money to fools and becoming another fool competing for limited charity.
32. His morals are lower than a snake’s belly.
33. I still have my grandfather’s ax, but it’s had two new heads and three new handles.
34. I’m so rich I will share my wealth by buying all you blokes a drink.
35. If you must get some action, give the hot sauce bottle a vigorous shaking.
36. Is your goal in life to be a bad example of what a human is capable of doing?
37. It is a common Australian activity to spend a year or more in a foreign country before going home to settle down.
38. It is easy to remember your enemies because they hurt you and forget your bland friends.
39. Keep your eyes on the sun, and you won’t notice your shadow, but you’re blind to other problems after a while.
40. Leave tomorrow until tomorrow, or a tomorrow after that one.
41. Lost time is impossible to find.
42. Love and hatred are both blind and stupid.
43. May your chickens turn into emus and kick your outhouse down.
44. No worries! I’ve got this problem under control.
45. Nothing is so costly to a nation’s economy and psychological well-being as when lives are ruined by social chaos.
46. Our purpose here is to observe, learn, grow, love everyone, and go home.
47. People are motivated by self-interest, and you will understand and predict an individual’s actions by identifying theirs.
48. Sick people cluster together in life and after death.
49. Some stupid mistakes are so much fun we do them over and over.
50. Tears are the words of a suffering heart.
51. The aboriginal man lived comfortably with the land, but the white man cultivated it and lived by exporting its produce.
52. The Australian accent is strange because they pronounce all the letters in their words.
53. The clashing of ideas brings forth many options for new actions, some of which have never been thought of before now.
54. The more distracting the clothing a person is wearing, the more deceptive they are being, and naked truth is the honest truth.
55. The more you know what you need, the easier it is to get by with fewer possessions.
56. The most intense hatreds are not between political parties but between the people within them.
57. The platypus is proof that aliens once inhabited the earth.
58. The stupid man is unable to foresee the consequences of his actions as well as a wiser man because he refuses to look ahead.
59. The sun, rain, wind, and other natural phenomena fall equally on both sides of man-made fences.
60. Unless you try to succeed in a new business several times, you won’t discover what you need to do it.
61. Villains are thinking people trying to make a living with minimal effort, and some choose politics.
62. Walk a mile in someone’s shoes before you criticize them, so you will have a mile of head-start when they get mad.
63. We Australians are not so much disillusioned as never having been bathed in illusions and were left free to discover our life’s purpose.
64. We live in a world where evil is eliminated by swimming in the deep waters of euphemism.
65. We may as well enjoy being here because it’s where we are.
66. We never cry over spilled milk; we just milk another cow.
67. When departing, the word “Goodbye” is often replaced with “Have a good one.”
68. When Europeans first visited Australia, they thought it a perfect place for them to colonize, and they did.
69. When fishing offshore, if you catch a man, throw him back.
70. When problems are still distant, chuck a U-ey, and enjoy the trip.
71. When the environment is challenging, it is necessary to keep in excellent physical and mental condition.
72. You’re a fine little ripper.

Ivorian Proverbs for playing the Aphor Game

These aphorisms will inspire new ideas for your use.
African Literature – BBC – Comboni – Kidadl – Inspirational Stories – Proverbicals

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1. A big heart is friendlier than a big brain.
2. A cat at home has teeth and claws for the mice.
3. A cat is happiest when slouching forward to kill living creatures.
4. A child discovers by crawling how to walk, stand, and climb.
5. A child gets carried home even he’s heavy.
6. A cow dies still chewing its cud.
7. A delicate flower is easily spoiled.
8. A diamond does not lose its value in the hands of the clueless.
9. A flag hanging serenely on a wall is more beautiful than one leading a mass of marching soldiers.
10. A friend can sing the songs of your youth with you.
11. A genuine person may be afraid of trying but takes that first step anyway.
12. A good son gives a good reputation to his mother.
13. A learned person knows the relevant facts for our problems.
14. A leopard’s skin is beautiful, but the leopard lives by killing other animals.
15. A man of forethought is almost invisible because he solves problems before others become aware of their existence.
16. A man who isn’t aware of reality isn’t aware of his ignorance.
17. A man who studies a single thing intently forgets the rest of the world.
18. A mother doesn’t raise a child with aspirations beyond her own.
19. A parent who does hurtful things to others breeds vicious habits into their children.
20. A person’s polite devotion to helping others is their greatest virtue.
21. A predator doesn’t become a vegetarian in a garden.
22. A promptly delivered generosity when and where needed is the best because it does the most good.
23. A snake can only bite as far as it reaches, about half its body length.
24. A starving stomach will kill to eat.
25. A thoughtful person who knows a few proverbs can soothe social tensions.
26. A toad doesn’t take extra hops for no good reason.
27. Aiming too long on a distant objective can ruin your eyes and foresight.
28. An antagonistic leader drives his organization into factions.
29. An older person has been exposed to wisdom, so observe how much quietness they have cultivated into their habits.
30. Anger doesn’t govern a country; anger destroys it.
31. Be certain the snake is dead before you drop your stick.
32. Be kind to everyone, but especially kind to those who are kind to others.
33. Beautiful speech is rare, but the illiterate can express it when revealing their truths.
34. Believe what you and your companions have seen far more deeply than what the news shows and reports.
35. Bitter truth brings more lasting health than sweet falsehood.
36. Children are one of the great rewards of living through your adult years.
37. Counsel your children, then let adversity buff them to their perfection.
38. Do what you can do, and move on.
39. Don’t bother angrily calling a dog while holding a stick.
40. Don’t trust a liar when he tells the truth when he’s buttering you up.
41. Even a dog knows that when you pick up one end of a stick, you can hit with the other end.
42. Give thanks for the gifts that came your way yesterday, and pass gifts forward with every opportunity.
43. Gratitude demonstrates my appreciation and doesn’t imply my humble servitude.
44. He who has the temperament of a leader has followers with the qualities of sheep.
45. How smoothly home life flows when each quietly fills the other’s needs.
46. If a person has a good character, even physical ugliness appears beautiful, but a lousy character makes beautiful-looking people into monsters.
47. If one refuses to see the facts of reality, they might learn through repeated encounters with accidents.
48. If someone has been with you in dark times, be there for them while twilight is falling on them.
49. If the speaker is foolish, reasonable people must understand what he says, and they are fools themselves for a while before defining it as a foolish statement.
50. If two wise men always agree, there is no need for both of them on a council.
51. If you are willing to take a bath in icy water, you must be eager to accept the pain.
52. If you don’t know your town’s responsible people, you will marry a witch.
53. If you watch for trouble, you will find it.
54. Ingratitude for our wonderful world ends with a sour funeral.
55. Insanity can be relieved, but foolishness grows and feeds back on itself, growing ever more profound until the end.
56. It is better to be married to a deaf husband than to be alone.
57. It is easy to defeat people who can’t generate enthusiasm.
58. It is twisted wood that brings out a sculptor’s most pleasing work.
59. It’s not the number of people who watch you, but the number who appreciate your actions.
60. Knowing too much makes you appear foolish to the ordinary person.
61. Knowledge is a garden that you must cultivate to be harvested and used.
62. Life can be understood forwards if we look at the inertia of the past.
63. Many die from the folly of actions, few from the wisdom of avoiding actions.
64. Nature has provided us with beautiful forests, lakes, and rivers to enjoy, rugged peaks, barren deserts, and grasslands for rumination.
65. No matter how hot your anger is, it won’t cook your dinner.
66. No one is born great; they arise when others are quietly sleeping.
67. No trees bear fruit without having flowers and bees.
68. Nobody is born wise; they must choose to see reality clearly, discount the hopes and lies, and foresee cause and effects.
69. Not even wise counsel can make a man sensible whose character is weak.
70. Not everyone who chased a rabbit caught it, but those who caught one did chase it.
71. Not to know is bad, not to seek truth is terrible, but seeking to revere lies is dreadful.
72. People become the sum of their daily responses to their problems, which form their habits, the sum of which is called character.
73. People prepare food and drinks for guests because that is what family members do for their families.
74. People who seek pride are violating the ideas that bring wisdom.
75. Prepare the solutions now for tomorrow’s problems.
76. Silence is a critical moment in music and in speaking.
77. Stop gathering firewood when your rope encompasses the right amount for carrying it.
78. Suffering now teaches us to respect our ancestors’ struggles and know better the limits to which we may be subjected and survive.
79. That you help a child learn to love something is more important than the exact subject.
80. The child moves through its adolescence, making the decisions that form its permanent character.
81. The days that go by are similar, but they are not the same.
82. The desire to cheat the customer on the price, and the customer’s desire to get the most they can for their money, generates noise in the market.
83. The eyes see things, and the mind understands their relationships.
84. The fall of a dead leaf warns you of the brevity of living things.
85. The first step is the moment of final decision-making.
86. The guest who broke the guest-dish is never forgotten.
87. The human hunter is always the hero.
88. The laughter of children lights up a whole neighborhood.
89. The most beautiful fruits may contain worms because they also choose to eat the best available food.
90. The only real beauty is a well-performed deed.
91. The qualities of milk and honey are different, but they are both welcome in every home.
92. The size of a river depends on its tributaries.
93. The tourist has big eyes, but they don’t see the things that make life here wonderful.
94. Those who never forgive are not to be forgiven.
95. Thoughts direct the eyes, and then the eyes direct the thoughts.
96. Three things ease sorrows: running water, green trees, and a beautiful face.
97. Tired people always appear lazy, so encourage them to get enough sleep and healthy food.
98. To lie is easy, but to repair the lie’s damage is impossible.
99. To protect an individual’s rights is to protect the whole society’s rights.
100. Too much discussion prevents action and creates new divisions.
101. Trading simple gifts with others makes them into friends.
102. Truth is unsalable because it is obvious, but lies give individuals special knowledge and can be sold.
103. Visit your old habitats occasionally to remember and relive with your former friends, your mutual dreams.
104. Water shared between friends is more enjoyable than fine wine between acquaintances.
105. We are physical representatives of our ancestors, and our social ancestry is in the written history and verbal memories like proverbs.
106. We hope the world around us will continue providing as reliability as it has in the past.
107. We learn most about our friends while on long trips.
108. We need courage, common sense, and caution.
109. We received this land from our ancestors, and we are borrowing it from our children.
110. We should take two steps forward to advance and one step back to verify.
111. We want our children to have roots in our culture and to fly over all others.
112. What evolved the vulture’s bald head would kill a crow.
113. What is sensible today will be seen as stupid insanity tomorrow.
114. What you say that is memorable is what you will be judged by.
115. When a bitter woman takes over your house, the family is doomed.
116. When a conflict is approaching, the wise will build common bridges, and the foolish build excluding walls.
117. When an old woman falls down twice, people should check what is in her basket.
118. When anger enters a person, the loving heart departs.
119. When in the middle of a river, do not insult the crocodiles.
120. When not in a discovery quest, don’t waste time and energy on impossible tasks.
121. When the drummer changes the beat, the dancer’s feet must accommodate.
122. When the heart worries, the eyes flow.
123. When the rain pours on chili peppers, it doesn’t diminish their potency.
124. When the village chief himself goes around inviting people to a meeting, know there is something wrong.
125. When we lie, we renounce peace and prepare to fight.
126. When you beat a drum so madmen can dance, it converts you into a madman.
127. When you behave badly, you provide a model that damages the character of those who know you.
128. When you educate a boy, you educate one person, but when you educate a girl, you also educate her children.
129. When you give a monkey as a gift, you don’t hold on to its tail.
130. When you have a hammer in your hand, many uses for it appear.
131. When you procrastinate, you generate the habit of being in an unpleasant dither, but you could be energetic and happy by doing some little act.
132. Where there are negotiations, there is hope for agreement.
133. Where you sit when you are old shows where you stood when you were young.
134. Whoever points to your fault is helping you to be wise.
135. Whoever sees something good must go tell it to others.
136. You are bad if you are good only to yourself.
137. You are having a lonely walk when you think you are leading a crowd and no one is following.
138. You know what to say, but not what you will be told or who will say it.
139. You know where you are coming from, but not where you are going or how you will get there.
140. You must accept love from others if you want to be loved.
141. You shared many hours working together with that old hoe, and you ate many a meal that it helped create.
142. Your eyes judge the beauty of the person before you, but how you feel about them lingers, which is created by how they respond to you.

Cameroonian Proverbs for playing the Aphor Game

These aphorisms are designed to inspire new ideas for application to your life.
– African Gourmet – African Proverbs – Bella Online – Inspirational Stories – Mama Lisa’s World – Proverbicals – Special Dictionary

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1. A chattering bird is not building a nest.
2. A cherry year is cheery, but a good year for plums isn’t so good for bums.
3. A chicken gets heavy when you must carry it a long way home.
4. A child who will become a leader grows up thinking of his ancestors.
5. A friend will do you more good deeds than a brother.
6. A house of sand collapses as you make it.
7. A lazy man has enough energy to chew food but not enough to saw wood.
8. A lion that is hungry doesn’t look at your size but your ability to injure him.
9. A man can earn a living wage from a cart after the market closes by selling to the desperate late arrivals.
10. A man’s personal wealth may be restraining his behaviors.
11. A person prone to envy needs little prompting to be envious.
12. A skinny man speaking with authority has more power than a man with big muscles.
13. An elephant can reach the roof of your house if he chooses to but probably isn’t interested.
14. An elephant that kills a rat is not a hero among elephants, but the one who knows where to find food is.
15. An empty calabash is beautiful because it is symmetrical and useful.
16. An honorable man may turn with guilt at night, but he is honest with his words and actions.
17. An orderly village is beautiful to look at when passing by.
18. As the crickets cry, the seasons change.
19. Be careful that where you sleep has perfectly healthy air and people.
20. Better a little completed than too much attempted.
21. By often trying, the monkey develops his skills for swinging through trees.
22. Do not consult a fortune-teller when you know the disease.
23. Don’t expose your weakness by indulging in a tiny bit too much extravagance.
24. Drinking your fill of booze eliminates today’s suffering until tomorrow, when it returns a little worse.
25. Even if thin with hunger, the elephant is the king of the forest.
26. Every smart man who abuses his ignorance is an ignoramus
27. Every well-informed man is stupid who does stupid things.
28. Everybody can love the antics of a fool, but no sane person wants him as a friend.
29. Everyone feels a burden that you don’t see or feel.
30. Get started on your tasks in a timely manner and make any mistakes early rather than late.
31. Great events, both desirable and destructive, may occur because of simple words and actions done earlier.
32. He who throws a stone in the village market will hit someone who will remember who injured them forever.
33. However swift, great, or humble the man, his shadow will never abandon him.
34. If everyone is dancing, who will watch and cheer?
35. If love is the sickness, intimacy is the cure.
36. If the fight is not until tomorrow, then you can enjoy today.
37. If you ask questions, you must listen to the answers.
38. If you show your weapons, you solicit a battle that you may lose.
39. If you step on a sleeping dog’s tail, he will bite you.
40. If you understand the beginning, the end will be no surprise.
41. Imitation of a competitor is challenging someone already skilled in the ability.
42. Is a mouse going into a jar lying on the floor considering it as a home or a refuge?
43. It is counterproductive to fear inevitable things like death.
44. It is painful to be the victim of an injustice, which provokes more injustice from everyone involved.
45. Knowledge is better than money, says the young man studying a book, but not older men studying the world.
46. Leave a person who rejects good sense to discover their own path through life.
47. Lying can get you a wife, but you will suffer when you don’t fulfill her expectations.
48. No matter how fast you are, you can’t outrun the vital things.
49. No matter how powerful you are, you can’t make the sun shine or stop shining.
50. No matter which direction the wind is blowing, ashes will fly back into the face of whoever throws them.
51. One father can feed six sons better than they can feed an old father, as they all let the other brothers take care of him.
52. One who is born with little intelligence can not become an intellectual genius, but they can become a valuable citizen.
53. Orphans on the street don’t cry because there is no one that is going to help them.
54. Pull a dog’s tail forward, and he will get angry at you.
55. She is like a beautiful mountain road, pretty but steep and crooked.
56. Singing birds aren’t building nests but calling for mates or warning others of your presence.
57. The bigger the headman’s company, the bigger his headaches.
58. The bird that knows how to be caught and fed will figure out a way to escape.
59. The darkest night can’t stop the sun from rising.
60. The day is unconscious, and she doesn’t know that night has fallen.
61. The doctor who sees that you are dying moves on to a patient he can help.
62. The fire cooks the dinner, but the cook gets the credit.
63. The flood takes him in, and the ebb tide takes him out.
64. The foolishness of a man is not made public as is a woman’s.
65. The heart of a wise man flows quietly to the ocean.
66. The panther knows what works for him.
67. The sweetness of food depends on the sensitivity of the eater’s mind and the temperature of the food.
68. The sweetness of something depends on the eater.
69. The weight of a problem is felt by the one carrying it.
70. Thinking about your loss is what breaks your heart, so go play basketball for an hour.
71. Thought is free, only if your coffee is free.
72. Travel is more like research, and one who travels discovers different things than one who studies the route from a book.
73. Water always finds a way out, even if it must go up.
74. We all take care of our things, and a bachelor shares his extra food with his sheep rather than a wife.
75. What can an old man see sitting down that a young man won’t see standing up?
76. What you are not looking for, you will not see.
77. When a big tree falls, the goats will eat its leaves.
78. When a poor man sets a trap, his dog gets caught.
79. When a vine gets to your roof, cut it down, or you will be forced to build a new roof.
80. When good food begins going bad, it is given to an orphan.
81. When there is no enemy within, the enemies outside don’t know your weak points.
82. Whoever sees a problem with the king’s plans is the one assigned to fix it.
83. Wise men can learn a lot from watching the cause and effect of the actions of a fool.
84. Without a minute’s pleasure and twenty years of work, you cannot produce a human being.
85. You came to my home with a cat and called him a rabbit.
86. You cannot put out your house on fire by waving your hands.

Covid Logarithmic chart 2022-02-20

Covid Logarithmic chart 2022-02-20 – JPG

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Covid Logarithmic chart 2022-02-20 – GIF Click image for bigger, then a + for even bigger.

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These last two weeks saw a rapid drop in the Omicron variant worldwide, which followed the trend first set in South Africa. If the trend continues we may see a remarkable drop by July. Unfortunately, a new problem called Long Covid has come up, in which the disease takes up a possibly permanent residence in its victims. They are mildly sick but functional, but they may become permanent reservoirs of the Covid disease and be capable of spreading it to other people. People with Long Covid may respond to vaccinations that will kill the disease. Over two years into this disease and it is still giving us unpleasant surprises.

Venezuelan Proverbs for playing the Aphor Game

These aphorisms are designed to inspire new ideas for application to your life.

Web sources – BANG – Inspirational Stories – Proverbicals – Special Dictionary – World Proverbs

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1. A cross on the chest may cover a devil in the heart.
2. A deceitful man throws a brick at the police from behind an angry crowd.
3. A friend will fit some part of your human need.
4. A man who didn’t want the responsibility of children is plagued with nieces and nephews.
5. A monkey dressed to fit the occasion still acts like a monkey.
6. A mother’s care for her son is proportional to the challenges he brings.
7. A respectful son reveals his day to his parents and benefits from their more mature help.
8. A son born bent will never be perfectly straight.
9. A tree twisted when small will form a bent log when big.
10. A young cat hunts mice and ignores frogs.
11. All trees provide shade, but you must pursue a tall palm tree’s shadow to enjoy it.
12. An albatross coming ashore pulls a hurricane behind it.
13. An inappropriate word is like a fish being killed by a hook in its mouth.
14. Appropriate proverbs are like lightning striking on a dark night.
15. Be aware of a coming flood of problems and prepare, or you may be swept away.
16. Children born fat will be prone to obesity all their life.
17. Create some personal fame when young and coast through life on your laurels.
18. For a starving person, there’s no bread too hard to eat.
19. Friends who helped you in the past are the ones who will help you in the future, so remember to reciprocate.
20. Go yell at the valley, to stop being humbled by the mountains.
21. He was last seen looking dreamily into the distance and talking about pregnant birds.
22. He was so skinny that no one noticed when he died.
23. He wastes his time looking for a cat’s fifth leg.
24. He who abandons his family abandons his life.
25. He who doesn’t look ahead stumbles into potholes.
26. He’s as scared as a roach in a chicken coop.
27. He’s like a turtle slandering an armadillo by labeling him a hard-back.
28. Human weeds fit many situations better than courteous people.
29. Hungrier than a tick chewing on a baby doll.
30. I have more nieces in the drawer and nephews on the balcony than I can name.
31. If your eye doesn’t see bad things happen, your heart won’t feel any pain.
32. Join with good men, and you will become a good man.
33. Love that doesn’t have a stable economic situation will fail.
34. Lovers far away are fooling each other.
35. No disease is pandemic for a hundred years; three years yes, and possibly forever as a February killer.
36. Old saints don’t produce new miracles.
37. One sword in a scabbard keeps knives in their sheaths.
38. People judge others through their own responses to personal experiences and reflections.
39. People with rotten teeth are rotten all the way through.
40. Pray to God for help, but keep working.
41. Reality helps those most who create personal ownership by getting up early, working, and staying late.
42. Ridiculously dressed women draw attention but is it the attention that will do them some good?
43. She is standoffish, like a chicken staring at grains of salt.
44. The bill collector is a hated shadow of one’s former mistakes.
45. The more successful a social redeemer is, the more likely they will get murdered.
46. The one who breaks windows must pay for the new ones.
47. There is much to be gained and nothing lost by civility.
48. There is nothing hidden so well it can’t be found by looking in the right place.
49. There were too many people, and grandma delivered many more; then ordinary things to her became scarce for us.
50. There’s no illness that lasts one hundred years or body that can resist it.
51. There’s virtue in not rewarding bad behavior, such as begging.
52. Those who won’t work will survive in good times on the generosity of the workers and die in poor times.
53. Those who work in good times can satisfy their needs and enjoy occasional luxuries.
54. Tomorrow morning, what you should have done today will become apparent.
55. Treat others as they should treat you.
56. Weeds grow well because they fit your garden’s environment better than artificial plants with human-induced afflictions.
57. What has been done by a human has now become part of the ongoing flow of natural events.
58. When a hare leaps, the lame greyhounds join the chase.
59. When a river rumbles, it’s rolling rocks.
60. When in distress, go to a mountain top and complain to the valleys below.
61. When the boy cries, his mother pinches him to remind him that complaining will only worsen his pain.
62. When there’s a rumor, some of it will be true because it’s difficult to say anything that isn’t partly true.
63. Whoever sleeps with little children wakes up with wet spots.
64. Willfully stupid people see what they should do and then do the opposite.
65. You can’t pinch a person with thick, tough skin.
66. You must provide a penance for every new sin revealed, even if it’s ineffective.
67. Your body is 90% inherited, but your virtues are 90% acquired.

Malagasy Proverbs for playing the Aphor Game

The aphorisms of the world are made into a game for creating new ideas. The primary sources of these proverbs are from the web. They have been filtered through Grammarly and rewritten for easier application to living.
– HOPE recovery – Inspirational Stories – Proverbical – Special Dictionary

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1. A beautiful egg doesn’t argue with an ugly rock.
2. A cat twitching the tip of its tail distracts the mouse from the rest of the cat.
3. A chicken that hatches a crocodile egg will get bit.
4. A dog’s warning barks are not of his might but of fright that you might invade his territory.
5. A dying person will not wait for their shroud to be made.
6. A fortuneteller will confidently say your baby will be a boy or maybe a girl.
7. A lazy man goes to look for a spade but only finds lunch.
8. A little rain every day will keep the rivers flowing nicely.
9. A man finds faults in a woman he wants to leave and ignores her excellent qualities.
10. A man is stupid who divorces his wife at the first hassle.
11. A rooster’s tail feathers form a perfect background for his cocky head.
12. A sick patient that can swallow food will probably recover.
13. A soldier ant guards the worker ant approaching you with a grain of rice.
14. A starving crocodile pretends like he’s quietly sleeping.
15. A treasure is sometimes hidden beneath stuff in the bottom of a basket.
16. Advice is unwelcome even if it works out well, as it creates an unredeemable obligation.
17. Ants can attack with a grain of rice.
18. Better to be guilty of a legal infraction than of a violation of reality.
19. Better to lose money than a friend.
20. Crosses are ladders that lead to heaven up in the empty air.
21. Crows are black everywhere and don’t get white by washing themselves.
22. Crows crow over a dead sheep and then have dinner together.
23. Do not boast about your wealth to your children.
24. Don’t allocate the wood before the tree has been cut down.
25. Don’t be a miser who piles up his money to give the carpenter when he dies.
26. Don’t be a shadow following your companions; instead, be a comrade.
27. Don’t be so distracted by love that you don’t notice the rain.
28. Don’t bite off more than you can swallow.
29. Don’t blame nonliving things for mishaps because they are incapable of voluntary actions.
30. Don’t help a bull out of a ditch because he will come out angry, and there you are.
31. Don’t kick a sleeping dog or an awake one either.
32. Don’t push your loved one back and forth like a swinging door.
33. Don’t scare the birds you are trying to shoot.
34. Don’t think there are no sharks because you don’t see any.
35. Don’t waste your time finding the softest spot to begin when digging a whole field.
36. Drag the canoe up the bank after you cross the river.
37. Due diligence can conquer anything that can be conquered.
38. Even the dead wished to be buried with their families to keep one another company.
39. Flatterers, like mosquitoes, tickle before they bite.
40. Friendship reminds us of our fathers and love, of our mothers.
41. Frogs take the quacking of ducks as a warning, and we may learn from the sounds of birds when problems are lurking about us.
42. From many fish, in a pot, there is only one soup.
43. He balanced his head between poverty and dignity.
44. He who is starving accepts not getting any meat and settles for potatoes.
45. He’s distracted by the sunset and doesn’t notice the mosquito on his nose.
46. Idleness moves slowly and is soon caught by hunger.
47. If an indecisive man doesn’t wash his hands of an affair, he’s dirty, but if he washes them clean, he’s wasting water.
48. If love is ripped apart, the ragged pieces don’t stitch together smoothly.
49. If the pearl is not milky and iridescent, the price will be low.
50. If we don’t fight, we remain friendly equals, but if we fight, one becomes a despised loser and the other a hated winner.
51. If you cleanse others’ dirty habits, you too will be washed away like soap.
52. If you divorce a young woman, you are making other men happier.
53. If you feel angry, you concede there is a problem in your thinking, but you will feel disgusted when the problem is with their thinking.
54. If you sell a drum within your village, you get the money and the music it makes.
55. In a coming fight with a fool, the wise man moves on before the fool sees a problem coming.
56. Interesting problems confronted with diligence confer success.
57. Iron can make music, but it must be struck to make any sound.
58. It is better to refuse an invitation than accept one and not show up.
59. It’s not the fire in the fireplace but the happy couple that warms it.
60. It’s the soft stickiness of birdlime that catches the bird.
61. Keep your eyes and ears pointed in every direction when you are the prey.
62. Let your love be like a gentle rain that quietly swells the river.
63. Life is a thick morning mist that vanishes as you blink your eyes.
64. Like a chameleon’s separated bulging eyes, see everywhere all the time.
65. Living a long, happy, and healthy life are the rewards of wisdom.
66. Living with sorrow is like draining your reserve of rice that you stored for famine times, but it eventually defeats you.
67. Money is like an overnight guest that’s gone tomorrow.
68. Never hurry, but learn to do things as quickly as they can be done perfectly.
69. Other people’s disobedient children cause your face to flush and nostrils to flare in helpless anger.
70. People are like cattails in the wind, blowing down and rising up.
71. People are like wandering eels wiggling through the water.
72. People in business are occasionally defeated by their own trade, like a water merchant in the rain.
73. Power corrupts, and because people seek power, it means that people seek to be corrupt.
74. Sadness isn’t seen in the public face but in the ones you love and want to see filled with satisfaction.
75. Sick people are like kings, needing things done that normal people do for themselves.
76. Some loves are like iron that, when pulled apart, can be welded back together and be stronger than ever.
77. Some situations can be too hot and too cold at the same time.
78. Stay back from friends quarreling with one another, and let them resolve their issues.
79. That eel that got away was as fat as my thigh.
80. The child of a cat is a cat, that of a rat is a rat.
81. The destiny of a big lie is distress, desperation, despair, and death.
82. The earth is a beautiful place that feeds the living and welcomes the dead.
83. The earth is filled with mouths eating and digesting people.
84. The food is on the plate, and the cook can move on.
85. The grasshoppers are roasted and ready to eat if the hill is on fire.
86. The king inherits a country, and the people keep working.
87. The night brings opportunities for conversation and wisdom.
88. There can be wisdom in words and hilarity too, and what more can you ask of words?
89. There is something wrong with a man whose dog bites him.
90. Thin, hungry dogs go elsewhere to find food.
91. Those who swim well are the ones who are friends with water, but a single breath of water will kill you.
92. To deny God’s existence makes billions of people hate you.
93. To love obedience to the law puts you at a disadvantage to those who routinely get away with cheating it ten percent.
94. Truth is like sugar cane, and you can chew it for a long time.
95. Unpayable debt creates thieves out of honest people.
96. Wade the river with a crowd, and the crocodile won’t eat any of you.
97. Wait a year before praising your bride.
98. Warmly greet everyone you meet as they may become relatives.
99. We are all equal as far as the earth and sky are concerned.
100. We have caught a bird, but we need a fire to roast it.
101. We share our food, even if it is only a grasshopper.
102. Wealth is like hair in your nose that hurts if you pull a tiny bit out.
103. When any part of your body hurts, your whole body hurts.
104. When our canoe turns over, we all get wet.
105. When the king reigns wisely, the people prosper, and when a river flows smoothly, people also thrive.
106. When the mouth is hurt, the hand rubs it, and when the hand is hurt, the mouth kisses it.
107. When you are in a country with no reverence for the dead and no tombstones, you are in a land of cannibals.
108. When you treat a person like a wild cat, he will steal your chickens.
109. Without the forest to smooth out the water flow, it would all run quickly away, and we could grow no rice.
110. Words are like eggs which, when hatched, grow wings and fly away.
111. Words are like spider webs that benefit wise people and trap fools.
112. Words go further than knives, swords, bullets, and bombs.
113. You can catch a cricket in your hand, but it only sings in the fields.
114. You can’t give a grasshopper to a child if you haven’t caught it.
115. You can’t pinch a louse with one finger.
116. You matter, I matter, and yes, everyone else matters too.
117. You may think you are strong, but worry that COVID may be stronger.
118. You must overlay the errors you made earlier with better habits of where to place your attention.
119. Young love is like young rice that you can transplant, and it thrives.

Nepalese Proverbs for playing the Aphor Game

The Aphor Game is designed for the creation of useful new ideas. The primary sources of these proverbs are from the web. They have been filtered through Grammarly and rewritten for easier application to living.
Drijal – Gundruk Post – Nepalgo – Inspirational Stories – Proverbical – Special Dictionary – The Gorkha Times – Wikiquote

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1. A blind ox doesn’t enjoy a full moon.
2. A boasting liar will pretend the potato he’s eating is candy.
3. A boomerang encounters things while in flight and chooses its way back to the ground.
4. A coconut in a monkey’s hand is a formidable weapon.
5. A dagger feels no pain while it’s killing a king.
6. A dog can’t eat ghee because it’s too potent.
7. A good honest mind will find things to do that will improve the world for everyone.
8. A half a loaf of bread is enough for one to loaf the rest of the day.
9. A hungry man isn’t impeded by his mustache.
10. A hungry tiger will attack the weakest man in a group.
11. A little knowledge is dangerous, and a lot of knowledge is very dangerous.
12. A man who shows off his outside is vile on the inside.
13. A mother gives more chores to her hard-working son.
14. A skilled speaker needs no tools and can work in the dark.
15. A starving man will eat bananas, including the peel.
16. Always give real help, and never give false hope.
17. Being cozy with those in power protects you from trouble.
18. Buzzing flies bother elephants, but not barking dogs.
19. Days and nights are different for blind men and sighted ones.
20. Don’t do bad things, and you won’t get punished.
21. Don’t drink and drive, or you will spill your drink on your clothes.
22. Don’t lose everything you hold dear on a risky bet.
23. Don’t worry about beggars, as nature feeds the needy.
24. Engagement rings, wedding rings, and suffering make life complete.
25. Even a toddler can chase a deer away.
26. Even an old tiger can outwit a young jackal.
27. Even an overfed mouse won’t grow into an elephant.
28. Even the devil works for the wealthy.
29. Every sage who comes to Nepal will have his ears sliced.
30. Everything about your behavior expresses your history.
31. False ideas sometimes become tests of group loyalty.
32. Find work that is challenging enough to be interesting.
33. Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day, but equip him with fishing equipment, and he will eat all the fish in your pond.
34. Going from bad to worse is experienced by humans, but most animals just experience the moments as they come.
35. How many children can you afford to raise?
36. I am writing a book and have already numbered the pages.
37. I mean what I say, so I don’t say much.
38. If all you ever get is shit, go into the fertilizer business.
39. If God made mouths, why didn’t he provide enough food to fill them?
40. If you appear to have lots of money, you appear to have lots of friends.
41. If you can’t decide what to do, others will tell you what you should do.
42. If you can’t do something difficult, hate those who can.
43. If you do the right things, you don’t have to worry, except about what right things to do.
44. It takes a diamond to scratch a diamond.
45. Keep God in your heart, but a knife in your pocket.
46. Losing a fair fight doesn’t destroy a man’s confidence, but being cheated does.
47. Make even routine tasks important for the moment.
48. Making a habit of routine things makes them easier and more pleasant.
49. Many people live long, happy lives with absolutely no clue what the media is broadcasting.
50. No one comes to your parties unless invited.
51. No one listens to the facts; they listen to the farts.
52. One spit dries in a minute, but a million makes a river.
53. Only a fool explains Heaven to God.
54. Owning property traps you by tying you down to obligations.
55. People are fond of saying nothing is impossible because they haven’t tried to do anything that is impossible.
56. People give their attention to those who stand up and tell them what they want to believe.
57. People will choose to be with the winners and avoid the losers.
58. Pure gold objects require no polishing to look good.
59. Putting soup in your mouth faster than you can swallow can drown you in a good thing.
60. Show a person how to use the Internet, so they can discover where their interests lay.
61. Sin cries from afar to give her your money.
62. Some people can not learn simple facts after years of exposure.
63. Talking too much creates more trouble than it solves.
64. Teach your kids how taxes benefit them by taking ten percent of their ice cream cone and throwing it on the ground.
65. That two and two make four depends on the qualities of the items being counted.
66. The defenseless are the ones most frequently attacked.
67. The fatter the pig, the bigger his butt.
68. The last one to the event gets blamed for the problems.
69. The mind wins or loses, and the stomach suffers from too much success or too little.
70. The one who extracts the honey from the comb gets to lick his fingers.
71. The one who is guilty of the crime will raise the pitch of his voice.
72. The thief doesn’t care about his victim’s sufferings.
73. Those who are knowledgeable about a subject ignore those who aren’t.
74. Those with the least knowledge are often the most fixed in their opinion.
75. To a buffalo, a black mark on his report card means nothing.
76. To use your time well, do things within your capacity.
77. Too much sugar will taste awful.
78. Vanity generates superficial beauty but bears no useful fruits.
79. Wasting your time is wasting a resource you can never recover.
80. Water is the limit of a fish, but diving birds can traverse air, water and land.
81. We give all the gods their due, which results in short services for the minor gods.
82. We must not underestimate the potential power of a dark horse.
83. We must wait until we die to experience Heaven.
84. When life gives you lemons, sell lemonade to people who like lemonade.
85. When the responsible people are away, the freaks will play.
86. When there is an opportunity, you must be ready to break a diamond to take it.
87. When you don’t know what you are doing, follow someone who does know.
88. When you reach adolescence, you get to choose what you are going to do with your future time.
89. While searching for pretty rocks on the hill, he found God.
90. Wise men use good advice, and fools do the opposite.
91. Women respond to circumstances and may see the same facts differently from a man.
92. You can only dream about unachievable things until you die.
93. You can’t ignite a log unless it’s with other flames.
94. Youth is short, so smile while you still have teeth.

Yemeni Proverbs for playing the Aphor Game

The Aphor Game is designed for the creation of useful new ideas. The primary sources of these proverbs are from the web. They have been filtered through Grammarly and rewritten for easier application to living.
Al-bab – Inspirational Stories – Proverbicals – Special Dictionary – World Proverbs

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1. A destroyer can ruin the good works of thousands of artisans.
2. A favor is a gift without obligation from a kind man and a painful loss to a base one.
3. A friend is intimate, but material things like money have no personal relationships.
4. A hundred years ago, there were no raisins without seeds, and now there are no raisins in the market with seeds.
5. A person who seeks you out to befriend you has ulterior motives.
6. A sick person is a prisoner of his bed.
7. A starving dog will sometimes eat his excrement; urine is okay for humans, but poop isn’t.
8. A well-educated woman is more helpful than money.
9. A well-fed man can face an army, but a hungry one feels weak.
10. A woman is still a woman even if she’s smoking a pipe.
11. Accept in a friendly way a well-presented man, but hold on to your sandals.
12. After an attack of misfortunes, your friends and enemies become apparent.
13. Always avoid evil, even if it’s coming from your son.
14. Avoid tainted people, or you will become tainted.
15. Beware of a companion with evil tendencies, for they will seep into your character.
16. Beware of a man with a black heart and alert eyes.
17. Beware of doctors when you are in good health.
18. Beware of your enemy, but be suspicious of a friend that is a friend of your enemy.
19. Buy from the public market, and give to specific good works.
20. Caution is essential during the action, but it also has reliable backups against unruly fates.
21. Conceal other people’s vices, and they won’t mention yours.
22. Do your business with people who can verify the quality of their past work.
23. Don’t be afraid of anything, or show fear, or you will be seen as weak, and others will take advantage of you.
24. Don’t envy your competition; accept their challenges, plan ahead, practice your skills and focus on your moments.
25. Don’t invest in people who are professional beggars.
26. Don’t laugh at anything, as you don’t know how grievously another person responds to the joke.
27. Don’t let a vile man follow you who will steal the sandals you left at the door.
28. Don’t sing to a deaf person, as that mocks their disability, nor give advice to a crazy man, as that mocks their disability.
29. Don’t think highly of a person until you have seen their good and bad habits in action.
30. Don’t trust an enemy, for he is trying to take advantage of you by deceiving you.
31. Don’t try to be friendly with someone your dog hates.
32. During a pause in fatiguing combat, rest and recuperate your strength.
33. Every sickness begins with a wrong decision of where to be and what to do.
34. Give time and attention to those people who live near you and those distant others who have common interests.
35. Give your best efforts for remote good deeds as well as close ones.
36. He who claims to be skilled at everything is a liar.
37. He who doesn’t measure twice and cut once won’t improve the product by measuring it later.
38. He who has no shame will obliterate anyone in his way.
39. He who learned to live modestly lives more contentedly than extravagant people.
40. He who makes a fortune considers upgrading his wife.
41. He who talks too much is not respected for what he does say.
42. He who tells a lie for a laugh will be ignored when being serious.
43. Help the lost traveler, regardless of whether he’s rich or poor.
44. If a flaw is hidden inside a workman’s completed work, we will eventually suffer the consequences of their inappropriate action.
45. If the butter is ready, there is no need to churn more milk.
46. If the origin of someone is unknown to you, his characteristic actions will soon make it clear.
47. If you are inexperienced at cooking but must cook, be careful not to burn your hands.
48. If you discover that one of your acquaintances is a friend of an enemy, you must quietly back away.
49. If you find something you dislike about a product you bought, discard it, for more problems will appear.
50. If you have eaten enough honey, don’t lick the pot, or you will surfeit, and the honey will become nauseating.
51. In a caravan, the lead gets rewards, and the last gets whacks.
52. It is more comfortable to wear mended clothes than rags.
53. Learn the facts of those things that will profit you to know, and ignore distractions.
54. Little-used trails are sometimes the right way to get to where you want to go.
55. Looking with an inquiring expression is as effective as asking a question.
56. Most darkness and trouble come just before dawn.
57. Much bragging about a deed before the action is a form of lying.
58. My fist to his mouth brings his fist to my eye, and we both suffer.
59. Never lie about anything, nor accept the lies that your culture foists upon you.
60. Never regret what has passed but find the positive aspect of those difficult times.
61. Never sigh in despair, but in success with a big smile.
62. One who can be patient on a hungry night can overcome difficult days.
63. One who can not repay you for a good deed is forced to hate you.
64. Patient people can maintain attention through the boring times.
65. People working with animals become accustomed to their specific stinks.
66. Preparedness requires forethought and is more likely to bring success than strength or courage.
67. Problems are long, but they do have two ends.
68. Protect your reputation from the twisted thoughts of gossiping fools.
69. Setting the conditions of the work before it begins is better than arguing about it after it has begun.
70. Show a wise man the rough problems to be faced and the fool the easy road forward.
71. Show a wise man the stony highland, and don’t show him the road.
72. Someone who has no knowledge of you doesn’t know what you can do.
73. The cook’s stirring spoon took out most of what was lost in the cooking pot.
74. The friendship of fools drags you down.
75. The master of the people is dependent on their approval of his actions.
76. The one who saves you befriends you.
77. There is no preparedness against ultimate fates, but plenty of voluntary actions cope with immediate realities.
78. Watch your acquaintances for antisocial acts and observe if they are habits.
79. We need not irrigate our field after a rainstorm.
80. We usually get by better with things that endure rather than one-time thrills.
81. When ultimate destiny strikes, things happen, but most of it is predictable.
82. While in foreign lands, a traveler should carefully obey the laws of the country he is visiting.
83. Yield no dignity to cheats and liars and no laurels to beggars.
84. You can play with a dangerous snake by treating it like a beautiful woman.
85. You don’t have tomorrow’s sins on your account if you die today.
86. Your boasting annoys others, and excessive boasting is despicable.
87. Your eye is your judge of the balancing scales.
88. Your friend will warn you of danger, and your enemy will discount it.
89. Your tongue grants you many benefits if you use it wisely.

Covid Logarithmic chart 2022-02-15

Covid Logarithmic chart 2022-02-15 – JPG

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Covid Logarithmic chart 2022-02-15 – GIF – Click image to make bigger, hit + for even bigger.

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The Covid epidemic isn’t over until the numbers drop to a number of cases that can be dealt with using normal medical procedures. Because the hospitals are totally swamped at the moment, let us guess that dropping ninety percent would bring them back to the Covid taking up only part of the hospitals’ capacity. Using that as a guess, the death rate would have to drop to 30,000 per month, that is 1,000 per day, before Covid could be coped with using standard available procedures. Today’s death rate is about 11,000. The last time we were near that projected goal was in mid-March of 2020. That was about two and a half months into the Covid pandemic. Strangely, that is just after China implemented their lockdown of several of their cities and for the Chinese, the pandemic came to a screeching halt. The rest of the world didn’t follow that draconian procedure and lost about six million people.

I much prefer living in our less conformist world, but the price in people’s lives is enormous.