Rodgers Dictionary of Proverbs
Don’t put yourself on a par with your
betters.
Don’t quarrel with the coconut-palm
climber: the coconut has been eaten by
the moon.
Don’t question a blind man for buying a
mirror, it must serve him some purpose.
Don’t quote your proverb ‘til you bring your
ship to port.
Don’t raise your club so high; it will only fall
on your head.
Don’t raise your stick and the dog won’t
bark at you.
Don’t reckon with your host.
Don’t reckon without your host.
Don’t reckon your eggs before they are laid.
Don’t refuse a wing to the one who gave
you the chicken.
Don’t reject the crooked road and don’t take
the straight one, instead take the one
traveled by the ancestors.
Don’t reject the good together with the bad.
Don’t rejoice over him that goes, before you
see him that comes.
Don’t rely on the label of the bag.
Don’t reply one wrong with another.
Don’t respond to a mosquito bit with a stone
because you will miss it and hunt
yourself.
Don’t rest your eyes beyond what is your
own.
Don’t retest the tested because the more you
test it, the worse it will appear.
Don’t rock the boat.
Don’t run too far, you will have to return
the same distance.
Don’t sail out farther than you can row
back.
Don’t say amen to an unacceptable prayer.
Don’t say everything you want to say lest
you hear something you would not like
to hear.
Don’t say, don’t go, to running dogs.
Don’t scald your lips on another’s soup.
Don’t scoff at my mourning, mine is old and
yours is recent.
Don’t scratch your shoe when it’s your foot
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that itches.
Don’t scuffle with the potter, for he makes
money by the damage.
Don’t see animals around the village and
say there is nobody to hunt them.
Don’t see the warbler bird’s smallness; these
are its eggs. (It is not possible to tell a
person’s ability just by looking at them.)
Don’t seek to hurt any man, but if any man
seeks to hurt you may he break his neck.
Don’t sell eggs in the bottom of hens.
Don’t sell the bear’s skin before you have
caught him.
Don’t sell the bearskin before the bear is
dead.
Don’t sell the bear-skin before you have
killed the bear.
Don’t sell the fish that is still swimming in
the ocean.
Don’t sell the fur before shooting the bear.
Don’t sell the fur until the bear has been
shot.
Don’t sell the skin till you have caught the
fox.
Don’t sell the skin till you’ve caught the
bear.
Don’t sell the sun to buy a candle.
Don’t send an old man to buy a donkey, nor
a young man to woo a wife.
Don’t send away your cat for being a thief.
Don’t set out on a journey using someone
else’s donkey.
Don’t set sail on someone else’s star.
Don’t set the attic on fire just because you
didn’t catch any mice.
Don’t settle in a place where the doctor has
gout.
Don’t shake the tree when the pears fall off
themselves.
Don’t shoot people you hate; don’t lend to
those you love.
Don’t show a hyena how well you can bite.
Don’t show me the palm-tree, show me the
dates.
Don’t show your teeth if you can’t bite.