Rodgers Dictionary of Proverbs
You compare the tortoise to the hare.
You could destroy everything I have
believed in and your father before you
and his father before you.
You could even hew sticks on head.
You couldn't make half a football team out
of all the Leinster men in Heaven.
You count the sand.
You dance better with a full belly than with
a new dress.
You didn't turn up when sense was being
distributed.
You disturb monkeys on their way to drink.
You do not always have to believe what you
see.
You do not beat a drum with one finger.
You do not become a chief simply by sitting
on a big stool.
You do not drink soup with a knife.
You do not exit the hamam the same as you
entered.
You do not fall because you are weak, you
fall because you think you are strong.
You do not fatten pigs with pure water.
You do not look for a black sheep at night.
You do not need a big stick to break a cock's
head.
You do not need a whip to urge on an
obedient horse.
You do not needed a basket to pick well-
knows strawberries.
You do not really know your friends from
your enemies until the ice breaks.
You do not really understand something
unless you can explain it to your
grandmother.
You do not run into mountains, but people
yes.
You do not stumble over a mountain, but
you do over a stone.
You do not swap horses while crossing the
ford.
You do not teach a giraffe to run.
You do not teach the paths of the forest to
an old gorilla.
You do not tell a deaf and dumb man that
war has started, if he does not hear, he
758
sees.
You do not verify from your mother the
authenticity of what your grandmother
has told you.
You don’t expect to win a case in someone
else’s village.
You don’t get something for nothing.
You don’t know a good manager till a bad
manager come.
You don’t take viengeance on silliness.
You don’t use the left hand to point the way
to your hometown.
You don't always miss the bus. Sometimes,
it misses you.
You don't become an expert in five days.
You don't burn incense at an old crucifix.
You don't buy a cat in a bag.
You don't cast a net into a river that has no
fish.
You don't choose whom to love and not
love.
You don't get a headache from what other
people have drunk.
You don't get anywhere if you run in your
thoughts.
You don't get something for nothing.
You don't get what you deserve, you get
what you negotiate.
You don't give someone a goat for a gift and
still hold on to the rope.
You don't go into a tavern to say your
prayers.
You don't go searching for bones in a lion's
den.
You don't go to heaven in a carriage.
You don't have to climb the palm wine tree
to drink palm wine.
You don't have to cut a tree down to get at
the fruit.
You don't have to die: heaven and hell are in
this world too.
You don't have to kill the chicken to get
eggs.
You don't have to know much to read, but
you do to cook.