African Quotes About Family

1 A family is like a forest, when you are outside it is dense, when you are inside you see that each tree has its place. ~ African Proverb

2 A united family eats from the same plate. ~ Baganda proverb

3 A family tie is like a tree, it can bend but it cannot break. ~ African proverb

4 If I am in harmony with my family, that’s success. ~ Ute proverb

5 Brothers love each other when they are equally rich. ~ African proverb

6 Dine with a stranger but save your love for your family. ~ Ethiopian proverb

7 There is no fool who is disowned by his family. ~ African proverb

8 Home affairs are not talked about on the public square. ~ African proverb

9 If relatives help each other, what evil can hurt them? ~ African proverb

10 He who earns calamity, eats it with his family. ~ African proverb

11 Dine with a stranger but save your love for your family. ~ Ethiopian proverb

12 The old woman looks after the child to grow its teeth and the young one in turn looks after the old woman when she loses her teeth. ~ Akan (Ghana, Ivory Coast) proverb

13 When brothers fight to the death, a stranger inherits their father’s estate. ~ Ibo proverb

Family Reunion Quotes and Sayings

1. I don’t care how poor a man is; if he has family, he’s rich. ~Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford, “Identity Crisis,” M*A*S*H

2. Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life! ~Albert Einstein

3.  It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons. ~Johann Schiller

4.  The family is a haven in a heartless world. ~Attributed to Christopher Lasch

5.  Nobody has ever before asked the nuclear family to live all by itself in a box the way we do. With no relatives, no support, we’ve put it in an impossible situation. ~Margaret Mead

6. Families are like fudge – mostly sweet with a few nuts.  ~Author Unknown

7. The thing about family disasters is that you never have to wait long before the next one puts the previous one into perspective.  ~Robert Brault

8. If you don’t believe in ghosts, you’ve never been to a family reunion.  ~Ashleigh Brilliant

9. We all grow up with the weight of history on us.  Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies.  ~Shirley Abbott

10. Family:  A social unit where the father is concerned with parking space, the children with outer space, and the mother with closet space.  ~Evan Esar

11. A family is a unit composed not only of children but of men, women, an occasional animal, and the common cold.  ~Ogden Nash

12. The family.  We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another’s desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together.  ~Erma Bombeck

13. When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses.  ~Joyce Brothers

14. In some families, please is described as the magic word.  In our house, however, it was sorry.  ~Margaret Laurence

15. Family quarrels have a total bitterness unmatched by others.  Yet it sometimes happens that they also have a kind of tang, a pleasantness beneath the unpleasantness, based on the tacit understanding that this is not for keeps; that any limb you climb out on will still be there later for you to climb back.  ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic’s Notebook, 1960

16. You don’t choose your family.  They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu

17. An ounce of blood is worth more than a pound of friendship.  ~Spanish Proverb
18. Blood’s thicker than water, and when one’s in trouble
19. Best to seek out a relative’s open arms.
20. To forgive a family member is sometimes questionable, but to LOVE that family member is always the answer.

21. The happiness of the domestic fireside is the first boon of Heaven; and it is well it is so, since it is that which is the lot of the mass of mankind.  ~Thomas Jefferson, 1813

22. To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there.  ~Barbara Bush

23. When our relatives are at home, we have to think of all their good points or it would be impossible to endure them.  ~George Bernard Shawn

24. In a houseful of toddlers and pets, you can start out having a bad day, but you keep getting detoured.  ~Robert Brault
25. We came, we saw, and we’re still conquering!

26. There is no cure for laziness but a large family helps.  ~Herbert Prochnov

27. Family quarrels are bitter things.  They don’t go by any rules.  They’re not like aches or wounds; they’re more like splits in the skin that won’t heal because there’s not enough material.  ~F. Scott Fitzgerald

28. Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family.  Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted.  ~Paul Pearshall

29. The great advantage of living in a large family is that early lesson of life’s essential unfairness.  ~Nancy Mitford

30. The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.  ~Thomas Jefferson
31. Sometimes our hearts get tangled
32. And our souls a little off-kilter
33. Friends and family can set us right
34. And help guide us back to the light.
35. Just do it!

36. And thank you for a house full of people I love.  Amen.  ~Terri Guillemets

37. The family – that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to.  ~Dodie Smith

38. Family life is a bit like a runny peach pie – not perfect but who’s complaining?  ~Robert Brault

39. The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never even introduce yourself to, had life not done it for you.  ~Kendall Hailey, The Day I Became an Autodidact

40. In time of test, family is best.  ~Burmese Proverb

41. Family is just accident…. They don’t mean to get on your nerves.  They don’t even mean to be your family, they just are.  ~Marsha Norman

42. The only rock I know that stays steady, the only institution I know that works is the family.  ~Lee Iacocca

43. Friends are God’s apology for relations.  ~Hugh Kingsmill

44. They… threw themselves into the interests of the rest, but each plowed his or her own furrow.  Their thoughts, their little passions and hopes and desires, all ran along separate lines.  Family life is like this – animated, but collateral.  ~Rose Macaulay

45. What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life – to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories.  ~George Eliot

46. At the end of the day, a loving family should find everything forgivable.  ~Mark V. Olsen and Will Sheffer, Big Love, “Easter”

47. If the family were a fruit, it would be an orange, a circle of sections, held together but separable – each segment distinct.  ~Letty Cottin Pogrebin

48. In a household of toddlers and pets, we discover this rule of thumb about happy families – that they are least two-thirds incontinent.  ~Robert Brault

49. The informality of family life is a blessed condition that allows us to become our best while looking our worst.  ~Marge Kennedy

50. The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.  ~George Santayana, The Life of Reason

51. We cannot destroy kindred:  our chains stretch a little sometimes, but they never break.  ~Marquise de Sévigné

52. The advantage of growing up with siblings is that you become very good at fractions. ~Robert Brault

53. Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family.  ~Anthony Brandt

54. There’s an awful lot of blood around that water is thicker than.  ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Second Neurotic’s Notebook, 1966

55. Family faces are magic mirrors.  Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future.  ~Gail Lumet Buckley

56. If minutes were kept of a family gathering, they would show that “Members not Present” and “Subjects Discussed” were one and the same.  ~Robert Brault

57. Are we not like two volumes of one book?  ~Marceline Desbordes-Valmore

58. I don’t have to look up my family tree, because I know that I’m the sap.  ~Fred Allen

59. The lack of emotional security of our American young people is due, I believe, to their isolation from the larger family unit.  No two people – no mere father and mother – as I have often said, are enough to provide emotional security for a child.  He needs to feel himself one in a world of kinfolk, persons of variety in age and temperament, and yet allied to himself by an indissoluble bond which he cannot break if he could, for nature has welded him into it before he was born.  ~Pearl S. Buck

AFRICAN PROVERBS:

AFRICAN PROVERBS (Choose your favorite)

Burundian

A king cannot reign without the support of the elders

Cameroonian

An elephant which kills a rat is not a hero

An elephant will reach the roof of the house

If the owner of the calabash calls it worthless, then the others will join him to pack it with rubbish

If you show off your strength, you will start a battle

No matter how powerful one is, one can never make the rain fall only on his own home

The bigger the head the bigger the headaches

The sound of a drum is not determined by its size nor the skills of a drummer but by his strength

There are no shortcuts to the top of the palm tree

Congolese

A needle can overcome a chief

If you are a leader, be like the moon, not like the sun

No matter how full the river it still wants to swell more

Prepare now for the solutions of tomorrow

The art of negotiating is acquired form childhood

The bee is the doctor of flowers

The chief’s wealth is his subjects

The footprint of one person is narrow

The throne upon which the chief is seated does not shake

There is no cock without a comb

Ethiopian

A bull does not bellow in a foreign country

A donkey which goes to grow horns returns with its ears cut off

A wise man cannot save a decaying country as manure cannot save an eroding land

An elephant with a bad leg limps along

Because he lost his reputation, he lost a kingdom

Better a single decision maker than a thousand advisors

Elephants do not beat each other

Great men have big hearts

He who does not know the extent of his power falls and is bruised

He who has power and falls will be bruised

In the house he is a leaf; outside, a camel

Listening acc**ulates power

Madness does not govern a country; discussion does

One does not cut the tusks of an elephant

One person alone cannot rule the country

One who runs alone cannot be outrun

One’s strength in conflict comes from one’s verbal skills

The elephant does not limp when walking on thorns

The foot disdains the head and the head, the foot

The voice of a strong person is obeyed immediately

The sheep with a strong master sleeps with his tail outside the house

The strong bull is overcome when it limps

The weaver must be patient because the weak threads break easily

To kill a lion is to be ready for war

What is inflated too much will burst into fragments

Where a woman rules, stream run uphill

When a strong man sends a message, he sends it with a weak man

When the shepherd comes home in peace, the milk is sweet

Gambian

A smart opportunist can be an intellectual moron

Even in old age the lion lives with power and with strength

If you only tool is a hammer, you will see every problem as a nail

The law is a spider’s web; only the little insects get caught in it

Ghanaian

A crazy chief is more noted than ten normal people

A leader does not listen to rumours

A leader goes to war when he is insulted

A people without a leader ruin the town

An army of sheep led by a lion can defeat an army of lions led by a sheep

Even the lion, the king of the forest, protects himself against flies

Every dog is a lion at his own gate

If there were no elephant in the jungle, the buffalo would be a great animal

It is better to be a lion for a day than a sheep all your life

No man rules forever on the throne of time

One head alone does not go into council

One head does not contain all the wisdom

The elders of the village are the boundaries

The poorest person in the world is not the one without money but one without vision

Those who are born on top of the anthill take a short time to grow tall

True power comes through cooperation and silence

When a fish rots, the head stinks first

When a king has good counsellors, his reign is peaceful.

Guinean

Around a flowering tree there are many insects

Knowledge of leadership is not plucked from the air; one is born with it

Knowledge without wisdom is like water in the sand

Ivorian

Too much discussion leads to a quarrel

Kenyan

A big goat does not snort without reason

A flea can trouble a lion more than a lion can trouble a flea

A fool’s walking stick helps the wise man to stand

An elder is a healer

An elephant is not overpowered by its tusks

A house cannot be repaired when the owner is destroying it

A judge is himself under judgement

A leader does not wish for war

A leader who does not take advice is not a leader

A lion cannot hide in the grass

A man who uses force is afraid of reasoning

A nation is never exulted by disunity

A nose alone does not lead

A person who carries responsibility also receives blame

A slippery person is not a king

A thread follows the path of the needle

An elder can be advised but never insulted

An elephant fears attack from several sides

Avoid singing a song without a soloist

Bad leaders are elected by poor citizens who do not vote

Consensus does not lead to easy decision making

Crookedness does not lead cattle

Do not respond to a mosquito with a hammer because you will miss and hurt yourself

Do not show wisdom, where there is wisdom

Malawian

A big river is enlarged by its tributaries

A bird with a tail is heard when squawking

A chief is like a potato vine; in straightening it, you break it.

A chief is like a swamp where fire ceases to burn

A great leader is an ordinary person with extraordinary wisdom

A quarrelsome chief does not hold a village together

Acc**ulation got the giant rat killed

Cooperation pulled the goat from the hyena

Do not put a stone to block your promise

Even the fiercest leader in the world is overcome by sleep

He beats the drum for himself

He who thinks he is leading and has no one following him is only taking a walk

He who has a leader is not the master of his burden

Those who accomplish great things pay attention to little ones

When the baobab tree has fallen, the goats start climbing on it

Whether a chief is good or bad, people unify around someone

Mozambican

A community without elders does not prosper

Namibian

Leadership does not depend on age

Where the chief walks there disputes are settled

Nigerian

A bird can drink much but an elephant can drink more

A chief is a reward of God

A doctor who invoked a storm on his people cannot prevent his house form destruction

A leader in the community without a pot belly is a stingy man

A leader who understands proverbs reconciles difficulties

A shepherd does not strike his sheep

Being happy is better than being king

If a man wants to grow a long tooth, he should have the lip to cover it

If the sun claims that it has power over the moon, let it shine in the night

If you think you have someone eating out of your hands, it is a good idea to count your fingers

In the moment of crisis, the wise build bridges and foolish build dams

Other people’s wisdom prevents the king from being called a fool

Strategy is better than strength

The elephant’s tracks cover the camel’s tracks

The king who shuts his eyes during famine in the land will soon see ancestors

North African

A tyrant is only a slave turned inside out

Discord between the powerful is a fortune for the poor

Every cock is a town crier in his own dung heap

He who wants to be famous will have many sleepless nights

If you fear something you give it power over you

In its own nest the beetle is king

The multitude is stronger than a king

Those in power never give way and admit defeat; they plot and scheme to regain their lost power and privilege

Who is brave enough to tell the lion that his breath smells?

Senegalese

The strong do not need clubs

Sierra Leonean

A big fish is caught with big bait

A clear thinking leader is a sign of stability and an agent for change in society

If the cockroach wants to rule over the chicken, then it must hire the fox as a body-guard

The palm tree that encourages birds to nest in it should not cry over shattered leaves

Somali

A bridge is repaired only when someone falls into the water

A cat in its castle has lion’s teeth

A string is needed to gather scattered beads

Be a mountain or lean on one

Even the king needs to be taught

He who dictates separates himself from others

The key to a healthy body is a good head

To agree to have dialogue is the beginning of a peaceful resolution

To destroy the bones of an elephant, strike them against other elephant bones

Wisdom does not come overnight

South African

A chief is a chief because of a nation

A chief is a hornless cow

A chief’s hands are long

A clever king is the brother of peace

A crowd can easily overpower a bull

A kraal is built around a chief’s voice

A man who takes away another man’s freedom is a prisoner of hatred

Do not call a dog with a whip in your hand

Even an ant can hurt an elephant

Good behaviour must come from the top

Horns which are put on do not stick properly

It takes a long time to unite an entire village hunting group

The house of a leader who negotiates survives

The jungle is stronger than the elephant

The power of the crocodile is in the water

Kings have no friends

When the chief speaks, the people listen

Sudanese

A large chair does not make a king

He is like a drum which makes a lot of noise but is hollow inside

Patience is the key which solves all problems

The elephant needs noise

Swahili

We do not suffer illness when the doctor is around

Tanzanian

A boat cannot go forward if each rows his own way

A small thing can cause the downfall of a powerful person

A wise person will always find a way

Bribery is the enemy of justice

Do not forget what is to be a sailor because of being a captain yourself

For the sake of peace, hard decisions must be made

If you are filled with pride, then you will have no room for wisdom

The humble pay for the mistakes of their leaders

The ship that is wrecking has no pilot

What is famous does not last

Ugandan

A cock fears a cock which removes its feathers

A deputy chief settles only small cases

A generous chief makes you thankful

A joyful leader is not ignored

A leader’s handbag is never completely empty

A ruler who is weak puts a load on his head

Arrogance burned the chief’s compound

Being a leader is like a borrowed garment

Being a small chief is better than being second in command

Better a poor hut than a palace of a tyrant

Cheekiness does not make a good leader

Climbing up is easier than climbing down

Curses do not fell a buffalo

Do not be a leader and use it to your own advantage

Even a hired shepherd sings epics about his cattle

For lack of criticism, the trunk of the elephant grew very long

He who fears the sun will not become chief

He who is destined for power does not have to fight for it

He who walks in front gives you wisdom

Horn blowers, blow in unison

Zambian

A tree is strong because of its roots

Build the bridge first

If two wise men always agree, then there is no need for one of them

Teamwork without coordination brings confusion

The more feathers a chicken has, the bigger it looks

The wise continues while the fool is always beginning

The worlds of the elders do not lock all the doors; they leave the right door open

Threats and insults never rule a country

To protect an individual is to protect society

Too many cocks crowing at the same time make the dawn take too long

When the head is too big, it cannot dodge blows

Zimbabwe

A clever bird builds its nest with other birds’ feathers