S/N Igbo Proverb Meaning(Literal)

1 Ura ga-eju onye nwuru anwu afo. A dead person shall have all the sleep necessary.

2 Gidi gidi bụ ugwu eze. Unity is strength

3 Chọọ ewu ojii ka chi dị Make hay while the sun shines

4 Otu onye tuo izu, o gbue ochu Knowledge is never complete: two heads are better than one.

5 Ihe ehi hụrụ gbalaba oso ka okuku huru
na-atụ onu Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

6 Oge adighi eche mmadu Time and tide wait for nobody.

7 E lewe ukwu Egbue ewu. A buxom waist that makes her man(husband) kill a goat for her when he looks at it.

8 Ebe onye dara ka chi ya kwaturu ya. Where one falls is where his god pushed him down.

9 Ihe di woro ogori azuala na ahia. What was secret is revealed in the market place.

10 Ewu nwuru n'oba ji abughi agu gburu ya. A goat that dies in a barn was never killed by hunger.

11 A ma ka mmiri si were baa n'opi ugboguru? Who knows how water entered into the stalk of the pumpkin?

12 A chuo aja ma a hughi udele, a mara na ihe mere be ndimmuo.
If the vulture fails to hover at the end of a sacrifice, then you know that something happened in the land of spirits.

13 Si kele onye nti chiri; enu anughi, ala anu. Salute the deaf; if the heavens don't hear, the earth will hear.

14 Nwunye awo si na di atoka uto, ya jiri nuta nke ya kworo ya n'azu.
The female toad said that husband is so sweet that when she got
married, she carried her husband permanently on the back.

15 Ugo chara acha adi(ghi) echu echu A mature eagle feather will ever remain pure.

16 Onyeubiam adi(ghi) aza "Omeokachie." An indigent does not take the title of "Omeokachie" (i.e. one who completes whatever he puts his hand to)

17 Eze mbe si na olu oha di mma, mana oriri oha na-aka ahu.
The tortoise said that many hands at work is enjoyable, but many mouths to feed can be embarrassing.

18 Eze mbe si na ihe ya ji-achiri ihe egwu ya aga njem bu maka ya ezu ndiegwu.
The tortoise said that it always travels with its musical instrument
in case it meets other musicians.

20 Nwaanyi muta ite ofe mmiri mmiri, di ya amuta ipi utara aka were suru ofe.
If a woman decides to make the soup watery, the husband will
learn to dent the Garri before dipping it into the soup.

21 O na-abu a si nwata wuba ahu, o saba afo ya. Tell a child to wash his body, he washes his stomach.

22 Akwukwo juru n'ohia, ma a baa a choba okazi.
There are various leaves in the bush, but people go in to look for
okazi leaves.

23 Agwo emeghi nke o jiri buru agwo, umuaka achiri ya hie nku.
If a snake fails to show its venom, little kids will use it in tying
firewood.

24 Ukpala gbabara n'ikpo okuko na-ala ala mmuo.
The grasshopper that runs into the mist of fowls ends up in the
land of spirits.

25 Onye a kporo apari, o na-ehi n'amanna ya, abughi apari. A presumed fool who sleeps in his father's house is not a fool.

26 Ndi na-eje mposi abali na-ahu ukpana ndi mmuo. Those who defecate at night see the ghost grasshopper.

27 Nwata bunie nna ya enu, akpaamu ya ayochie ya anya. If a child lifts his father, his scrotum will blindfold him.

28 Onye hapu onu ya, uguru arachaa ya. If one fails to lick his lips, the harmattan will do it.
29
Okuko si na ihe ya ji-ele anya n'enu ma ya na añu mmiri bu na ihe na-egbu si n'igwe abia.
The chicken says it looks up when drinking water because what kills
it comes from the sky.

30 Ijiji na-enweghi onye ndumodu na-eso ozu ala n'inyi. A fly that has no counselor follows the corpse to the grave.

31 "Nwunye anyi, nwunye anyi": ka ndeli bia ka anyi mara onye o bu nwunye ya.
"Our wife, our wife": come midnight and we will know whose wife
she really is.

32 Ula towa uto, ekwowe ya ekwowe. When sleep becomes enjoyable, we snore.

33 O bialu be onye abiagbuna ya, mgbe o ga-ala mkpumkpu apukwana ya n'azu.
May one's visitor not constitute a problem, so that on his departure
he will not leave with a hunchback.

34 Nwa ovu na-eto, o di ka o ga-aka nne ya.
When the baby wren is growing, it looks like it would be bigger than its mother.

35 Okuko na-arogoro ite onu, chetekwe mma gburu ya.
The chicken frowns at the cooking pot, ignoring the knife that killed it.

36 Ihe ka-nte bata n'onu nte, nte etefu. When something greater than the pigmy cricket enters its hole, it takes off.

37 Uzu na-amaghi akpu ogene lee egbe anya n'odu.
The blacksmith who does know how to forge a metal gong should
look at the tail of a kite.

38 Oke oshimmiri anokataghi rie onye obula nke o na-ahughi ukwu ya anya.
The ocean never swallows a person with whose leg it does not come
in contact.

39 Onye buru chi ya uzo, o gbagbue onwe ya n'oso. He who walks before his godly guardian does the race of his life.

40 Okuko nyuo ahu, ana achuwa ya oso. When the fowl farts, the ground becomes a nuisance.

Add yours if you are a real son of the soil

Please can anyone help me with the following proverbs translation from English to Igbo

1. “When the music stops, a deaf person continues to dance.”
2. “Look for the lizard when he is on open ground before he enters the tall grass.”
3. No one gets a mouthful of food by picking between another person's teeth
4. A bad habit that lasts more than a year may turn into a custom.”
5. “A servant serves a king, he serves the king well; a servant serves two kings, he is true to one.”
6. “All you can tell about a big belly is that the owner has had a lot to eat, not what he had to eat.”
7. “Bump-thump-scratch. It's all on a big man's skin.”
8. “A man who shoots his arrows as he makes them does not realize when he has shot a whole sheaf.”
9. “Man must always be happy in order to perform well.”
10. “The knife can be worn down, but it will not be blunt.”
11. “If you ask a woman for a favour and you ask and ask again she may say yes and grant you your request.”
12. “The eyes that see a spirit will die.”
13. “A slave boy is blamed no matter what he does: If he does not wash his hands, he is accused of being dirty. If he washes his hands, he is accused of wasting water.”
14. “A person who uses the world as his carrying pad will find himself carrying his load on his bare head.”
15. “Criticism of the brave is behind their back.”
16. “The lizard says that he knows the condition of his underbelly. This is the reason he has it pressed against the ground.”
17. “When a poor man gets a little money, his thoughts go off in ten different directions.”
18. “The wealth of a child causes him to become a respected person."
19. “At whatever age a child gets a problem, at the same age she has to shoulder the responsibility.”
20. “A person who arrives at a feast when the cooked meat is being pulled out of the pot does not know what was endured by others to catch and cook it.
21. “The rabbit bores its hole in the night but in the morning the hole will be seen.
22. “If a deceitful person buries himself, one of his arms will stick out.”
23. “You may be clever but you can never lose your shadow.”
24. “A person can never run so fast as to run away from his backside.”
25. “You cannot bury smoke in the ground.”
26. “Stream said that it is because it has nobody to direct it that... it goes in a zigzag way.”
27. “The rainy season does not please the sky.”
28. One does not hide a corpse from the land.”
29. “The thing that the hawk ate returns to the vulture's stomach.
30. “Ignorance is a sickness.”
31. “The chicken pecks a thing to death before eating.”[/color]

Thanks