World  Philosophical  Heritage

Wisdom and teachings of
African

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G od conceals himself from the mind of man, but reveals himself to his heart.


Tradition / African

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A proverb is the horse that can carry one swiftly to the discovery of ideas.


Tradition / African
Yoruba 

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K nowledge is like a garden: if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested.


Tradition / African
Guinea 

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C hildren are the reward of life.


Tradition / African
Congo 

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Y ou must judge a man by the work of his hands.


Tradition / African

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W hen there is no enemy within, the enemies outside cannot hurt you.


Tradition / African

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O ne must talk little and listen much.


Tradition / African

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I f you refuse to be made straight when you are green, you will not be made straight when you are dry.


Tradition / African

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W hen a head is too big it cannot avoid punches.


Tradition / African

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W hat an old man can see while seated a young man can not see standing.


Tradition / African

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M ay he who comes to visit me never bring death to me, and when he does depart, may he never grow a hunch-back


Tradition / African

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A ction speaks louder than the words.


Tradition / African

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W hen you throw a stone at God, it lands right on top of your head


Tradition / African

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T omorrow is pregnant and no-one knows what she will give birth to.


Tradition / African

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K nowledge is not the main thing, but good deed is.


Tradition / African

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A man, who knows the use of proverbs, reconciles difficulties.


Tradition / African
Ashanti of Ghana 

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O ne cannot run away from his behind.


Tradition / African

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A fter a foolish deed comes remorse.


Tradition / African

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T he fool speaks, the wise listens.


Tradition / African

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H e, who learns, teaches.


Tradition / African

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I t takes a whole village to raise a child.


Tradition / African

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I f your mouth turns into a knife, it will cut off your lips.


Tradition / African

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T he Lord of All, after having come into being, says: I am he who came into being as Khepri (i.e., the Becoming One). When I came into being, the beings came into being, all the beings came into being after I became. Numerous are those who became, who came out of my mouth, before heaven ever existed, nor earth came into being, nor the worms, nor snakes were created in this place. 1, being in weariness, was bound to them in the Watery Abyss. I found no place to stand. I thought in my heart, I planned in myself, I made all forms being alone, before I ejected Shu, before I spat out Tefnut (1) before any other who was in me had become. Then I planned in my own heart, and many forms of beings came into being as forms of children, as forms of their children. I conceived by my hand, I united myself with my hand, I poured out of my own mouth. I ejected Shu, I spat out Tefnut. It was my father the Watery Abyss who brought them up, and my eye followed them (?) while they became far from me. After having become one god, there were (now) three gods in me. When I came into being in this land, Shu and Tefnut jubilated in the Watery Abyss in which they were. Then they brought with them my eye. After I had joined together my members, I wept over them, and men came into being out of the tears which came out of my eyes. (2) Then she (the eye) became enraged (3) after she came back and had found that I had placed another in her place, that she had been replaced by the Brilliant One. Then I found a higher place for her on my brow (4) and when she began to rule over the whole land her fury fell down on the flowering (?) and I replaced what she had ravished. I came out of the flowering (?), I created all snakes, and all that came into being with them. Shu and Tefnut produced Geb and Nut; Geb and Nut produced out of a single body Osiris, Horus the Eyeless one (5) Seth, Isis, and Nephthys, one after the other among them. Their children are numerous in this land.


Tradition / African / Egyptian
The Book of Overthrowing Apophis, Translation and notes by Alexandre Piankoff, in his The Shrines of Tut-ankh-amon (New York, 1955), P. 24. Cf. the translation by John A. Wilson, in ANET, pp. 6-7 

1 Shu the air, Tefnut the moist. 2 Same myth in the Book of Gates, division 4 (The Tomb of Ramesses VI, P. 169). 3 An allusion to the myth of the Eye of the sun god which departs into a foreign land and is brought back by Shu and Tefnut. Another aspect. of this myth is to be found in the Book of the Divine Cow. 4 The fire-spitting snake, the uraeus on the head of the god. 5 The Elder Horus of Letopolis.

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I was (the spirit in ?) The Primeval Waters,
he who had no companion when my name came into existence.
The most ancient form in which I came into existence was as a drowned one.
I was (also) he who came into existence as a circle,
he who was the dweller in his egg.
I was the one who began (everything), the dweller in the Primeval Waters.
First Hahu (1) emerged from me
and then I began to move.
I created my limbs in my 'glory'
I was the maker of myself, in that I formed myself according to my desire and in accord with my heart


Tradition / African / Egyptian
'Coffin Texts,' 714, (2) Translated by R.T. Rundle Clark, in his Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt (London 1959) p.74 

1. Hahu, the wind which began the separation of the waters and raised the sky. 2. The so-called 'Coffin Texts,' inscribed on the interior of coffins, belong to the middle kingdom (2250-1580 B.C.)

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T he conception of a Deity. The Kikuyu believes in one God, Ngai, the creator and giver of all things. He has no Father, Mother or companion of any kind. He loves or hates people according to their behaviour.


Tradition / African
Ngai, The High God of the Kikuyu, Jomo Kenyatta, 'Kikuyu Religion, Ancestor-worship, and Sacrificial Practices.' Africa, X (1937) pp. 308-28 

The Kikuyu are a Bantu-speaking tribe of East Africa

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