African Proverbs from the 19th Century - from Reading About the World

Wolof:

The house-roof fights with the rain, but he who is sheltered ignores it.
To love the king is not bad, but a king who loves you is better.
Allah does not destroy the men whom one hates.

Oji (Ashanti):

If nothing touches the palm-leaves they do not rustle. (1)
He is a fool whose sheep runs away twice.

Yoruba:

The man who has bread to eat does not appreciate the severity of a famine.
Because friendship is pleasant, we partake of our friend's entertainment; not because we have not enough to eat in our own house.
When your neighbor's horse falls into a pit, you should not rejoice at it, for your own child may fall into it too.
The pot-lid is always badly off: the pot gets all the sweet, the lid nothing but steam. (2)

Efik:

His opinions are like water in the bottom of a canoe, going from side to side.
You lament not the dead, but lament the trouble of making a grave; the way of the ghost is longer than the grave.

1. Compare English "Where there's smoke there's fire."
2. Said of slaves, who work without pay.