Guyanese Proverbs

Monkey dress e pickney (child) till he spoil. (Don’t try to over do something, keep it simple.)

Yuh can’t suck cane and blow whistle. (Do not try to carry out two tasks at the same time.)

Youth nah ah weary but he ah fall down. (When you are young you carry much burden, but as you get older you can take on only little responsibility.)

Yuh tel tara and tara tell tara. (When you tell a friend a secret soon everyone knows because your friend will tell another friend.)

When you want fuh swim river yuh gat fuh plunge inside fuss. ( You have to take risks when you attempt new ventures.)

Baby who ah cry ah house and ah door ah same thing. (The same manner in which you treat your child, you should treat another's.)

Big tree fall down, goat bite e leaf. (When a great man falls, he is no longer feared and respected.)

Cat foot soft but he ah scratch bad. (Some people may seem friendly and understanding, but to your surprise it is not really so.)

Cat a ketch rat, but he a teef e massa fish. (Good and evil come from the same source.)

Every bush a man nighttime. (Things seem worse than they really are when we are afraid.)

If yuh eye nah see, yuh mouth nah must talk. (You must see for yourself before you talk.)

When man mek eself sugar e mattie ah suck am. (Sometimes when you make yourself too kind your friends and associates will take advantage.)

Yuh can't fatten cow fuh another man butcher. (When you work hard and achieve something in life, you are not happy if it is taken away by others.)

Some pork-knockers does only clear track fuh monkey run race. (Some people do all the hard work but others benefit in the end.)

All cassava get same skin but all nah taste same way. (Though people may look alike because of their mode of dress, they are different in their ways.)

Cuss when yuh ah guh, nah wheh yuh ah come out.(You must not curse the place that you have come from, because sometime in the future you may have to return there.)