130 Malagasy Proverbs / Page 3
41.
Don't help a bull out of a ditch, for when he's out he'll butt you.42.
Don't kick a sleeping dog.43.
Don't praise your wife before a year.44.
Don't take a second mouthful before you have swallowed the first.45.
Don't think there are no sharks because the water is calm.46.
Done in by his own trade like a water merchant in the rain.47.
Even the bottom of a basket finds something to hold.48.
Even the dead in their family vaults enjoy being in large company.49.
Flatters, like rats, tickle and then bite.50.
Flint and gunpowder: every time they meet there is an explosion.51.
Friendship reminds us of fathers, love of mothers.52.
From all the fish in the pot you can only make one soup.53.
Govern a country as you would roast a crocodile on a spit.54.
Greet everyone cordially when you don't know who your in-laws are going to be.55.
He is truly hungry who accepts defeat in a fight over meat.56.
However little food we have, we'll share it even if it's only one locust.57.
Idleness moves so slowly that it will be overtaken by misery.58.
If love is torn apart you cannot stitch the pieces together again.59.
If the hill is on fire the grasshoppers are roasted.60.
If we don't fight we remain equals, if we do fight then one of us wins.