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Nigeria Proverbs And Wisdom
(Paperback)
Author: Mabel AjalaFormat: Paperback
ISBN: 1592321038
List Price: $9.95
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Seaburn Books are available at your local
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Description:
The proverbs and
sayings of a nation will reveal their national character and
personality traits. Benjamin Disraeli stated that “proverbs were
anterior to books and formed the wisdom of the vulgar, and in the
earliest ages were the written laws or morality.” William Penn had
stated that “the wisdom of nations lies in their proverbs, which are
brief and pithy.” A Spanish writer had also remarked that “proverbs
are short sentences drawn from long experiences.” Earlier, Sir
Francis Bacon, an English philosopher had observed that “the genius,
wit and spirit of a nation are discovered in its proverbs”. Chinua
Achebe, an excellent Nigerian authority, defines proverbs as “the
oil with which words are eaten”. One finds it easy then, to believe
that proverbs are to speech what salt is to food. In fact, there are
Nigerian sayings that “a proverb is the house of a conversation;
when the conversation lags, a proverb will revive it”, and “a wise
man who knows proverbs reconciles difficulties”. It is, therefore,
not an exaggeration to say that proverbs are the jewel of speech. No
wonder that proverbs occupy such a special place in the traditional
education system! It is almost axiomatic, then, that the ancient
wisdom of a nation and their thought are often found in their
proverbs.
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