Proverb from Ghana
Twi (Asante)
Obi ṅkyere̱ abofra o̱nyàmé.
Meaning
Some things need no teaching. Rattray: children lying on their backs looking up do not need the sky pointed out, for they see it better than their elders. He mentions a possible deeper reading, which the elders he asked did not confirm: no one has to show a child the Supreme Being.
Source
R. S. Rattray, Ashanti Proverbs (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1916), no. 3, p. 24, on archive.org
Spelled as Rattray prints it: the underlined e and o are the open vowels written ɛ and ɔ in Twi today. Rattray took it from J. G. Christaller’s 1879 collection, no. 227.
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What is a proverb? A short, well-known, and memorable saying that expresses a common truth, practical experience, or piece of advice.