Fulani proverbs about wisdom

The same act can be generous or selfish depending on what lay behind it. Look at the reason, not only the visible result, before deciding what someone's action really means.

Time spent among a people, or in a place, does not turn you into one of them, any more than a log left in the water becomes a crocodile. One telling gives it as a light-hearted answer to an outsider who is told they have "become a Fulani".

To a stranger, the frogs all look like they are limping. That is just how they hop. Someone who has spent time with them can tell which one really does. Close, patient attention gives a kind of knowledge nothing else can.