“Small ax fell big tree.”

By griotsarchive@gmail.com / October 10, 2025

Unknown, Jamaica

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Acknowledgements

Copyright, Jonathan McDougall 2024

Thanks to Oluwatobi Ajimoko, Kristen Cain, and Kendra Johnson for assistance in compilation and editing, to Ariane Barboza for Brazilian proverbs, and to Liana Alston for editorial suggestions.

Biblography

Joselyn Pine, Book of African-American Quotations (2010)
Gerd de Ley, The Book of African Proverbs (2019)
Maryn Liles, 150 of the Best African Proverbs About Life, Love and Family That Are Full of Poetic Wisdom, Parade (Feb 1, 2023)
African Proverbs, No Sweat Shakespeare (last accessed February 14, 2024)

African Manners
The Wisdom of African Proverbs-Get Inspired From 300 African Proverbs From All Around the Continent, Safari Junkie (last accessed Feb 14, 2024
Quora
Reginald McKnight, African American Wisdom (1994)

Vivien Morris-Brown, The Jamaica Handbook of Proverbs (1993)

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