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Proverbs

Many hands make light work

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Updated 5mo ago
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View this proverb in Swahili
Mikono mingi kazi haba
A big job becomes less burdensome when shared with many others through teamwork and cooperation.

Interestingly, this proverb contrasts with another English proverb "Too many cooks spoil the broth." As my dad pointed out, "It's 'many hands make light work'... not 'many hands make right work!'"

While the origins of the proverb are unclear, it appears in John Heywood's collection of English Proverbs (1546), where he attributes it to the didactic poem How the Good Wife Taught her Daughter (late 1300s), a didactic poem that reminds me of Utendi wa Mwana Kupona.  

Similar proverbs:

Kiswahili
Mikono mingi kazi haba
Many hands, small work

Chinese:
人多好辦事
Many people, fine work

Russian: 
берись дружно, не будет грузно
Take hold of it together, it won't be heavy




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Kuna vitu ambavyo huwezi kufanya peke yako. Tango ni mchezo (densi) ya watu wawili, kwa hivyo huwezi kucheza tango peke yako.

Methali hii inatoka wimbo ulioimbwa 1952, It Takes Two to Tango:
Unaweza kusafiri kwa meli peke yako,
kulala au kupumzika peke yako.
Unaweza kuingia kwenye deni peke yako.
Kuna mambo mengi ambayo unaweza kufanya peke yako.
Lakini ni lazima muwe wawili ili kucheza tango, muwe wawili ili kucheza tango...
- It Takes Two to Tango (1952, Al Hoffman, Dick Manning na Pearl Bailey) Ona vyanzo/sources ili kusikiliza wimbo huu!

Methali hii ina maana nyingi tofauti ambazo unaweza kutekeleza katika mahusiano na maisha yako ya kila siku. Mambo mengi huhitaji watu zaidi ya mmoja: Wawili wanatakiwa ili kushirikiana, kufanya biashara ama kupigana. Ukitaka kucheza na mtu ambaye hataki kucheza na wewe, bora kumtafuta mchezaji mwengine.. Vivyo hivyo, ukiwa kwenye mgogoro au magomvi, itabidi ufikirie jinsi tabia yako inavyoweza kuchangia katika kuendeleza shida. katika dance, lengo si kuwa mkamilifu, bali ni kuendana na mwenzako na kufurahia pamoja.
Methali zinazofanana kutoka Afrika: 
Kimisri (Kiarabu): 
ايد لوحدها ماتسقفش‎
Mkono mmoja hauwezi kupiga makofi
Kiswahili:
Bila mtu wa pili ugomvi hauanzi
Kidole kimoja hakiuwi chawa
...
Updated 5mo ago
by
Methali hii ya Kiingereza "To the victor go the spoils" inatafsirika pia kama "Mshindi ndiye anayechukua vyote" au "Mshindi hupokea nyara zote."

Mshindi wa shindano ndiye anayepokea tuzo. Huwa anachukua asilimia kubwa ya faida ama faida zote, na hata manufaa zaidi ya yale yaliyokuwa yakipiganiwa.

Katika vita, nyara zinaweza kuwa ardhi, mamlaka au rasilimali nyingine zinazotafutwa. Katika shughuli zingine nyara zinaweza kuwa sifa, pesa au fursa. Methali hii hutumika ili kueleza matokeo yasiyo sawa au kutukumbusha kwamba katika migogoro mingi ni mshindi ndiye atakayechukua yote, asilimia kubwa, au angalau, kupendelewa. Angalia sehemu ya vyanzo kwa maelezo ya muktadha kuhusu chimbuko la methali hii, mwanasiasa wa Marekani katika miaka ya 1830 (Kiingereza).
...
Updated 5mo ago
by
Je, umewahi kuona muda huenda pole pole wakati unasubiri? Lakini kwa upande mwingine, ukivutiwa na mambo mengine, m muda huenda haraka.

Kwa mfano, ukisubiri kumwona daktari, muda ni mfupi ukiangalia simu yako au kusoma gazeti, badala ya kungoja tu kusikia jina lako liitwe.

Chimbuko cha methali hii ni Benjamin Franklin kwa Poor Richard's Almanac, hata hivyo haionekani hapo. Badala yake, Franklin aliitumia katika insha juu ya 'sumaku ya wanyama' mwaka 1785. 
Nilikuwa na Njaa sana; ilikuwa imechelewa sana; "Sufuria inayotazamwa huchemka pole pole," kama Poor Richard asemavyo.
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Updated 5mo ago
by
One day a renown businessman wanted to hire an assistant. He received many resumes, but only two candidates met his high standards: Alice and Bob. To help him decide, he called both, and they each agreed to come in for an interview the following morning. "9 AM. Look sharp and don't be late." The manager warned.

The next morning Alice woke up early, donned her best suit and got to the village bus station at 8:00am. "Better safe than sorry," she thought.  On the way to town, the front of the minibus began to smoke. The driver pulled over in the bush and told all the passengers to get out. Just then it started to rain. Alice tried to wave down each bus that passed, but they were all full, so she had to walk on foot. 9am came and went, but Alice was still miles from town and the rain was getting harder. "I must keep going." she thought, "Better late than never."

Meanwhile in town, Bob woke up in his apartment, and saw the sun was high in the sky. He sat up suddenly. "Oh no! Why did my alarm fail?" He looked at the clock on his wall: 9:00 am. "Forget it. Even if I leave right now, I'll still be late, and they'll never hire someone who is late." So Bob, feeling depressed, went back to sleep.

At 10:30, Alice finally made it to the office and knocked on the door, her neatly pressed suit now dripping and muddy. The businessman answered.
"I warned you to be on time, yet you are over an hour late, how can you expect me to give you this job?"
Then Alice explained all that had happened.
"I have learned a lot about you from this story, Alice. When you have a purpose in mind, you persist despite and obstacles and don't give up, even when it seems too late. In fact, you are the first to arrive today. The other candidate did not show up at all. The job is yours."

Great achievements and inventions often begin with a lot of failures, but in the long run, persistence and learning are rewarded.  People make a lot of mistakes (to err is human), but life is very patient with us, giving us lots of chances to learn from them and try again, as long as we don't give up.

Some say the proverb "Better late than never" comes from The Canterbury Tales, written by Chaucer around the 1390s.
Better than never is late -  The Canon's Yeoman's Tale  
Others trace the proverb to an even earlier origin, in Livy's History of Rome, written around 20 BC:
There was no end to it; tribunes of the commons and patricians could not subsist in the same state; either the one order or the other office must be abolished; and that a stop should be put to presumption and temerity rather late than never. - Livy, History of Rome, Book 4

A similar saying in English is "It's never too late." 
Here's a proverb that relates to the same principle in Hindi:
जब जाति तब सवेरे
Whenever you wake up, that’s your morning

And here's an English proverb that often means the opposite of this one:
Don't close the stable door after the horse has bolted

...

Imagine you woke up late for a job interview. What would you do? Would you scramble to get dressed and make it to the meeting as quickly as possible? Or would you think "Forget it, it's not worth going at all now"? Next time you think "It's too late" try telling yourself "Better late than never." For example, this Proverb of the Day was posted late, but at least you're reading it now - Thanks!

Updated 5mo ago
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