“Even if you leave a long piece of wood in the water, it will never become a crocodile.”
A thing does not change its true nature simply by being placed in a different environment for a long time; you cannot become something you are not.
— Traditional Burkina Faso Wisdom, Burkina Faso
Source: Traditional Burkinabè proverb (Proverbicals, 'Burkinabe Proverbs'); a widely shared variant across West/East African oral tradition, cf. the Bambara (Mali) and Gikuyu (Kenya) versions archived by Tangaza University's African Proverbs, Sayings and Stories project (afriprov.tangaza.ac.ke)
More Proverbs from Burkina Faso
If you haven't been to two marketplaces, you don't know which offers the best value.
Comparing options through direct experience reveals true value.
He who speaks does not know that the listener is smart.
A speaker should never underestimate the intelligence of those who are listening.
One hand does not pick up the flour.
Some tasks are impossible to accomplish alone and require the cooperation of others.
After beating milk, butter is obtained.
Sustained effort transforms raw material into something valuable.
Everything has an end, except the banana, which has two.
A gently humorous reminder that, unlike most things, a banana has two visible ends.
Every birth is the rebirth of an ancestor.
A newborn child is seen as carrying forward the spirit and legacy of an ancestor who came before.