“It is not the cook's fault when the cassava turns out to be hard and tasteless.”
A person should not always be blamed for a poor outcome when the raw materials or circumstances they were given were already flawed.
— Traditional Benin Wisdom, Benin
Source: Traditional Ewe-mina proverb, shared Benin-Ghana-Togo heritage, public-domain oral tradition (recorded as African Proverb of the Month, Dec. 2007, African Proverbs Working Group, Tangaza University)
More Proverbs from Benin
Silence is an attribute of the dead; he who is alive speaks.
Living, engaged people communicate; withdrawing into silence is a kind of death.
Anyone who sees beauty and does not look at it will soon be poor.
Failing to notice and appreciate the good things in life leads to a poorer existence.
Work is the medicine for poverty.
Labor and effort are the true remedy for hardship and want.
The world is a journey; the afterworld is home.
Earthly life is temporary travel, while the true, lasting home lies beyond it.
A great affair covers up a small matter.
A major issue easily overshadows and hides a lesser one.
Anyone who plants a tree before they die has not lived in vain.
Leaving something lasting behind gives a life meaning and purpose.