Si une femme ne t'aime pas, elle dit que tu es son frère.
“If a woman does not love you, she will say you are her brother.”
Rejection is often dressed up as friendly, platonic distance.
— Ivorian Oral Tradition, Côte d'Ivoire
Source: proverbes-francais.fr, "Les meilleurs proverbes de la Côte d'Ivoire" — attributed as a Baoulé proverb, cited 1980
More Proverbs from Côte d'Ivoire
One hand alone cannot tie up a bundle.
Cooperation accomplishes what no individual can manage alone — a call to community solidarity and shared effort over solitary struggle.
The river that forgets its source will one day run dry.
A person or people who lose respect for their origins, elders, and traditions eventually lose their own strength and identity.
With patience, even a stone becomes soft enough to cook.
Persistence and calm endurance can soften the hardest problems over time — nothing is truly impossible for one who does not rush.
The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.
A widely shared West African saying warning that a community which neglects its young will eventually suffer the consequences of that neglect — belonging and care are protective, not optional.
Wisdom is like a baobab tree — no one person can wrap their arms around it alone.
No single individual holds all knowledge or truth; real understanding comes from gathering the insight of many people together.
A transplanted tree will never give shade as sweet as the one that grew where it stood.
Nothing fully replaces one's original home or roots, even when replanted somewhere better.