If oil ah float, watah deh ah bottom.
“If oil is floating on top, you know there is water underneath.”
A single visible clue can reveal a much larger truth hidden beneath the surface.
— Traditional Guyana Wisdom, Guyana
Source: Traditional Guyanese proverb, public-domain oral tradition
More Proverbs from Guyana
If the rain itself could not fill it, the dew certainly won't.
If a sustained, serious effort already failed to achieve something, a smaller, lesser effort will not succeed where it did not.
Don't go looking for a firebrand at night for what you could plainly see in the day.
Don't wait until it's too late, or make things needlessly difficult, when a warning sign was already clear all along.
Whoever eats fire will pass something cold.
If you ignore sound advice or take a reckless risk, you must live with whatever painful consequence follows.
The cat's paw is soft, but it scratches hard.
A gentle, friendly appearance does not guarantee that a person is harmless or trustworthy.
After laughter comes crying.
Moments of joy and ease are often followed, sooner or later, by hardship or sorrow.
At night, every bush looks like a man.
Fear distorts perception, making ordinary things seem far more frightening or threatening than they really are.