Ny fanahy no olona, fa tsy ny nofo.
“It is the spirit that makes the person, not the flesh.”
A person's true identity lies in character and spirit, not in the physical body alone.
— Traditional Madagascar Wisdom, Madagascar
Source: Traditional Madagascar proverb, public-domain oral tradition
More Proverbs from Madagascar
All who live under the sky are woven together like one big mat.
Every person on earth is bound to everyone else in one shared community.
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Be like the mouth and the hand: when the hand is hurt, the mouth blows on it; when the mouth is hurt, the hand rubs it.
Real kinship means caring for one another automatically, the way different parts of one body do.
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The night brings wisdom.
Sleeping on a hard decision often brings clearer judgment by morning.
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Behave like the chameleon: look forward, and watch behind you.
Stay alert to both the future and the past before you act.
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Let your friendship not be like stone, which cannot be mended once it breaks, but like iron, which can be welded back together.
Build friendships resilient enough to be repaired after a quarrel, not ones that shatter forever.
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Let your love not be like a flash flood: heavy when it comes, but gone in no time.
True love should be steady and lasting, not a sudden burst that quickly fades.
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