Wisdom, Wisecracks & Bible Sayins’: Old Black Folk Quotes We Need To Bring Back
Verbal gifts that keep on giving
- Please and thank you go a long way
- God don’t like ugly and ain’t too fond of cute
- What happens in the dark will always come to light
- Silence is golden
- A closed mouth don’t get fed — speak up and ask for what you want
- An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
- Cleanliness is next to godliness
- Don’t ask a question if you don’t want to hear the answer
- An idle mind is a devil’s workshop
- A hard head makes a soft behind
- Lay down with dogs you get up with fleas
- Don’t bite the hand that feeds you
- You reap what you sow/what goes around comes around
- You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make ’em drink
- Ain’t nothing new under the sun
- God’s in control — Patience is a virtue
- You can’t keep a man who don’t want to be kept
- What’s in you- will always come out
- Don’t let your good deeds be evil spoken of
- Birds of a feather — flock together
- Where there’s smoke there’s fire
- What’s meant for me, I’ll get and nobody can stop it
- God’s workin’ it out for your good
- If you’re mad, scratch your butt and get glad
- If you wake up breathing and in your right mind you’re blessed
- It ain’t what you say, it’s how you say it
- Nothing good happens after midnight
- Don’t start none, won’t be none
- Fools rush in where wise men fear to tread
- Nothing in life is free — if it’s too good to be true — it’s probably not good, true or for you
- If you lie, you steal
- Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me
- When someone shows you who they are the first time, believe them (Maya Angelou)
- Can’t put the cart before the horse
- Everything happens for a reason/people/things come into your life for a reason, season or a lifetime
Bad Grandpop bonus sayings
- Watch your mouth — save your teeth
- Don’t let your mouth write a check you a$& can’t cash
- Don’t test me — you might walk over but you’re gonna limp back
Special thank you to Minda Harts, author of the Memo and person who started this Twitter thread and inspired this piece