A critical examination of the content of this folk literature will result in a division somewhat similar to that found in the same type of literature of other races. Such a division discloses stories, poetry, riddles and proverbs. The African folk literature is especially rich in proverbs. So numerous are these proverbs that it has been said that there is scarcely an object presented to the eye, scarcely an idea excited in the mind, but it is accompanied by some sententious aphorism, founded on close observation of man and animals and in many cases of a decidedly moral tendency. Lord Bacon remarked many years ago that "the genius, wit and spirit of a nation are discovered in its proverbs." Cervantes in _Don Quixote_ says "Methinks, Sancho, that there is no proverb that is not true, because they are all judgments drawn from the same experience which is the mother of all knowledge." If these sayings be true, then the proverbs of the African Negro should be examined in order to see if they approach these observations. For convenience of the reader an effort has been made to arrange these sententious sayings under general subjects. These selected by no means exhaust the mine of African proverbial lore but are only a few nuggets that suggest the Negro's power to infer and generalize and to express himself in a graphic and concise way relative to life as he observed and experienced it.[1] _Anger_ Anger does nobody good, but patience is the father of kindness. _Assistance_ Not to aid one in distress is to kill him in your heart. _Birth_ Birth does not differ from birth; as the free man was born so was the slave. In the beginning our Lord created all. With him there is neither slave nor free man, but every one is free. _Boasting_ Boasting is not courage. He who boasts much cannot do much. Much gesticulation does not prove courage. _Borrowing_ Borrowing is easy but the day of payment is hard. _Chance_ He who waits for chance may wait for a year. _Character_ Wherever a man goes to dwell his character goes with him. Every man's character is good in his own eyes. _Charity_ Charity is the father of sacrifice. _Children_ There is no wealth without children. It is the duty of children to wait on elders, not elders on children. _Condemnation_ You condemn on hearsay evidence alone, your sins increase. _Contempt_ Men despise what they do not understand. _Covetousness_ If thou seeketh to obtain by force what our Lord did not give thee, thou wilt not get it. _Danger of Beauty_ He who marries a beauty, marries trouble. _Danger of Poverty_ Beg help and you will meet with refusals; ask for alms and you will meet with misers. _Danger of Wealth_ It is better to be poor and live long than rich and die young. _Disposition_ A man's disposition is like a mark in a stone, no one can efface it.