the wise do not sit and wait for good things
the WYZ doo not SIT and WAYT for GOOD THINGZ
ðə waɪz duː nɒt sɪt ænd weɪt fɔːr ɡʊd θɪŋzListen
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Dictionary meaning
a proverb found across multiple West African oral traditions, including Akan and Ewe sources, asserting that wisdom is active rather than passive and that those who understand the world move purposefully within it rather than awaiting fortune; the sitting and waiting posture is not condemned as laziness per se but as a failure to recognise that desirable outcomes are produced by deliberate effort, cultivation, and initiative; the proverb reflects agrarian and mercantile cultures in which the harvest rewards those who plant, tend, and protect the crop, and trade rewards those who travel, negotiate, and take risks — not those who remain stationary hoping that good things will arrive unsolicited
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