How this collection is built, and how sure we are of each entry.
Sources and method
179 sayings · 28 confirmed · 127 single-source · 24 awaiting check
Where the sayings come from
Haitian proverbs are anonymous folk heritage — nobody owns Men anpil, chay pa lou. The sayings themselves are free to record. What is not free is anyone else’s translation or anyone else’s explanation of a proverb, because those are written work. So every English, French and Kreyòl gloss on this site is written here, and a saying found elsewhere is treated as a lead to verify, never as text to copy.
How sure we are
Every entry carries one of three states, and we publish the counts rather than only the flattering one.
Public domain material
Where a printed source is out of copyright we name it and the year, so you can go and read it yourself.
- Lessons in Haitian Creole — E. Chenet, Port-au-Prince, 1921
Corrections
If a translation here is wrong, please tell us — a reader who grew up with the proverb will catch what a dictionary cannot.