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If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

Often called an African proverb

PhilosophyProverbs

The story behind the card

It is one of the most quoted “African proverbs”, yet no African-language original has been found. The proverb scholars Wolfgang Mieder and Charles Clay Doyle see it as a modern reply to Rudyard Kipling's line “He travels the fastest who travels alone”; as early as 1917 an American company magazine answered that “he travels farthest who pulls with his team”. Today's exact wording is first known from a 2004 book. Al Gore quoted it in 2007, on the day he was named a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Türkçe oku
Hızlı gitmek istiyorsan yalnız git. Uzağa gitmek istiyorsan birlikte git.
Çoğu zaman Afrika atasözü diye anılır

Dünyada en çok alıntılanan “Afrika atasözlerinden” biridir, ama hiçbir Afrika dilinde aslı bulunamamıştır. Atasözü araştırmacıları Wolfgang Mieder ile Charles Clay Doyle, sözü Rudyard Kipling'in “En hızlı, yalnız yol alan gider” dizesine verilmiş modern bir cevap olarak görür. Nitekim 1917'de bir Amerikan şirketinin dergisi Kipling'e “En uzağa, takımıyla birlikte çeken gider” diye karşılık vermişti. Bugünkü biçimin bilinen en eski örneği 2004 tarihli bir kitaptadır. Al Gore da 2007'de Nobel Barış Ödülü'nü kazandığını öğrendiği gün bu sözü aktarmıştı. Türkçede aynı düşünceyi “Bir elin nesi var, iki elin sesi var” sözü anlatır.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Cooperation
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