Where do these come from and what do you need the original versions for? The Akan ones might be findable (the ‘West African’ one I know to be an Akan proverb), as there are published collections of Akan proverbs. For the other ones, you list countries of origin in which lots of different languages are spoken, so the ‘original languages’ are going to be difficult to trace (except Rwanda, where Kinyarwanda might be our best bet).

Having a good discussion is like having riches. Kenya

Accomplishment of purpose is better than making a profit.” Hausa

You can outdistance that which is running after you, but not what is running inside you. Rwanda

The family is like the forest, if you are outside, it is dense. If you are inside you can see that each tree has its own position.” Akan

“It is the human being who counts: call on gold, gold does not respond; call on clothes, clothes do not respond; it is the human being who counts.” West Africa

When spider webs unite they can tie up a lion.” Ethiopia

“Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped.” Liberia

“A friend is someone you share the path with.” Nilotic (?Kenya)
I wonder if you might be able to help me with this.
Thank you,
Janet Randall
Linguistics Program, Northeastern U.

Well, I suppose it figures that *you* already know about the Arda story ;). And I had no idea that you had written about Gbe languages already for Wikipedia. Very cool. And thanks for the mention!