Ẹni tó bá ìwà búburú wá sáyé, tòun tokùn àjàrà ní ńlọ sọ́run.
Character against beauty, wealth and destiny
Original
Ẹni tó bá ìwà búburú wá sáyé, tòun tokùn àjàrà ní ńlọ sọ́run.
Literal gloss
- Ẹni tó bá ìwà búburú wá sáyé one-who with bad character comes to-the-world, tòun tokùn àjàrà he-together-with a-vine-rope ní ńlọ sọ́run is-how he-goes to-heaven.
Idiomatic English
"Whoever comes into this world accompanied by bad character goes back to heaven by means of a vine."
No translator is named in the source.
What it means
Bad character brings its owner to a bad end.
Used when
Owomoyela: "Bad character will be the undoing of its owner"
Notes on the translation
The vine is a hanging. The proverb states a violent death with complete indirection, naming only the material, which is characteristic of Yorùbá proverbs about death.