Ẹni rere kì í kú sípò ìkà.
Character against beauty, wealth and destiny
Original
Ẹni rere kì í kú sípò ìkà.
Literal gloss
- Ẹni rere a-good person kì í kú does-not die sípò ìkà in-the-position of-a-wicked-person.
Idiomatic English
"A good person does not die the death of an evil person."
No translator is named in the source.
What it means
The manner of a death is fitted to the character of the life.
Used when
Owomoyela: "Each person will be recompensed according to his or her character"
Notes on the translation
Ìkà is wickedness or cruelty. Ipò, position or station, is doing double work: it means both the social standing and the physical posture in which a person is found dead. The proverb is consoling when said of a good person's death and threatening when said of a living wicked one, and both uses are current.