Ìwà ní ńjọ oníwà lójú.
Where character shows
Original
Ìwà ní ńjọ oníwà lójú.
Literal gloss
- Ìwà character ní ńjọ is-what pleases oníwà its-owner lójú in-the-eye.
Idiomatic English
"Character is always remarkable (or good) in the opinion of its owner."
No translator is named in the source.
What it means
Everyone approves of their own character.
Used when
Owomoyela: "One naturally approves of one's own character" Said to deflate a self-assessment.
Notes on the translation
Owomoyela's parenthetical "(or good)" records a genuine ambiguity in jọ... lójú, which covers both being pleasing to and seeming right to. The proverb is the Yorùbá statement of the problem that self-knowledge is not available by introspection, which is why entry 19 says the information has to come from other people.