Mọ ìwà fóníwà loògùn ọ̀rẹ́.
Character and other people
Original
Mọ ìwà fóníwà loògùn ọ̀rẹ́.
Literal gloss
- Mọ ìwà know character fóníwà for-its-owner loògùn ọ̀rẹ́ is-the-medicine of-friendship.
Idiomatic English
"Knowing and accepting each person's character for what it is is the medicine for friendship."
No translator is named in the source.
What it means
Friendship is sustained by accepting the friend as they are.
Used when
Owomoyela: "Mutual tolerance is indispensable in friendship"
Notes on the translation
Oògùn is medicine, and in proverbs of this shape it means the working remedy for a named problem, as in iṣẹ́ ni oògùn ìṣẹ́, work is the medicine of poverty. Naming friendship as a condition requiring medicine implies friendship is inherently prone to failure, which entry 30 states outright.