Mú orí lọ, má mú ẹwà lọ; òòjọ́ lẹwà ńdẹ̀hìn, orí ní ńbá ni gbélé ọkọ.
Original
Mú orí lọ, má mú ẹwà lọ; òòjọ́ lẹwà ńdẹ̀hìn, orí ní ńbá ni gbélé ọkọ.
Literal gloss
- Mú orí lọ take orí along, má mú ẹwà lọ do-not take beauty along; òòjọ́ lẹwà ńdẹ̀hìn in-a-single-day beauty falls-behind, orí ní ńbá ni gbélé ọkọ orí is-what stays-with one in-the-husband's-house.
Idiomatic English
"Go with your head, not with your beauty; beauty abandons one in a day, but one's head remains with one in the marital home."
No translator is named in the source.
What it means
What sustains a marriage is the inner head, not appearance.
Used when
Owomoyela: "A woman should care more about good character than about beauty" Spoken to a young woman at marriage.
Notes on the translation
Orí is the inner head or destiny, and Owomoyela's usage note translates it into the register of character, which is a real slide: the proverb says orí and his gloss says character. In Yorùbá thought the two are linked but distinct, and this proverb is one of the places where ordinary speech runs them together. Confidence on the gloss: medium.