Òwe on Folly, Wisdom and Learning from Experience

This file collects fifty Yorùbá proverbs in which the subject is ọ̀gbọ́n (wisdom, cunning, good sense), àìgbọ́n (folly, the lack of it), and the process by which a person comes to have one rather than the other. Across them a consistent picture emerges: wisdom in this corpus is rarely book knowledge or abstract cleverness. It is the practical capacity to read a situation correctly, to act on the first sign of danger rather than the second, and to draw the right conclusion from a mistake instead of repeating it. Folly, correspondingly, is not stupidity in some general sense but a specific and recurring failure: acting as though a lesson available to observation had not been offered, or needing to be burned by the same fire twice.

How this file is sourced

The proverbs below are drawn from Oyekan Owomoyela's digitised The Good Person: Excerpts from the Yorùbá Proverb Treasury, hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries Electronic Text Center, Part 2, "On perspicaciousness (good judgment, perceptiveness), reasonableness, sagacity, savoir-faire, wisdom, and worldly wisdom" 1 That page prints each proverb in standard orthography with full tone marking, followed by Owomoyela's own English translation and a parenthetical usage note. Where an entry below is marked 1, the Yorùbá text and the quoted idiomatic English are Owomoyela's, reproduced as printed. The literal glosses and the Used when framing are the compiler's own, built from the Yorùbá, except where Owomoyela's usage note is quoted directly. That collection draws from the same fieldwork as his Yoruba Proverbs (Nebraska, 2005) 2.

Owomoyela's Part 2 is the largest of his digitised excerpts and covers a broad field: general worldly savvy, practical dealing, reasonableness, and matching means to ends, alongside proverbs where folly or wisdom as such is the actual subject. This file draws out only the entries where that narrower subject, foolishness, good judgement, or a lesson learned (or refused) through experience, is the point being made, rather than general prudence about tools, trades, or manners. None of the fifty below duplicate the proverbs already given in yoruba-owe-proverbs, including its knowledge-and-learning entries (Àgbà tí ó jẹ àjẹsílẹ̀, Kò sí ẹni tí ó mọ ohun gbogbo, Ọ̀gbọ́n ju agbára lọ, Ẹni tí kò mọ̀ọ́ jó kò gbọdọ̀ pe ìlù ní ìkà, Bí ọmọdé bá ṣubú, a wo iwájú; bí àgbà bá ṣubú, a wo ẹ̀yìn), which are cross-referenced rather than repeated here. The pool for this file was the largest of the source excerpts and was read through in full; a substantial number of entries were set aside as belonging more properly to general prudence, trade-craft, or manners than to folly and wisdom as such.

---

The fool's characteristic errors

1. A bímọ kò gbọ́n, a ní kó má ṣàá kú; kí ní ńpa ọmọ bí àìgbọ́n?

Literal: A bímọ kò gbọ́n one has-a-child who is-not wise, a ní kó má ṣàá kú one says let-him-only not die; kí ní ńpa ọmọ what is-it-that kills a-child bí àìgbọ́n like lack-of-wisdom.

Idiomatic: "A child lacks wisdom, and some say that what is important is that the child does not die; what kills more surely than lack of wisdom?" 1

Meaning: Bare survival is not the standard by which a child's prospects should be measured. Wisdom's absence is itself a kind of death.

Used when: Owomoyela glosses it "A foolish child is not much better than a dead child" 1, a harsh line spoken against the comfortable assumption that health alone is enough to hope for.

Notes: The rhetorical question at the end refuses an answer, which is the proverb's method: nothing, in fact, kills as surely or as permanently as lack of wisdom, and the silence after the question is where that claim sits.

2. Àìgbọ́n ni yó pa Iṣikan; a ní ìyáa rẹ̀-ẹ́ kú, ó ní nígbàtí òún gbọ́, ṣe ni òún ńdárò; bíyàá ẹní bá kú àárò là ńdá?

Literal: Àìgbọ́n ni yó pa Iṣikan lack-of-wisdom is-what will kill Iṣikan; a ní ìyáa rẹ̀-ẹ́ kú one says his-mother has-died, ó ní nígbàtí òún gbọ́ he says when he heard, ṣe ni òún ńdárò it-is-lamenting he was-doing; bíyàá ẹní bá kú if-one's-mother dies àárò là ńdá is-it-lamentation one performs.

Idiomatic: "Foolishness will be the death of Iṣikan: he is told that his mother has died, and he says that when he heard the news he sorely lamented the tragedy; if one's mother dies is it lamentation that is called for?" 1

Meaning: Iṣikan mistakes the correct response to grief, lamentation, for the actual obligation, which is to act (attending to burial and its duties). Naming his own feeling stands in for doing what is required.

Used when: Owomoyela: "The well bred person is always mindful of his/her obligations" 1

Notes: The proverb's humour depends on the gap between what Iṣikan says and what the situation calls for; he answers the wrong question with real sincerity, which is precisely the shape of the folly the proverb is naming.

3. Àì-gbọ́n-léwe ni à-dàgbà-di-wèrè.

Literal: Àì-gbọ́n-léwe lack-of-wisdom-in-youth ni is à-dàgbà-di-wèrè growing-up-to-become-a-lunatic.

Idiomatic: "Lack-of-wisdom-in-youth is imbecility in adulthood." 1

Meaning: A failure to acquire good sense while young does not correct itself with age; it hardens into the adult's settled character.

Used when: Owomoyela: "The man turns out just as the child was; the grown person acquires his traits in childhood" 1

Notes: Both halves of the proverb are compressed nominals built on the same à- pattern that turns a whole clause into a single noun, so the sentence balances one compressed failure against another, and the effect in Yorùbá is of two matched, almost rhyming judgments rather than a chain of cause and result.

4. Àì-mọ̀-ọ́-gbé-kalẹ̀ leégún fi ńgba ọtí.

Literal: Àì-mọ̀-ọ́-gbé-kalẹ̀ not-knowing-how-to-set-it-down l(a) eégún fi ńgba ọtí is-what the-masquerader uses to-spill wine.

Idiomatic: "It is ineptitude-in-setting-it-down that makes the wine a spoil for the eégún" (that is, that causes the wine to be spilled). 1

Meaning: Clumsiness in the simplest part of a task, not malice or bad luck, is what actually causes the loss.

Used when: Owomoyela: "Ineptitude makes an impossible job of the easiest tasks" 1

Notes: Setting a vessel down is the least demanding part of carrying it, so naming that specific step as the point of failure sharpens the proverb's target: it is not the difficult tasks that expose the inept person, but the trivial ones.

5. Ó di kan-nu-rin kan-nu-rin, agogo Ògúntólú.

Literal: Ó di it becomes kan-nu-rin kan-nu-rin clang-clang (noise without pattern), agogo Ògúntólú the-bell of-Ògúntólú.

Idiomatic: "All one hears is noise without pattern, like that of Oguntolu's bell." 1

Meaning: What is being said or done has degenerated into noise: sound without sense or order.

Used when: Owomoyela: "The statements being made are senseless" 1

Notes: Kan-nu-rin kan-nu-rin is an ideophone imitating a bell struck without rhythm, so the proverb states its judgement through pure sound before any translation is needed; the reference to a named bell, Ògúntólú's, suggests a specific remembered nuisance behind the general saying.

6. Ogún mbókòó? Òwe aṣiwèrè.

Literal: Ogún twenty mbókòó or-a-score; Òwe aṣiwèrè proverb (riddle) of-an-imbecile.

Idiomatic: "Twenty or a score? An imbecile's puzzle." 1

Meaning: A question that poses a distinction where none exists is the mark of a mind that has not understood the terms it is using.

Used when: Owomoyela: "Trust an imbecile to pose stupid questions" 1

Notes: Twenty and a score are the same quantity under two names, English "score" being an exact borrowing of the same base-twenty counting Yorùbá itself uses, so the fool's question is not merely trivial but empty: it asks for a difference between two names for one thing.

7. Ọmọdé ò mẹ̀fọ́, ó ńpè é légbògi.

Literal: Ọmọdé ò mẹ̀fọ́ a-child does-not-recognize a-vegetable, ó ńpè é légbògi he calls it medicine.

Idiomatic: "A child does not recognize a vegetable and calls it medicine." 1

Meaning: Ignorance does not announce itself as ignorance; it produces a confident, wrong answer instead of an admission of not knowing.

Used when: Owomoyela: "An uninformed person will inevitably make a fool of him/herself" 1

Notes: This is the first of a matched pair of proverbs on the same figure, the child who misnames a plant out of ignorance; see the following entry, where the misnaming has fatal stakes rather than merely comic ones.

8. Ọmọdé ò mọ oògùn, ó ńpè é lẹ́fọ̀o?; kò mọ̀ pé ikú tó pa baba òun ni.

Literal: Ọmọdé ò mọ oògùn a-child does-not-know medicine (poison), ó ńpè é lẹ́fọ̀o he calls it a-vegetable; kò mọ̀ pé ikú tó pa baba òun ni he-does-not know that it-is-what killed his-father.

Idiomatic: "A child does not know medicine and he therefore calls it vegetables; it does not recognize it as what killed its father." 1

Meaning: Ignorance of a real danger leads a person to handle, unknowingly, the very thing that has already destroyed someone close to them.

Used when: Owomoyela: "People may call disasters on their own heads out of ignorance" 1

Notes: Oògùn covers both medicine and poison, an ambiguity the proverb depends on; the child's error is not just linguistic but generational, repeating unknowingly the danger that already claimed the father.

9. Ọmọdé ò moògùn ó ńpè é lẹ́gùn-ún.

Literal: Ọmọdé ò moògùn a-child does-not-know medicine, ó ńpè é lẹ́gùn-ún he calls it a-thorn.

Idiomatic: "A child does not know medicine and says it is a thorn." 1

Meaning: Not recognising a thing's value or danger, a person assigns it the most dismissive category available.

Used when: Owomoyela: "The ignorant person knows not the value of anything" 1

Notes: The third in this small cluster of misnaming proverbs; each substitutes a different, wrong category (medicine as vegetable, poison as vegetable, medicine as thorn), and Owomoyela's collection preserving all three suggests the template was productive rather than the sayings being loose variants of one original.

10. Ọmọdé ní wọ́n ńjẹ igún, bàbá ẹ̀-ẹ́ ní wọn kì í jẹ ẹ́; ó ní ẹnìkán jẹ ẹ́ rí lójú òun; bàbá ẹ̀-ẹ́ ní ta ni? Ó ní ẹni náà ò sí.

Literal: Ọmọdé ní wọ́n ńjẹ igún a-child says people eat vulture, bàbá ẹ̀-ẹ́ ní wọn kì í jẹ ẹ́ his-father says they do-not eat it; ó ní ẹnìkán jẹ ẹ́ rí lójú òun he says someone ate it before in his-presence; bàbá ẹ̀-ẹ́ ní ta ni his-father says who; ó ní ẹni náà ò sí he says that-person is-no-longer-alive.

Idiomatic: "A child says that people do eat vultures, and its father says people do not; the child says someone did eat a vulture in its presence; its father asks, who? The child says the person is dead." 1

Meaning: The child's own evidence, offered to win an argument with an elder, in fact confirms the elder's point: eating the vulture killed the person the child cites as proof.

Used when: Owomoyela: "The youth who attempts to challenge the wisdom of the elders will find himself tripped by his own mouth" 1

Notes: The proverb is constructed as a small dialogue rather than a single assertion, and its punchline depends on the child not noticing what his own answer has just admitted; the humour and the moral are the same discovery.

---

Wisdom as practical judgement rather than mere cunning or strength

11. Ọgbọ́n ju agbára.

Literal: Ọgbọ́n wisdom ju agbára exceeds strength.

Idiomatic: "Wisdom is greater than strength." 1

Meaning: Practical intelligence outperforms raw force.

Used when: Owomoyela: "Always prefer wisdom to strength" 1

Notes: This short form is a distinct entry from Ọ̀gbọ́n ju agbára lọ, already collected in yoruba-owe-proverbs, which carries the locative lọ after the comparative; the two are close variants of the same claim rather than duplicates of the same text, and both circulate.

12. Ọgbọ́n lajá fi ńpa ìkokò bọ Ifá.

Literal: Ọgbọ́n cunning lajá fi ńpa ìkokò is-what-the-dog uses to-kill a-wolf bọ Ifá and-sacrifice-it-to Ifá.

Idiomatic: "It is cunning that the dog employs in order to sacrifice a wolf to Ifá." 1

Meaning: A weaker party can bring down a stronger one through wit rather than force.

Used when: Owomoyela: "A cunning person can get the better of people far more powerful than he" 1

Notes: The image gains its force from the natural mismatch between dog and wolf; the sacrifice to Ifá at the end marks the kill as a deliberate, planned act rather than a lucky accident, which is what makes it a proverb about cunning specifically.

13. Ọgbọ́n ní ńṣẹgun; ìmọ̀ràn ní ńṣẹ́ ẹ̀tẹ̀.

Literal: Ọgbọ́n ní ńṣẹgun wisdom is-what wins-battles; ìmọ̀ràn ní ńṣẹ́ ẹ̀tẹ̀ knowledge is-what breaks plots.

Idiomatic: "Cunning wins battles; knowledge defeats plots." 1

Meaning: Two different arenas, open conflict and hidden scheming, each have their own proper remedy, and both remedies are forms of intelligence rather than force.

Used when: Owomoyela: "Cunning and knowledge will help one prevail" 1

Notes: The parallel structure assigns ọgbọ́n to the visible contest and ìmọ̀ràn to the concealed one, a division of labour between two words this corpus elsewhere treats as near-synonyms, worth noting as a case where the proverb draws a distinction ordinary usage does not always keep.

14. Ọgbọ́n tí ọ̀pọ̀lọ́ fi pa ẹfọ̀n ló fi ńjẹ ẹ́.

Literal: Ọgbọ́n tí ọ̀pọ̀lọ́ fi pa ẹfọ̀n the-cunning that the-toad used to-kill a-buffalo ló fi ńjẹ ẹ́ is-what-it-uses to-eat it.

Idiomatic: "The same cunning with which the toad killed the buffalo will show it how to eat the prey." 1

Meaning: A person who has already proven capable of an implausible feat should not be doubted on the follow-through.

Used when: Owomoyela: "If a person has proved himself capable of doing the impossible, one should not doubt that he can accomplish another" 1

Notes: The image is deliberately absurd, a toad felling a buffalo, which is the point: once the impossible first step is granted, the proverb argues, the second step follows by the same logic and should not be separately doubted.

15. Ọgbọọgbọ́n làgbàlagbà-á fi ńsá fún ẹranlá.

Literal: Ọgbọọgbọ́n with-cunning làgbàlagbà-á fi ńsá fún ẹranlá is-how a-grown-man flees from a-big-animal (a bull).

Idiomatic: "It is with cunning that a grown man runs away from a bull." 1

Meaning: Even flight, which looks like the simple absence of a fight, can be executed skilfully or clumsily, and doing it well is itself a form of wisdom.

Used when: Owomoyela: "A grown person should know how to avoid disaster without losing face" 1

Notes: The proverb dignifies retreat, normally the least admirable option, by naming the manner of it as a display of ọgbọ́n; running badly and running wisely are treated as genuinely different acts.

16. Ọlọ́gbọ́n dorí ẹja mú; òmùgọ́ dìrù-u ẹ̀ mú.

Literal: Ọlọ́gbọ́n dorí ẹja mú the-wise-one grabs the-head of-the-fish; òmùgọ́ dìrù-u ẹ̀ mú the-fool grabs its-tail.

Idiomatic: "The wise person grabs a fish by the head; the fool grabs it by the tail fin." 1

Meaning: Faced with the identical object, the wise person and the fool handle it in opposite and unequally effective ways.

Used when: Owomoyela: "The wise person knows better than a fool the best way to handle a situation" 1

Notes: A fish gripped by the tail can thrash and escape where one gripped by the head cannot; the proverb is exact about a real difference in technique, not merely asserting that wisdom is generally superior.

17. Ọlọ́gbọ́n jẹni bí ẹmùrẹ́n; aṣiwèré jẹni bí ìgbọ̀ngbọ̀n.

Literal: Ọlọ́gbọ́n jẹni bí ẹmùrẹ́n the-wise-one bites one like a-mosquito; aṣiwèré jẹni bí ìgbọ̀ngbọ̀n the-mad-one bites one like a-gadfly.

Idiomatic: "The wise person bites one like a mosquito; the mad person bites one like a gadfly." 1

Meaning: Wisdom acts with a light, almost unnoticed touch; folly announces itself with a heavy, painful one.

Used when: Owomoyela: "Cautiousness will get one to one's goal far more successfully than brashness" 1

Notes: Both insects draw blood, so the proverb does not claim the wise person is harmless, only that the wise person's methods do not alert the target, where the mad person's methods provoke an immediate, defensive reaction.

18. Ọlọgbọ́n ló lè mọ àdììtú èdè.

Literal: Ọlọgbọ́n ló lè mọ only-the-wise-one can know àdììtú èdè the-riddle of-language.

Idiomatic: "Only a wise person can decipher the meaning of speech." 1

Meaning: Understanding what is actually being said, beneath its surface, is a skill not everyone who hears the words possesses.

Used when: Owomoyela: "The deep meanings and nuances of an utterance are for the wise only to understand" 1

Notes: Àdììtú, riddle or puzzle, applied to èdè, ordinary language, treats everyday speech itself as encoded, consistent with the proverb corpus's general assumption that indirection is the normal register of serious talk, not a special case.

19. Ìwò-o ọlọgbọ́n ò jọ ti aṣiwèrè.

Literal: Ìwò-o ọlọgbọ́n the-way-of-looking of-the-wise-one ò jọ does-not resemble ti aṣiwèrè that of-the-imbecile.

Idiomatic: "The way a wise person looks at things is different from the way an imbecile does." 1

Meaning: Wisdom and folly are not a matter of one having more of the same thing the other has less of; they are different modes of seeing the same situation.

Used when: Owomoyela: "A wise person considers matter in a more rational way than an imbecile does" 1

Notes: Ìwò, way of looking or regarding, keeps the claim visual and perceptual rather than moral, which fits the corpus's general treatment of ọ̀gbọ́n as a way of reading a scene correctly rather than a virtue one either has or lacks.

20. Owó la fi ńlògbà; ọgbọ́n la fi ńgbélé ayé.

Literal: Owó la fi ńlògbà money is-what-one-uses to-secure pleasures; ọgbọ́n la fi ńgbélé ayé wisdom is-what-one-uses to-inhabit-well the-house-of-the-world.

Idiomatic: "It is with money that we secure pleasures; it is with wisdom that one secures a good life." 1

Meaning: Money and wisdom answer to different needs, and the more fundamental of the two, a life properly lived, belongs to wisdom, not to wealth.

Used when: Owomoyela: "Riches are desirable, but wisdom is more valuable" 1

Notes: Gbélé ayé, literally to inhabit the house of the world, treats living itself as a dwelling that must be managed well or badly, and assigns that management specifically to wisdom rather than to any other resource.

21. Olóògùn ní ńṣe bí a-láigbọ́-mọ̀ràn; bí ogun ó bàá wọ̀lú ọlọgbọ́n là ńfọ̀rọ̀ lọ̀.

Literal: Olóògùn ní ńṣe bí a-láigbọ́-mọ̀ràn the-medicine-man acts like one-who-will-not-heed-counsel; bí ogun ó bàá wọ̀lú if war should enter-a-town ọlọgbọ́n là ńfọ̀rọ̀ lọ̀ it-is-the-sage that one goes to-consult.

Idiomatic: "The medicine man behaves like a person impervious to wise counsel; if war threatens a town the person to consult for counsel is the sage." 1

Meaning: In a genuine crisis, it is the person of practical judgement, not the ritual specialist, whose counsel is actually sought.

Used when: Owomoyela: "Trust rather in wisdom than in magical charms" 1

Notes: This is a rare proverb in the corpus that ranks ọgbọ́n explicitly above a form of ritual specialism rather than simply alongside it, which makes it useful evidence that Yorùbá proverbial thought did not treat practical wisdom and ritual power as interchangeable sources of authority.

---

Wisdom and folly across a life

22. Ajá èṣín ò mọdẹ.

Literal: Ajá èṣín a-dog of-a-year ò mọdẹ does-not know-how-to-hunt.

Idiomatic: "A dog born a year ago does not know how to hunt." 1

Meaning: Competence takes time to develop and cannot be assumed from youth alone.

Used when: Owomoyela: "One learns from experience and maturity" 1

Notes: The proverb states an observation about dogs without moralising it further, leaving the human application to the hearer, which is the standard indirection this corpus relies on for correcting an overconfident young person without naming them.

23. Ajá tí ò létí ò ṣé-é dẹ̀gbẹ́.

Literal: Ajá tí ò létí a-dog that has-no ears ò ṣé-é dẹ̀gbẹ́ is-not-fit to-stalk-prey.

Idiomatic: "A dog without ears is no good for stalking prey." 1

Meaning: A creature, or a person, incapable of receiving instruction cannot be put to skilled use.

Used when: Owomoyela: "A person who cannot be instructed is useless" 1

Notes: A dog is trained to the hunt by ear, responding to a handler's signals, so the missing ears name the exact faculty on which the whole skill depends rather than standing for deficiency in general.

24. Ọlọgbọ́n ni yó jogún ògo; aṣiwèrè ni yó ru ìtìjú wálé.

Literal: Ọlọgbọ́n ni yó jogún ògo the-wise-child is-who will inherit glory; aṣiwèrè ni yó ru ìtìjú wálé the-fool is-who will carry shame home.

Idiomatic: "The wise child will inherit glory; the idiot child will bring shame home with him." 1

Meaning: Wisdom and folly in a child do not simply describe the child; they determine what the child will eventually bring to the whole household.

Used when: Owomoyela: "A wise child is to be preferred to an idiot" 1

Notes: Ru ... wálé, to carry home, is the same verb used of a load; shame is treated as a physical burden the foolish child transports back to the family, paired against glory received as an inheritance by the wise one.

25. Ọlọgbọ́n ọmọ ní ḿmú inú-u bàbá ẹ̀ dùn; aṣiwèrè ọmọ ní ḿba inú ìyá ẹ̀ jẹ́.

Literal: Ọlọgbọ́n ọmọ ní ḿmú inú-u bàbá ẹ̀ dùn a-wise child is-what makes his-father's belly sweet; aṣiwèrè ọmọ ní ḿba inú ìyá ẹ̀ jẹ́ a-foolish child is-what spoils his-mother's belly.

Idiomatic: "A wise child gladdens the heart of his father; an imbecile of a child saddens the heart of his mother." 1

Meaning: A child's wisdom or its absence is registered specifically in the parents' inner state, not just in outside reputation.

Used when: Owomoyela: "Every parent would prefer a wise child to an idiot" 1

Notes: The proverb assigns the good outcome to the father and the bad one to the mother, a division that may reflect who bears the practical weight of a child's failure in the household rather than any claim about which parent cares more; the asymmetry is worth noting rather than smoothing away.

26. Kàkà kí ọmọdé pàgbà láyò, àgbà a fi ọgbọ́n àgbà gbé e.

Literal: Kàkà kí ọmọdé pàgbà láyò rather-than a-child defeat an-elder at-ayò, àgbà a fi ọgbọ́n àgbà gbé e the-elder will use elder's-cunning to-carry it (win it).

Idiomatic: "Instead of permitting defeat by a child in a game, an elder should resort to elderly wiles." 1

Meaning: An elder's practical wisdom includes knowing how to protect standing, by whatever legitimate means, rather than simply losing gracefully.

Used when: Owomoyela: "An elder should protect his face and standing by all means available" 1

Notes: The proverb frankly endorses a kind of gamesmanship in defence of seniority, which complicates any reading of ọgbọ́n as purely admirable; here it shades into self-interested manipulation, and the proverb does not apologise for that.

27. Ọmọdé kékeré ò mọ ogun, ó ní kógun ó wá, ó ní bógún bá dé òun a kó síyàrá ìyá òun.

Literal: Ọmọdé kékeré ò mọ ogun a-small child does-not know war, ó ní kógun ó wá he says let-war come, ó ní bógún bá dé he says when-war arrives òun a kó síyàrá ìyá òun he will run into his-mother's room.

Idiomatic: "A small child does not know what war is like, hence, he says that war should break out, for when it does he will go hide in his mother's room." 1

Meaning: Not having experienced a danger, a person can invite it casually, imagining an escape that would not actually work.

Used when: Owomoyela: "Ignorance often leads people to bite off much more than they can chew" 1

Notes: The child's plan is not merely naive but structurally wrong: a mother's room offers no protection against war, which is the detail that shows the child has no real conception of what he is wishing for.

---

Learning only through consequence

28. Ẹni tí kò mọ ọba ní ńfọba ṣeré.

Literal: Ẹni tí kò mọ ọba one-who does-not know the-king ní ńfọba ṣeré is-who trifles-with the-king.

Idiomatic: "Only a person who does not know the king trifles with the king." 1

Meaning: Reckless familiarity with someone dangerous is evidence of not having yet learned who that person actually is; the lesson, once learned, ends the recklessness.

Used when: Owomoyela: "The wise person recognizes potential danger and avoids it" 1

Notes: The proverb states its claim as a diagnosis rather than a warning: it does not tell the hearer to be careful with the king, it identifies carelessness itself as proof of ignorance, so that the correction, once someone points it out, is also an accusation of not knowing the person at all.

29. Bí a kò bá gbọ́n ju àparò oko ẹni lọ, a kì í pa á.

Literal: Bí a kò bá gbọ́n ju àparò oko ẹni lọ if one is-not wiser than the-partridge of-one's-farm, a kì í pa á one does-not kill it.

Idiomatic: "If one is not more clever than the partridge on one's farm, one cannot kill it." 1

Meaning: Success against any adversary, however small, requires being genuinely, measurably more capable than it, not merely willing.

Used when: Owomoyela: "To succeed one must be more clever than one's adversary" 1

Notes: Choosing a partridge, a modest bird rather than a formidable animal, keeps the claim general rather than about facing exceptional danger: the proverb is stating a condition true of every contest, including the easiest-looking ones.

30. Ẹní léku méjì á pòfo.

Literal: Ẹní léku méjì whoever chases two-rats á pòfo will come-up empty-handed.

Idiomatic: "Whoever chases after two rats will catch neither." 1

Meaning: Divided effort produces no result, a lesson learned by trying it and failing, not by being told.

Used when: Owomoyela: "If one pursues two or more objectives at once one is liable to achieve neither" 1

Notes: This proverb appears in the pool as both a general prohibition (A kì í léku méjì ká má pòfo) and, here, as a statement about the specific person who does it (ẹní, whoever); the second form is kept here because it names the consequence for the actor rather than issuing a rule, which fits this file's focus on experience as teacher.

31. Ẹni tí kò mọ iṣẹ́-ẹ́ jẹ́ ní ńpààrà lẹ́ẹ̀mejì.

Literal: Ẹni tí kò mọ iṣẹ́-ẹ́ jẹ́ one-who does-not know how-the-task is-to-be-done ní ńpààrà lẹ́ẹ̀mejì is-who repeats-the-effort twice.

Idiomatic: "It is a person who does not know how to carry out instructions that is forced to repeat his or her efforts." 1

Meaning: Ignorance of the right method is paid for in wasted repetition, which is itself the lesson that eventually teaches the method.

Used when: Owomoyela: "One saves time and effort by doing things right the first time" 1

Notes: The proverb describes the mechanism of learning through failure without naming it as such: doing a task wrong costs a second attempt, and the cost is the entire content of the correction.

32. Ọ̀ràn ọlọ́ràn la fi ńkọ́gbọ́n.

Literal: Ọ̀ràn ọlọ́ràn the-trouble of-a-troubled-person la fi ńkọ́gbọ́n is-what-one-uses to-learn-wisdom.

Idiomatic: "From other people's problems one learns wisdom." 1

Meaning: Watching another person's misfortune is itself a form of instruction, available to anyone paying attention.

Used when: Owomoyela: "One should learn from other people's vicissitudes" 1

Notes: Kọ́gbọ́n, to learn wisdom, is the verb form of ọgbọ́n itself, so the proverb states directly that wisdom is a thing acquired through instances, not a fixed trait; other people's trouble is named as the raw material.

33. Bí ọ̀rán bá pẹ́ nílẹ̀, gbígbọ́n ní ńgbọ́n.

Literal: Bí ọ̀rán bá pẹ́ nílẹ̀ if a-problem stays-long on-the-ground, gbígbọ́n ní ńgbọ́n becoming-wise is-what-it becomes.

Idiomatic: "If a problem remains long enough, it becomes clever." 1

Meaning: Sustained attention to a difficulty over time is itself what produces the eventual solution.

Used when: Owomoyela: "If one keeps at it long enough, one will find the solution for any problem" 1

Notes: The proverb personifies the problem rather than the person solving it, as though wisdom accrues to the difficulty itself the longer it is worked at, which is an unusual and striking displacement of agency for this corpus.

34. Kíkọ́ ni mímọ̀, òwe àjàpá.

Literal: Kíkọ́ learning ni mímọ̀ is knowing, òwe àjàpá proverb of-tortoise.

Idiomatic: "Learning is knowing, Àjàpá's proverb." 1

Meaning: Knowledge is not innate or given; it is produced by the act of learning, and nothing else substitutes.

Used when: Owomoyela: "To know, one must learn" 1

Notes: Attributing the proverb to Àjàpá, the tortoise trickster of Yorùbá oral narrative, is Owomoyela's own note in the source rather than an incidental detail; it marks the saying as belonging to the wider corpus of tortoise stories where cleverness gained through experience, often bought at Àjàpá's own expense, is the constant theme.

35. Ẹyẹ igbó kì í mọ fífò ọ̀dàn.

Literal: Ẹyẹ igbó a-bird of-the-forest kì í mọ fífò ọ̀dàn does-not know flying-in the-grassland.

Idiomatic: "The bird of the forest does not know how to fly in the grassland." 1

Meaning: Competence learned in one setting does not automatically transfer to an unfamiliar one; a new environment has to be learned separately.

Used when: Owomoyela: "When one is in a strange environment, one becomes a dunce" 1

Notes: The forest bird is not incompetent in general, only in the grassland, which keeps the claim specific: what looks like foolishness in a stranger may simply be inexperience with that particular terrain, and is remediable by exposure to it.

---

The costs and limits of folly

36. Ẹni àìgbọ́n pa ló pọ̀; ẹni ọgbọ́n pa ò tó ǹkan.

Literal: Ẹni àìgbọ́n pa people whom lack-of-wisdom kills ló pọ̀ are-many; ẹni ọgbọ́n pa people whom wisdom kills ò tó ǹkan do-not amount-to-much.

Idiomatic: "People killed by folly are innumerable; people killed by wisdom are few." 1

Meaning: Folly is lethal on a scale wisdom is not; being wise is, statistically, a matter of survival.

Used when: Owomoyela: "Few things kill more surely than folly" 1

Notes: The stark parallel structure, folly's victims against wisdom's, is doing the entire argument; the proverb offers no mechanism, only the count, which is characteristic of proverbs that function as blunt warnings rather than explanations.

37. Kò sí ẹni tí kò mọ ọgbọ́n-ọn ká fẹran sẹ́nu ká wá a tì.

Literal: Kò sí ẹni tí kò mọ ọgbọ́n-ọn there-is-no one who does-not know the-trick ká fẹran sẹ́nu of-putting-meat in-the-mouth ká wá a tì and then closing-it-away.

Idiomatic: "There is nobody who does not know the trick of putting meat in the mouth and making it disappear." 1

Meaning: Certain basic forms of self-interested cunning are universal; no one is so simple as to lack them entirely.

Used when: Owomoyela: "Nobody is a complete fool" 1

Notes: This proverb sets a floor under the corpus's otherwise unflattering treatment of fools: whatever else a person lacks, the proverb insists everyone retains at least this minimal, self-serving competence, which complicates a simple reading of aṣiwèrè as total incapacity.

38. Ooré pẹ́, aṣiwèrè-é gbàgbé.

Literal: Ooré pẹ́ the-favour is-long-past, aṣiwèrè-é gbàgbé the-imbecile forgets.

Idiomatic: "The favor is long past; the imbecile forgets." 1

Meaning: Where memory of a debt of gratitude should persist regardless of time, only a fool lets its age erase it.

Used when: Owomoyela: "Only an imbecile forgets a favor even long after it was done" 1

Notes: The proverb makes forgetting gratitude specifically a mark of folly rather than of ordinary human forgetfulness, which places moral obligation and cognitive capacity in the same register: failing to remember a kindness is treated as a failure of ọgbọ́n, not merely of memory.

39. O rí ẹsẹ̀-ẹ wèrè o ò bù ú ṣoògùn; níbo lo ti máa rí tọlọgbọ́n?

Literal: O rí ẹsẹ̀-ẹ wèrè you see the-footprint of-a-madman o ò bù ú ṣoògùn you do-not scoop it to-make-medicine; níbo lo ti máa rí tọlọgbọ́n where will-you ever find that of-a-wise-person.

Idiomatic: "You see the footprint of an imbecile and you do not take soil from it to make a charm; where will you find the footprint of a wise person?" 1

Meaning: The vulnerable and the exposed offer opportunities that the strong and the guarded never will; failing to act on an easy chance means missing the only chance available.

Used when: Owomoyela: "One should take advantage of the weak and vulnerable, because one will not be able to take advantage of the strong" 1

Notes: A wise person's footprint is unavailable to this kind of use not because wisdom prevents footprints but because a wise person is careful about where and how they are exposed, which is itself a proverb about the practical difference wisdom makes to a person's vulnerability.

40. Ẹni tó ńṣápẹ́ fún wèrè jó, òun àti wèrè ọ̀kan-ùn.

Literal: Ẹni tó ńṣápẹ́ fún wèrè jó the-one who claps for a-madman to-dance, òun àti wèrè ọ̀kan-ùn he and the-madman are-one.

Idiomatic: "The person who claps for a mad person to dance to is no different from the mad person." 1

Meaning: Encouraging or participating in another's foolishness makes one equally foolish, regardless of who initiated it.

Used when: Owomoyela: "Whoever joins the imbecile in his or her games is himself or herself an imbecile" 1

Notes: The proverb collapses the distinction between actor and audience: complicity, even as a bystander providing rhythm rather than dancing, is treated as full participation, not a lesser offence.

41. Ẹni tí kò gbọ́n lààwẹ̀ ńgbò.

Literal: Ẹni tí kò gbọ́n one who is-not wise lààwẹ̀ ńgbò is-who during-fasting hungers.

Idiomatic: "Only the unwise hungers while fasting." 1

Meaning: A person of real resourcefulness finds a way to manage even a formally imposed hardship without visibly suffering it.

Used when: Owomoyela: "The resourceful person can find a way around any difficulty" 1

Notes: The proverb is faintly subversive about the fast itself, implying that the wise person's apparent success at fasting may rest on quiet evasion rather than genuine endurance, though the text does not say so outright and the reading should be held lightly.

42. Ẹni tó pa kẹ́tẹ́kẹ́tẹ́ yó ru káyá ẹrù.

Literal: Ẹni tó pa kẹ́tẹ́kẹ́tẹ́ the-one who kills the-donkey yó ru káyá ẹrù will carry a-heavy load.

Idiomatic: "The person who kills the donkey will carry a heavy burden." 1

Meaning: Destroying a resource in a moment of carelessness or temper leaves its owner to perform, unaided, the very work the resource existed to do.

Used when: Owomoyela: "Whoever is careless with his/her resources will pay dearly in the future" 1

Notes: The consequence is not abstract loss but a specific, bodily one, carrying the load oneself, which makes the proverb a lesson in the exact mechanism by which folly with resources is repaid.

43. Wèrè-é dùn-ún wò, kò ṣé-é bí lọ́mọ.

Literal: Wèrè-é dùn-ún wò a-madman is-pleasant to watch, kò ṣé-é bí lọ́mọ it-is-not fitting to-bear-him as-a-child.

Idiomatic: "An imbecile makes an entertaining spectacle, but one would not want one as one's child." 1

Meaning: Tolerating or even enjoying folly at a distance is not the same as being willing to live with its consequences up close.

Used when: Owomoyela: "One might be tolerant of simplicity or irresponsibility in other people, but not in one's own relatives" 1

Notes: The proverb draws a boundary between spectatorship and kinship, which sharpens the corpus's general point that folly's cost is measured differently depending on one's proximity to the fool.

44. Tinú ọ̀lẹ lọ̀lẹ ńjẹ; aṣiwèrè èèyàn ni ò mọ èrú tí yó gbà.

Literal: Tinú ọ̀lẹ from-the-inside of-the-lazy-one lọ̀lẹ ńjẹ is-what-the-lazy-one eats; aṣiwèrè èèyàn a-foolish person ni ò mọ èrú tí yó gbà is-who does-not-know which devious-way to-take.

Idiomatic: "The lazy person eats the products of his native wisdom; only a fool does not know what devious way will be fruitful." 1

Meaning: Laziness is survivable, even provided for, by a resourcefulness that substitutes for effort; folly has no such substitute, because it cannot even identify which shortcut would work.

Used when: Owomoyela: "If one lacks industry, one had better be resourceful" 1

Notes: The proverb ranks two failings against each other rather than condemning both equally: idleness paired with cunning survives, where idleness paired with folly does not, which is a more discriminating judgement than a simple warning against laziness would be.

45. Lójú òpè, bí-i kọ́lọgbọ́n dàbí ọ̀lẹ.

Literal: Lójú òpè in-the-eyes of-the-worthless-one, bí-i kọ́lọgbọ́n dàbí ọ̀lẹ would-that the-wise-one resemble a-shiftless-one.

Idiomatic: "As far as the dunce is concerned, the wise person should rather be shiftless." 1

Meaning: A person of no worth wishes everyone else's worth reduced to match their own, rather than raising their own to match others.

Used when: Owomoyela: "The worthless person always wishes others were equally worthless" 1

Notes: The proverb is a piece of social psychology stated with no narrative image at all, unusual for this corpus, and its bluntness (naming the wish directly rather than dramatising it through an animal or object) gives it a sharper, more accusatory edge than most entries here.

46. Àpà èèyàn ò mọ̀ pé ohun tó pọ̀-ọ́ lè tán.

Literal: Àpà èèyàn a-wastrel person ò mọ̀ pé does-not know that ohun tó pọ̀-ọ́ lè tán a-thing that is-abundant can run-out.

Idiomatic: "A wastrel does not know that what is plentiful can be used up." 1

Meaning: The specific ignorance of the wasteful person is a failure to grasp that abundance is finite, not merely a failure of self-control.

Used when: Owomoyela: "A wastrel knows no thrift" 1

Notes: By locating the fault in a belief (that plenty cannot end) rather than in appetite alone, the proverb treats wastefulness as a form of àìgbọ́n, a defect of understanding, which keeps it inside this file's theme rather than making it purely a proverb about character.

47. A-gbé-ọ̀ọ̀dẹ̀ bí òfé, a-mọ-ara-í-ré bí oódẹ; a dẹ́bọ fún òfé, òfé ò rú, agánrán gbẹ́bọ, ó rúbọ; àsẹ̀hìnwá àsẹ̀hìnbọ̀ òfé di ará Ọ̀yọ́, agánrán di ará oko; wọ́n rò pé òfé ò gbọ́n.

Literal: A-gbé-ọ̀ọ̀dẹ̀ bí òfé dweller-in-the-corridor like òfé, a-mọ-ara-í-ré bí oódẹ one-who-carries-himself-forward like oódẹ; a dẹ́bọ fún òfé, òfé ò rú a sacrifice was prescribed for-òfé, òfé did-not offer-it, agánrán gbẹ́bọ, ó rúbọ agánrán gathered-the-materials and offered-it; àsẹ̀hìnwá àsẹ̀hìnbọ̀ in-the-end, òfé di ará Ọ̀yọ́ òfé became a-citizen-of Ọ̀yọ́, agánrán di ará oko agánrán became a-dweller-in-the-bush; wọ́n rò pé òfé ò gbọ́n people thought òfé was-not-wise.

Idiomatic: "Òfé, dweller-in-the-corridor, forward as oódẹ: a sacrifice was prescribed for òfé, but he did not offer it; agánrán went ahead and offered the sacrifice; in the end òfé became a citizen of Ọyọ, while agánrán became a dweller in the bush; and people thought òfé was foolish." 1

Meaning: The outward appearance of foolishness, refusing counsel that was in fact correct, can be vindicated by an outcome no one watching had predicted.

Used when: Owomoyela: "Never second guess people who are better informed than you are" 1

Notes: This is one of the more elaborate narrative proverbs in the set, naming two figures, òfé and agánrán, whose fates invert the expected judgement: the one judged unwise ends up better off, which unsettles any simple equation of visible caution with actual wisdom.

48. Aláṣedànù tí ńfajá ṣọdẹ ẹja.

Literal: Aláṣedànù a-wastrel tí ńfajá ṣọdẹ ẹja who uses-a-dog to-hunt fish.

Idiomatic: "A wastrel who uses a dog to stalk fish." 1

Meaning: Applying a tool or method to a task it cannot possibly perform is not merely inefficient; it is a specific, recognisable kind of folly.

Used when: Owomoyela: "It is folly to employ an impossible tool for a given task" 1

Notes: A dog is suited to hunting on land, and fish are not among its possible prey by any method; the mismatch here is total rather than partial, which is what marks the act as folly rather than merely poor technique.

49. Amọ̀nà èṣí kì í ṣe amọ̀nà ọdúnnìí.

Literal: Amọ̀nà èṣí the-one-who-knew-the-way last-year kì í ṣe amọ̀nà ọdúnnìí is-not the-one-who-knows-the-way this-year.

Idiomatic: "The person who knew the way last year does not necessarily know the way this year." 1

Meaning: Knowledge that is not renewed against changing circumstances stops being knowledge, however sound it once was.

Used when: Owomoyela: "The person whose knowledge does not grow with the times soon becomes ignorant" 1

Notes: The proverb treats wisdom as perishable rather than as a fixed possession, which cuts against the corpus's more common picture of ọgbọ́n as a stable trait; read beside entries like 32 and 34, it suggests the tradition held both views, wisdom as accumulated and wisdom as requiring maintenance, without resolving the tension between them.

50. Àjàpá ńyan lóko, aláìlóye-é ní ó jọ pẹ́pẹ́yẹ.

Literal: Àjàpá ńyan lóko the-tortoise struts on-the-farm, aláìlóye-é ní ó jọ pẹ́pẹ́yẹ the-one-lacking-discernment says it resembles a-duck.

Idiomatic: "The tortoise struts on the farm, the senseless person says it resembles a duck." 1

Meaning: Some misjudgements are not forgivable errors of a difficult case; they are failures to recognise something whose true nature was plainly available to see.

Used when: Owomoyela: "It is indeed a fool that cannot discern the obvious" 1

Notes: A tortoise and a duck share almost nothing in gait, shape, or habitat, which is why the misidentification is used to define the outer limit of the corpus's category of folly: not merely getting something wrong, but getting obviously, needlessly wrong what any ordinary attention would have settled correctly.

---

Reading this set

Two things stand out across these fifty proverbs that are easy to miss reading them one at a time.

Wisdom here is almost never abstract knowledge. Not one of the fifty proverbs praises ọ̀gbọ́n as accumulated information or as the capacity to recite what is known. Every positive instance is procedural: grabbing the fish by the head rather than the tail, running from a bull without losing face, sacrificing correctly when the moment calls for it, reading the way a matter will end before it ends. Even the two proverbs about proverbs and riddles (entries 18 and 34) locate wisdom in the act of correctly decoding a specific utterance, not in possessing a store of sayings. This is consistent with, and sharpens, the corpus's general treatment of ọ̀gbọ́n as elsewhere collected: it is closer to skill or judgement exercised in a moment than to a stock of learning carried around.

Folly is treated as expensive rather than merely embarrassing, and the proverbs are unusually precise about exactly how it costs. Entry 36 states the point bluntly, that folly kills where wisdom rarely does, but the surrounding entries make the mechanism concrete rather than leaving it as a slogan: clumsiness spills the wine (entry 4), ignorance repeats the task (entry 31), carelessness with a resource means carrying its burden oneself afterward (entry 42), forgetting a debt of gratitude marks the forgetter, not the debt (entry 38). A smaller, harder-edged group of entries, 26 and 47 above all, complicates the picture by showing wisdom used for self-interest rather than virtue, or apparent folly vindicated by an outcome no observer predicted, which is worth keeping rather than smoothing into a tidier moral than the source material actually offers.