Òwe on Pride, Humility and Self-Knowledge
Fifty-five Yorùbá proverbs on pride, arrogance, humility, and the limits of what a person can know about themselves, each given with the original, a literal gloss, and a named translation.
This file collects fifty-five Yorùbá proverbs in which the subject is pride, arrogance, vanity, humility, self-knowledge, or self-respect. Across them a consistent logic emerges: a person's own sense of their standing is unreliable evidence, because self-assessment is the one measurement a person cannot take accurately on themselves. Other people, animals, and objects in these proverbs routinely overreach, misjudge their own size, or claim more than their portion, and the proverb form exists to catch that misjudgment before it becomes disgrace. Humility in this corpus is not primarily an emotional posture. It is closer to accurate accounting: knowing what one actually has, is, and can do, and behaving accordingly.
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 1, "On humility, self-control, self-knowledge, self-respect, and self-restraint" 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 , 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) .
Owomoyela's Part 1 groups several related virtues together: humility and self-knowledge sit alongside general self-control and self-restraint, on the view that all of them concern a person's mastery over their own conduct. This file draws out only the entries where pride, arrogance, vanity, humility, or self-knowledge is the actual point being made. Proverbs from the same source page that are about general caution, patience, or restraint without a pride or self-knowledge dimension are left for a sibling file. None of the fifty-five below duplicate the proverbs already given in yoruba-owe-proverbs or in owe-iwa-character, including the beauty-versus-character pairs in the latter (Ìwà lẹwà, Ìwà rere lẹ̀ṣọ́ èèyàn, and related entries), which are character proverbs proper and are cross-referenced rather than repeated here.
Pride, arrogance and self-overestimation
1. Ìgbà tí ṣìgìdìí bá fẹ́ ṣe eré ẹ̀tẹ́ a ní kí wọ́n gbé òun sójò.
Literal: Ìgbà tí ṣìgìdìí bá fẹ́ ṣe eré ẹ̀tẹ́ the-time a-clay-statue wants to-make sport of-disgrace a ní kí wọ́n gbé òun sójò it says let-them carry it to-the-rain.
Idiomatic: "When the clay statue hankers for disgrace it asks to be placed in the rain."
Meaning: A person who forgets what they are made of invites their own dissolution.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A person who so forgets himself/herself and overreaches himself/herself will wind up in disgrace"
Notes: Ṣìgìdì is a clay or mud figure, sometimes used ritually, and its material is the whole joke: a thing made of earth and water asking to be set where water will undo it. The proverb states a wish for self-destruction as if it were the statue's own idea, which is the standard Yorùbá device of narrating a fault through an object rather than accusing a person directly.
2. Ihò wo lèkúté ńgbé tó ní iṣẹ́ ilé ńdíwọ́?
Literal: Ihò wo what hole lèkúté ńgbé does-the-rat live-in tó ní that it-says iṣẹ́ ilé ńdíwọ́ household-work is-obstructing-it.
Idiomatic: "What sort of hole does the rat live in that makes him say that household work preoccupied it?"
Meaning: A creature of no real domestic standing claims to be too busy running a household.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should not oversell oneself"
Notes: The rat lives in a hole, not a household, so the excuse is absurd on its face before any argument is needed. This is a common structure in the set: the proverb does not argue against the claim, it simply names what the claimant actually is.
3. O ru ládugbó ò ńrerá; kí ni ká sọ fẹ́ni tó ru Òrìṣà-a Yemọja?
Literal: O ru ládugbó you carry a-huge-pot ò ńrerá you are-strutting; kí ni ká sọ what shall-we say fẹ́ni tó ru Òrìṣà-a Yemọja to-the-one who carries the-òrìṣà Yemọja.
Idiomatic: "Because you are carrying a huge pot you strut; what would one say to the person carrying the divinity Yemọja?"
Meaning: Whatever a person is puffed up about, someone nearby is carrying something greater and staying composed.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Never assume to be more important than you are, especially when there are really more important people around"
Notes: Yemọja is carried in her shrine vessel by devotees during festival, and the comparison is exact: an ordinary large pot against the vessel of a deity. The rebuke works by scale rather than by direct criticism, letting the hearer supply the comparison.
4. Bí èèyán bá ní kò sí irú òun, àwọn ọlọgbọ́n a máa wòye.
Literal: Bí èèyán bá ní if a-person says kò sí irú òun there-is-no one-like him àwọn ọlọgbọ́n the-wise-ones a máa wòye will maintain a-thoughtful-silence.
Idiomatic: "If a person says there is no one like him/her, wise people maintain a contemplative silence."
Meaning: A boast of uniqueness is met not with argument but with knowing quiet.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A person who thinks he/she is peerless fools no one but him/herself"
Notes: The wise do not correct the boaster aloud; the proverb records their withheld judgement as itself the verdict. Compare entries 5 and 6, which make the identical claim about the same boast from different angles, evidence that "there is no one like me" was common enough to need repeated proverbial refutation.
5. Aṣiwèrè èèyàn ní ńsọ pé irú òun ò sí; irúu rẹ̀-ẹ́ pọ̀ ó ju ẹgbàágbèje lọ.
Literal: Aṣiwèrè èèyàn a-foolish person ní ńsọ pé is-what says that irú òun ò sí the-likes-of him do-not-exist; irúu rẹ̀-ẹ́ pọ̀ his likes are-many ó ju ẹgbàágbèje lọ exceeding several-thousands.
Idiomatic: "Only an imbecile says there is no one else like himself; the likes of him are many more than several thousands."
Meaning: The claim to be one of a kind is itself a common kind of foolishness.
Used when: Owomoyela: "There is no one the likes of whom the world has never seen"
Notes: Ẹgbàágbèje, a very large traditional number, is used the way English uses "millions," to mark an extreme rather than a count. Owomoyela's collection includes a near-identical variant, Wèrè èèyàn ní ńwípé irú òun ò sí, which he glosses "no one is incomparable," confirming this is a stock formula rather than a single fixed text.
6. Ẹni tí a fẹ́ yàtọ̀ sí ẹni tó ní kò sí irú òun.
Literal: Ẹni tí a fẹ́ the-person whom we love yàtọ̀ is-different sí ẹni tó ní kò sí irú òun from-the-person who says there-is-no one-like him.
Idiomatic: "A person one loves is different from a person who says there is no one like him/herself."
Meaning: Being valued by others and valuing oneself loudly are not the same achievement, and the second does not produce the first.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One's worth is more a matter of what other people think of one than what one thinks of oneself"
Notes: This is the sharpest of the three peerless-boaster proverbs because it does not just mock the claim, it states the standard the claim fails to meet: worth is conferred externally, and self-declaration cannot substitute for it.
7. Ẹni tí kò rí ayé rí ní ńsọ pé kò sẹ́ni tó gbọ́n bí òun.
Literal: Ẹni tí kò rí ayé rí the-person who has-not seen the-world before ní ńsọ pé is-what says that kò sẹ́ni tó gbọ́n bí òun there-is-no-one who is-wise like him.
Idiomatic: "It is a person with limited experience of life who thinks there is none as wise as he."
Meaning: Confidence in one's own unmatched wisdom is evidence of narrow experience, not of wisdom.
Used when: Owomoyela: "No wise person claims he or she is the best there is"
Notes: The Yorùbá rí ayé rí, literally "has seen the world before," treats worldliness as accumulated encounter, and the proverb makes the boast diagnostic: it measures the boaster's exposure rather than his ability.
8. "Mo gbọ́n tán, mo mọ̀ràn tán" kì í jẹ́ kí agbọ́n lóró bí oyin.
Literal: "Mo gbọ́n tán, mo mọ̀ràn tán" "I-am-wise-completely, I-am-knowledgeable-completely" kì í jẹ́ kí agbọ́n lóró does-not let the-wasp have-venom bí oyin like the-bee.
Idiomatic: "'I am all-wise, I am all-knowing' kept the wasp from having as much venom as the bee."
Meaning: The conviction that one already knows everything is what keeps a creature from acquiring the one thing that would actually make it formidable.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Whoever will not listen to instruction will learn nothing"
Notes: This proverb belongs to a cluster of at least six that Owomoyela cross-references, all built on the quoted boast "I know/am wise/am done learning" (Mo gbọ́n tán, Mo mọ̀-ọ́ gùn, Mo mọ̀-ọ́ gún, mo mọ̀-ọ́ tẹ̀, Mo mọ̀-ọ́ tán, Mo mỌ̀bàrà mo mỌ̀fún), each attaching the same self-satisfied claim to a different consequence. The size of the cluster suggests this was one of the most productive proverb templates on the subject.
9. "Mo mọ̀-ọ́ gùn" lẹṣin ńdà.
Literal: "Mo mọ̀-ọ́ gùn" "I-know-how-to-ride-it" lẹṣin ńdà is-what-the-horse throws.
Idiomatic: "'I am an expert horseman' is usually the one thrown by a horse."
Meaning: Declared mastery precedes the fall that disproves it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Assuming that one knows it all it causes one grief"
Notes: A companion text in the same cluster as entry 8. The compression is total: four Yorùbá words carry subject, claim, and consequence, where the English needs a full sentence to unpack the irony.
10. "Mo mọ̀-ọ́ tán" lOrò-ó fi ńgbé ọkùnrin.
Literal: "Mo mọ̀-ọ́ tán" "I-know-it-all" lOrò-ó fi ńgbé ọkùnrin is-what Orò uses to-carry-off a-man.
Idiomatic: "'I know it all' is the reason for Orò's carrying a man away."
Meaning: The claim to complete knowledge is precisely what exposes a person to a danger that greater humility would have avoided.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Knowing it all leads to disaster"
Notes: Orò is a masked ancestral spirit whose cult carries real ritual restrictions and dangers for the uninitiated or the presumptuous; invoking Orò as the agent of the disaster is not a generic threat but names a specific traditional consequence for overreach.
11. "Mo dára, mo dára," àìdára ní ńpẹ̀kun ẹ̀.
Literal: "Mo dára, mo dára," "I-am-beautiful, I-am-beautiful," àìdára not-being-beautiful ní ńpẹ̀kun ẹ̀ is-what ends it.
Idiomatic: "'I am beautiful, I am beautiful!' has ugliness as its conclusion."
Meaning: Self-admiration announced aloud runs down into its opposite.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Whoever is infatuated with his or her attractiveness will end up being despised by all"
Notes: The quoted self-praise is repeated twice before the reversal lands, miming the vain person's own repetition back at them. This is a vanity proverb rather than a beauty-and-character proverb, and it is a different point from owe-iwa-character's beauty-versus-character pairs: the fault here is not preferring looks to character but announcing one's looks at all.
12. Ọmọdé ní ẹẹ́ta lọ́wọ́, ó ní kí Èṣù wá ká ṣeré owó; ẹẹ́ta-á ha tó Èṣùú sú epo lá?
Literal: Ọmọdé ní ẹẹ́ta lọ́wọ́ a-child has three-cowries in-hand, ó ní kí Èṣù wá he says let-Èṣù come ká ṣeré owó let-us play a-game-of-money; ẹẹ́ta-á ha tó do-three suffice Èṣùú sú epo lá for-Èṣù to-buy palm-oil to-lick.
Idiomatic: "A child has three cowries in hand and challenges Èṣù to a game played for money; will three solitary cowries suffice for Èṣù to purchase palm-oil to lick?"
Meaning: A first taste of resources leads a person to overestimate what those resources actually amount to, especially against someone genuinely formidable.
Used when: Owomoyela: "People who come into some money for the first time are wont to overestimate their sudden worth"
Notes: Èṣù is the òrìṣà of the crossroads and of unpredictable consequence, a wholly disproportionate opponent for a child with three cowries, which is the entire joke. The child's arithmetic is not merely wrong, it fails to register the category of opponent it is dealing with.
13. Ọmọ àì-jọbẹ̀-rí tí ńja epo sáyà.
Literal: Ọmọ àì-jọbẹ̀-rí a-child of-never-having-tasted-stew tí ńja epo sáyà who drips oil onto-chest.
Idiomatic: "A child new to eating stews: he shows himself by dripping palm-oil on his chest."
Meaning: New access to something desirable exposes those unused to it, through their own clumsy display.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Upstarts will betray themselves by their misuse of their new-found fortune"
Notes: Àì-jọbẹ̀-rí, formed on the negative àì- prefix, packs "has never before eaten stew" into a single compound noun functioning as an epithet, a construction English can only unpack with a relative clause. The stain on the chest is visible and permanent for the moment, which is the point: the tell cannot be hidden after the fact.
14. Ojú ò rọ́lá rí; ó bímọ ẹ̀ ó sọ ọ́ ní Ọláníyọnu.
Literal: Ojú ò rọ́lá rí the-eye has-not before seen wealth; ó bímọ ẹ̀ he/she has a-child ó sọ ọ́ ní Ọláníyọnu and names him Ọláníyọnu ("wealth-is-plentiful-for-me").
Idiomatic: "A person only newly acquainted with wealth; he has a son and names him Ọlaniyọnu."
Meaning: New wealth announces itself through ostentation, here literalised as a name.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The nouveau riche will always call attention to themselves with their ostentatious consumption"
Notes: Yorùbá naming is genuinely descriptive of circumstance, so this is not an invented example but a plausible real naming practice being used against its bearer. This is a different nouveau-riche proverb from Àjàjà ṣoge àparò, the partridge proverb already given in owe-iwa-character; the two are not duplicates, though they share a target.
15. Òtòlò-ó jẹ, òtòlò-ó mu, òtòlò-ó fẹsẹ̀ wé ẹsẹ̀ erin.
Literal: Òtòlò-ó jẹ the-water-buck ate, òtòlò-ó mu the-water-buck drank, òtòlò-ó fẹsẹ̀ wé ẹsẹ̀ erin the-water-buck compared its-legs to legs of-an-elephant.
Idiomatic: "The water-buck ate, the water-buck drank, the water-buck compared its limbs to an elephant's."
Meaning: A full stomach produces an inflated sense of one's own stature.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Satiation leads to excess"
Notes: The three-part rhythm, eating, drinking, then the absurd comparison, mimics the escalation it describes: contentment tips into delusion in a single additional clause. The water-buck and the elephant share nothing but four legs, which is exactly what makes the comparison silly rather than merely optimistic.
16. Kékeré lọ̀pọ̀lọ́ fi ga ju ilẹ̀ lọ.
Literal: Kékeré by-a-small-margin lọ̀pọ̀lọ́ fi ga is-how the-toad is-tall ju ilẹ̀ lọ exceeding the-ground.
Idiomatic: "The toad is only slightly taller than the earth."
Meaning: A creature with almost no real elevation over its surroundings still carries itself as though it had height.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Said of people who behave as though they are superior to others while they have little reason to believe so"
Notes: The measurement is precise rather than merely dismissive, "only slightly," and that precision is what makes the mockery land: the toad is not accused of having no height at all, only of behaving as though the negligible amount it has were significant.
17. Ẹni tí kò tó gèlètè kì í mí fìn-ìn.
Literal: Ẹni tí kò tó gèlètè one-who is-not huge-in-stature kì í mí fìn-ìn does-not breathe with-a-heavy-huff.
Idiomatic: "A person who is not huge in stature does not breathe heavily."
Meaning: Display of weightiness should be proportional to actual weight.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should match one's strutting to one's accomplishment"
Notes: Fìn-ìn is an ideophone for a heavy, laboured exhalation, the sound a large or burdened body makes. A small person producing that sound is performing a size they do not have, and the proverb catches the performance rather than the person.
18. Ẹni tí a gbé gun ẹlẹ́dẹ̀, ìwọ̀n ni kó yọ̀ mọ; ẹni tó gẹṣin, ilẹ̀ ló ḿbọ̀.
Literal: Ẹni tí a gbé gun ẹlẹ́dẹ̀ the-person whom people have-lifted to-ride a-pig, ìwọ̀n ni kó yọ̀ mọ let-him strut in-measure; ẹni tó gẹṣin the-one who rides-a-horse, ilẹ̀ ló ḿbọ̀ the-ground is-what-is-coming.
Idiomatic: "The person whom people have seated on a pig should moderate his or her strutting; even a horse rider will eventually come down to earth."
Meaning: Good fortune, however it arrived, is temporary, and even its grander forms end on the ground.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should not let one's good fortune go to one's head; circumstances do change"
Notes: A pig is a mount of no dignity at all, so the elevated person in the first clause is already being mocked before the proverb reaches its real point, which is the second clause: even genuine elevation (the horse) is only ever temporary. The two mounts scale the same lesson from the absurd case to the serious one.
Self-knowledge and the limits of ambition
19. Ọlọgbọ́n kan ò ta kókó omi sáṣọ; ọ̀mọ̀ràn kan ò mọ oye erùpẹ̀ ilẹ̀.
Literal: Ọlọgbọ́n kan a-certain wise-person ò ta kókó omi sáṣọ does-not tie a-knot of-water in-a-cloth; ọ̀mọ̀ràn kan a-certain knowledgeable-person ò mọ oye erùpẹ̀ ilẹ̀ does-not know the-count of-grains of-earth.
Idiomatic: "No wise man ever ties water in a knot in his cloth; no knowledgeable person can tell the number of grains of sand on the earth."
Meaning: Even the most accomplished people have feats permanently beyond them.
Used when: Owomoyela: "There are certain feats that are beyond even the most accomplished of men"
Notes: Both images are physically impossible rather than merely difficult, which sets the ceiling on wisdom at the level of physical law rather than mere social modesty. The proverb is not counselling false modesty; it is stating a hard limit.
20. Ọlọgbọ́n ò tẹ ara ẹ̀ nÍfá; ọ̀mọ̀ràn ò fi ara ẹ̀ joyè; abẹ tó mú ò lè gbẹ́ èkù ara ẹ̀.
Literal: Ọlọgbọ́n ò tẹ ara ẹ̀ nÍfá the-wise-person does-not divine Ifá for-himself; ọ̀mọ̀ràn ò fi ara ẹ̀ joyè the-knowledgeable-person does-not install himself a-chief; abẹ tó mú a-knife that is-sharp ò lè gbẹ́ èkù ara ẹ̀ cannot carve its-own handle.
Idiomatic: "The wise person does not consult the Ifá oracle for himself; the knowledgeable person does not install himself a chief; the sharp knife does not carve its own handle."
Meaning: Even a person of full competence needs another party for certain acts, because those acts structurally require an outside agent.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The strongest and wisest of men still would need the service of other people some time"
Notes: The third clause supplies the mechanism the first two only illustrate: a knife's edge is what cuts, so a knife literally cannot be the instrument of its own shaping, and the same structural impossibility is being claimed for divination and chieftaincy. This is a proverb about interdependence built on self-knowledge, not a claim that wisdom is limited in general.
21. Ọ̀nà ọ̀fun ò gba egungun ẹja.
Literal: Ọ̀nà ọ̀fun the-passage of-the-throat ò gba does-not accommodate egungun ẹja fish-bone.
Idiomatic: "The throat cannot accommodate fish-bone."
Meaning: Everyone and everything has some point past which it fails.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Everybody and everything has some limitation"
Notes: The throat otherwise swallows freely, so the fish-bone names a specific, narrow failure point rather than a general weakness, which is a more precise claim than "nobody is perfect": the limitation is exact and identifiable, not vague.
22. Ìjàlọ ò lè gbé òkúta.
Literal: Ìjàlọ the-brown-ant ò lè gbé cannot lift òkúta a-boulder.
Idiomatic: "The brown ant cannot lift a boulder."
Meaning: A task can simply exceed the scale of the creature attempting it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should not attempt a task that is beyond one's capability"
Notes: Two words of predicate carrying the whole claim, with no elaboration needed once the two nouns, ant and boulder, are named. Compare entry 29, which states the same mismatch of scale but frames it as heading toward disgrace rather than simple impossibility.
23. Olójúkan kì í tàkìtì òró.
Literal: Olójúkan a-one-eyed-person kì í tàkìtì òró does-not attempt a-standing-somersault.
Idiomatic: "A one-eyed person does not attempt standing somersaults."
Meaning: A person with a known impairment should not attempt the feat that impairment specifically endangers.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should limit one's ambition to one's capability"
Notes: A standing somersault depends on depth perception, which a one-eyed person lacks, so the proverb is not general caution but a precise diagnosis of why this particular ambition is unwise for this particular person. Self-knowledge here means knowing one's specific deficit, not a general sense of modesty.
24. Ìwọ̀n eku nìwọ̀n ìtẹ́; olongo kì í gbé tìmùtìmù.
Literal: Ìwọ̀n eku the-measure of-the-rat nìwọ̀n ìtẹ́ is-the-measure of-the-nest; olongo the-robin kì í gbé tìmùtìmù does-not live-on a-cushion.
Idiomatic: "The measure of the rat is the measure of the nest; a robin does not live on a cushion."
Meaning: What one is entitled to is set by what one is, not by what one might wish for.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should cut one's garment according to one's size"
Notes: The English idiom Owomoyela reaches for in his gloss, "cut one's garment according to one's size," is itself a widely circulated proverb in English, and using it to translate the usage note rather than the text is a useful reminder that the note is his own paraphrase, not a rendering of the Yorùbá words.
25. Bí a bá ti mọ là ńdé; a-láì-lẹ́ṣin kì í dé wọ̀nwọ̀n.
Literal: Bí a bá ti mọ according-to-how one is-known là ńdé is-how one arrives; a-láì-lẹ́ṣin one-without-a-horse kì í dé wọ̀nwọ̀n does-not arrive with-the-clatter-of-hooves.
Idiomatic: "One arrives according to one's worth; a horseless person does not arrive with the noise of hoofs and stirrups."
Meaning: The manner of one's entrance should match one's actual standing, and cannot be borrowed.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should act according to one's worth"
Notes: Owomoyela pairs this proverb with entry 26 as companion texts, both using an involuntary bodily or sensory signal (the sound of an arrival, the sound of a fall) as the thing that cannot be faked, where a verbal claim could be.
26. Bí a bá ti mọ là ńkú; olongo kì í kú tìyàntìyàn.
Literal: Bí a bá ti mọ according-to-how one is-known là ńkú is-how one dies; olongo the-robin kì í kú tìyàntìyàn does-not die with-a-resounding-thud.
Idiomatic: "One dies according to one's weight; the robin does not die and make a resounding noise 'on hitting the ground.'"
Meaning: Even in death, the physical fact of what a creature is asserts itself and cannot be exceeded.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One acts according to one's worth"
Notes: A small bird cannot fall with a large sound no matter how it might wish to; the proverb's force is that the claim to greater consequence than one has fails at the most involuntary, undeniable moment available, the moment of impact.
27. "Ọjọ́ tí mo ti ḿbọ̀ ng ò rírú ẹ̀ rí": olúwa ẹ̀-ẹ́ mọ ìwọ̀n ara ẹ̀ ni.
Literal: "Ọjọ́ tí mo ti ḿbọ̀ ng ò rírú ẹ̀ rí" "In-all-the-days I-have come I-have-not seen-the-like-of-it before"; olúwa ẹ̀-ẹ́ mọ ìwọ̀n ara ẹ̀ ni the-owner-of-it knows the-measure of-himself.
Idiomatic: "'In all the days I have walked this earth I have never seen the like': that person knows his place."
Meaning: A person who reacts with astonishment to being put in their place actually understands their place, which is why the moment stings.
Used when: Owomoyela: "If one knows one's place one will be spared humiliation"
Notes: The usage note reads almost as the opposite of the surface text: the quoted exclamation looks like a complaint about unprecedented treatment, but Owomoyela's gloss reads it as proof of self-knowledge, that the speaker's shock registers exactly how far they had, in fact, overstepped. Confidence on this reading: medium, since the proverb's irony depends on a tone of voice a transcription cannot fully carry.
28. Bí a kò bá tíì lè kọ́lé, àgọ́ là ńpa.
Literal: Bí a kò bá tíì lè kọ́lé if one is-not-yet able to-build-a-house, àgọ́ là ńpa a-tent is-what-one pitches.
Idiomatic: "If one is yet unable to build a house, one makes a tent."
Meaning: Knowing one's current limit does not mean abandoning the goal, only scaling the means to match present capacity.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should neither overreach oneself, nor refrain from striving"
Notes: This is the corrective to a possible misreading of the rest of the set: self-knowledge in this corpus is not a counsel of resignation. The tent is a real, if lesser, structure, not a refusal to build anything.
29. Ẹni tí kò lè gbé eèrà, tí ńkùsà sí erin, títẹ́ ní ńtẹ́.
Literal: Ẹni tí kò lè gbé eèrà one-who cannot lift an-ant, tí ńkùsà sí erin who rushes-forward toward an-elephant, títẹ́ ní ńtẹ́ disgrace is-what-he-earns.
Idiomatic: "A person who lacks the strength to lift an ant but rushes forward to lift an elephant ends in disgrace."
Meaning: Radical overreach ends specifically in shame, not merely in failure.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should know one's capabilities and limit oneself to what one can accomplish"
Notes: The gap between the two named creatures, an ant one cannot even lift and an elephant one rushes at, is deliberately extreme, which marks this as a proverb about delusional overreach rather than ordinary ambitious failure. Compare entry 22, which states the ant-and-boulder mismatch without naming disgrace as the outcome.
30. Èwo ló tó ẹ̀kọ-ọ́ gbà nínú ewé ìrúgbàá?
Literal: Èwo which ló tó is-adequate ẹ̀kọ-ọ́ gbà to-receive the-corn-loaf nínú ewé ìrúgbàá among the-leaves of-the-locust-bean-tree.
Idiomatic: "Which among the leaves of the locust-bean tree is adequate to receive corn-loaf?"
Meaning: Some tasks require a specific kind of vessel, and no amount of willingness in an unsuited one substitutes.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Certain feats are beyond certain people; people should not presume to do things beyond their capabilities"
Notes: Ẹ̀kọ is a hot, moist cornmeal preparation traditionally wrapped in a broad, sturdy leaf; the locust-bean tree's leaves are the wrong shape and size for the job, which makes the rhetorical question unanswerable rather than merely difficult. The proverb form here is a question with no good answer, a common way Yorùbá proverbs deliver a flat "no."
31. Ewújù tí yóò tú ọ̀pẹ: gbogbo ehín ẹ̀ ni yóò kán tán.
Literal: Ewújù tí yóò tú ọ̀pẹ the-cane-rat that will uproot a-palm-tree: gbogbo ehín ẹ̀ all its-teeth ni yóò kán tán will be worn-down-entirely.
Idiomatic: "The cane-rat that attempts to uproot a palm-tree will lose all its teeth in the attempt."
Meaning: Attempting a task disproportionate to one's means costs the very equipment one would need for smaller, achievable tasks.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should not attempt a task for which one is not qualified"
Notes: The loss is not merely failure but forfeiture: the cane-rat does not just fail to move the tree, it destroys its teeth in the process, leaving it worse off than before the attempt. That the damage is specifically to the tool of accomplishment, not to some unrelated part of the animal, sharpens the point.
32. Sesere ńdá gọ́ọ́bú; oníkamẹ́sàn-án ńgbé ṣíbí.
Literal: Sesere ńdá gọ́ọ́bú the-insignificant-thing is-attempting an-earth-shaking-feat; oníkamẹ́sàn-án ńgbé ṣíbí the-owner-of-nine-fingers is-lifting a-spoon.
Idiomatic: "The insignificant thing is attempting an earth-shaking feat; the person with only nine fingers is lifting a spoon."
Meaning: A person working from a diminished basis takes on a task that would tax even a full complement of resources.
Used when: Said of a person overreaching .
Notes: The second clause specifies exactly what "insignificant" means in the first: a hand missing one finger, attempting even the ordinary act of lifting a spoon, which is a much smaller instance of the same mismatch between resource and task named throughout this group.
Humility, deference and knowing one's place
33. Oǹpè ní ńfa ọlá; òjípè kì í fa ọlá.
Literal: Oǹpè the-one-who-summons ní ńfa ọlá is-who assumes airs; òjípè the-one-summoned kì í fa ọlá does-not assume airs.
Idiomatic: "It is the person who does the summoning that assumes airs; the person subject to summons does not assume airs."
Meaning: Standing is displayed by the person with the authority to call others, not by the one who is called.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should know one's place, especially in the company of more illustrious people"
Notes: The two nouns, oǹpè and òjípè, are agent and patient forms built on the same verb pè, to summon, so the proverb states its whole claim through a single grammatical contrast: who acts and who is acted upon determines who may carry themselves grandly.
34. Bí a bá wí pé ó dọwọ́-ọ babaláwo, babaláwo a ló dọwọ́ Ifá; bí a bá ní ó dọwọ́ àgbà ìṣègùn, àgbà ìṣègùn a ló dọwọ́ Ọ̀sanyìn; bí a bá ní ó dọwọ́ ààfáà tó gbójú, a ní ó dọwọ́ Ọlọ́run ọ̀gá ògo.
Literal: Bí a bá wí pé ó dọwọ́-ọ babaláwo if one says it is in-the-hands of-the-diviner, babaláwo a ló dọwọ́ Ifá the-diviner says it-is-in-the-hands-of Ifá; bí a bá ní ó dọwọ́ àgbà ìṣègùn if one says it-is-in-the-hands of-the-venerable-healer, àgbà ìṣègùn a ló dọwọ́ Ọ̀sanyìn the-venerable-healer says it-is-in-the-hands-of Ọ̀sanyìn; bí a bá ní ó dọwọ́ ààfáà tó gbójú if one says it-is-in-the-hands of-the-formidable-mallam, a ní ó dọwọ́ Ọlọ́run ọ̀gá ògo one says it-is-in-the-hands-of God, master of-glory.
Idiomatic: "If one says that a matter now lies in the hands of the Ifá priest the Ifá priest says it lies in the hands of Ifá; if one says that it lies in the hands of the venerable medicine man the venerable medicine man says it rests in the hands of the god of herbs; if one says it rests in the hands of the formidable moslem priest he says it is in the hands of God the most glorious."
Meaning: No practitioner, however skilled, claims personal credit for an outcome; each defers to the power that works through them.
Used when: Owomoyela: "All achievements are creditable to the powers that make them possible, not to the agents"
Notes: Three religious specialists in sequence, an Ifá diviner, a herbalist, and a Muslim cleric, each redirect credit upward rather than absorbing it, and the proverb's structure (three parallel clauses building to the same move) enacts the very self-effacement it describes. It is also a rare piece of evidence for how ordinary Yorùbá proverb-speech treated indigenous and Islamic religious authority as functionally parallel rather than opposed.
35. Bí ọmọdé bá fẹ́ ṣìṣe àgbà, ọjọ́ orí-i rẹ̀ ò níí jẹ́.
Literal: Bí ọmọdé bá fẹ́ ṣìṣe àgbà if a-child wants to-act-as an-elder, ọjọ́ orí-i rẹ̀ the-days of-his-head (his-age) ò níí jẹ́ will-not permit-it.
Idiomatic: "If a youth attempts to act like an elder, his age will stop him."
Meaning: Station that has not been reached will assert itself against the person trying to claim it early.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A youth does not have what it takes to be an elder"
Notes: Ọjọ́ orí, literally the days of the head, is age itself personified as an active refusing party rather than a passive fact, so the proverb frames maturity as something that must grant permission, not merely accumulate.
36. Bí ọmọdé bá gun òkè àgbà, ó ńláti gbọ́n.
Literal: Bí ọmọdé bá gun òkè àgbà if a-child ascends the-height of-elderhood, ó ńláti gbọ́n it is-necessary he-become-wise.
Idiomatic: "If a child ascends the height of maturity, he/she must become wise."
Meaning: Wisdom is not optional once a person occupies an elder's position; the position obligates it.
Used when: Wisdom goes with age .
Notes: Read against entry 35, the pair states the same boundary from both directions: youth cannot claim elderhood early, and elderhood, once actually reached, carries a duty that cannot be declined.
37. Bí baálẹ̀-ẹ́ bá ńtàkìtì, òrógi là ḿbá ẹmẹsẹ̀.
Literal: Bí baálẹ̀-ẹ́ bá ńtàkìtì if the-chief is turning-somersaults, òrógi là ḿbá ẹmẹsẹ̀ upright-and-steady is-how-one finds the-messenger.
Idiomatic: "If the chief is turning somersaults, the messenger should be found standing erect."
Meaning: Licence to relax formality belongs to the person at the top, not to those beneath them, even when the person at the top is visibly relaxing it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The great may indulge themselves, but the lowly must keep their heads"
Notes: The proverb describes an asymmetry rather than endorsing it: the chief's undignified behaviour is licensed by his rank, and the messenger's continued composure is required by the absence of that same rank, even in the very moment the chief is not observing decorum himself.
38. Ìdí méjèèjìí tó olúwa rẹ̀-ẹ́ jókòó.
Literal: Ìdí méjèèjìí the-two buttocks tó olúwa rẹ̀-ẹ́ jókòó are-sufficient for-their-owner to-sit.
Idiomatic: "The two buttocks are sufficient for their owner to sit on."
Meaning: What a person is naturally equipped with is enough; there is no need to reach for more.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should be satisfied with one's own resources"
Notes: The proverb picks the most minimal, universally available human resource imaginable, a person's own body, to make the point that contentment does not require unusual or acquired means. The humour of the image (why would anyone need more than the two they already have) carries the argument.
39. Olóyè kékeré kì í ṣe fáàárí níwájú ọba.
Literal: Olóyè kékeré a-minor titleholder kì í ṣe fáàárí does-not put-on-airs níwájú ọba in-front-of a-king.
Idiomatic: "A minor chief should not act garrulously in the presence of a king."
Meaning: Displaying rank is appropriate only relative to those actually beneath one, and inappropriate in the presence of someone above.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should know one's station and act accordingly"
Notes: Fáàárí is showy self-display, putting on airs, and the proverb does not forbid a minor chief from having any airs at all, only from deploying them in the wrong company; rank is relational rather than absolute in this proverb's logic.
40. Dídákẹ́ lerín dákẹ́; àjànàkú ló lẹgàn.
Literal: Dídákẹ́ remaining-silent lerín dákẹ́ is-what the-elephant does; àjànàkú ló lẹgàn the-elephant is-the-owner-of the-forest.
Idiomatic: "The elephant has only chosen to remain silent; to the elephant belongs the forest."
Meaning: Genuine standing does not need to announce itself, and its silence is a choice, not an admission of weakness.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The mighty need not proclaim their importance"
Notes: The proverb pointedly frames the silence as dídákẹ́, an active verbal noun, "the choosing-to-be-silent," rather than mere absence of speech, which forecloses the reading that the elephant's quiet reflects insecurity. This is the counterweight in the set to all the entries about loud self-assertion: the truly dominant figure does not need the display the smaller creatures throughout this file keep reaching for.
41. Èrò ọ̀nà ni yó ròhìn ọkà tó gbó.
Literal: Èrò ọ̀nà travellers on-the-road ni yó ròhìn are-who will spread-the-word ọkà tó gbó about-corn that has-matured.
Idiomatic: "It is people who use the path that will spread the word about mature corn."
Meaning: A genuine accomplishment gets reported by those who encounter it; it does not need to advertise itself.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A noteworthy accomplishment need not advertise itself"
Notes: The corn does nothing to publicise itself; it simply matures where the road passes, and the reporting is entirely the work of others who saw it. Paired with entry 40, this makes a small cluster on the theme that real merit is discovered rather than announced.
42. Ọ̀wọ́n là ńra ògo, ọ̀pọ̀ là ńra ọ̀bùn, iyekíye là ńra ìmẹ́lẹ́.
Literal: Ọ̀wọ́n là ńra ògo dearly is-how-one buys honour, ọ̀pọ̀ là ńra ọ̀bùn cheaply is-how-one buys filthiness, iyekíye là ńra ìmẹ́lẹ́ at-an-indifferent-price is-how-one buys idleness.
Idiomatic: "Honor is always bought dear, filthiness cheap, and idleness at an indifferent price."
Meaning: Real standing costs something, in a way that its opposites do not.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Nothing is more difficult to come by than honor"
Notes: The three-way price scale, honour dear, filthiness cheap, idleness middling, treats reputation as a market good with a real cost of acquisition, which is a distinct claim from simply praising honour: it explains why so many of the proverbs in this file catch people trying to obtain standing without paying for it.
What others see that a person cannot see in themselves
43. Ọ̀sán pọ́n o ò ṣán ẹ̀kọ; oòrún kan àtàrí o ò jẹ àmàlà; àlejò-ó wà bà ọ ní ìyẹ̀tàrí oòrùn o ò rí ǹkan fún un; o ní "Njẹ́ ng ò níí tẹ́ lọ́wọ́ ẹ̀ báyìí"? O ò tíì tẹ́ lọ́wọ́ ara ẹ, ká tó ṣẹ̀ṣẹ̀ wá wípé o ó tẹ̀ẹ́ lọ́wọ́ ẹlòmíràn tàbí o ò níí tẹ́?
Literal: Ọ̀sán pọ́n o ò ṣán ẹ̀kọ midday breaks and-you do-not eat corn-meal; oòrún kan àtàrí o ò jẹ àmàlà the-sun stands-over-the-crown-of-your-head and-you do-not eat yam-flour; àlejò-ó wà bà ọ ní ìyẹ̀tàrí oòrùn a-visitor comes-upon you just-past midday o ò rí ǹkan fún un and-you have-nothing for-him; o ní "Njẹ́ ng ò níí tẹ́ lọ́wọ́ ẹ̀ báyìí" you say "Will I not be disgraced before him now"; O ò tíì tẹ́ lọ́wọ́ ara ẹ you have-not-yet been-disgraced before yourself, ká tó ṣẹ̀ṣẹ̀ wá wípé before we-should just-now arrive-at-saying o ó tẹ̀ẹ́ lọ́wọ́ ẹlòmíràn tàbí o ò níí tẹ́ whether-you will-be-disgraced before-another or not.
Idiomatic: "The sun rises and you do not eat corn meal; the sun moves directly overhead and you do not eat yam-flour meal; a visitor arrives for you when the sun is just past the overhead position and you have nothing to entertain him with; and you ask, 'Am I not in danger of being disgraced in his eyes'? Aren't you already disgraced in your own eyes? Never mind whether you may be disgraced in others' eyes or not."
Meaning: A person's own private judgement of themselves matters as much as, and arrives before, whatever others might think.
Used when: Owomoyela: "What one thinks of oneself is every bit as important as what others think of one"
Notes: This is the longest and most fully narrated proverb in the set, tracking a day's meals in sequence before landing on its rhetorical question, and its length is itself notable: most proverbs in this corpus compress, but this one dramatises its scene at length, closer to a small parable than an aphorism. It complicates the file's general theme, since most of the surrounding proverbs treat self-knowledge as a corrective against pride; here self-judgement is affirmed as valid on its own terms, prior to and regardless of any outside audience.
44. Ẹlẹ́dẹ̀ ńpàfọ̀, ó rò pé òún ńṣoge.
Literal: Ẹlẹ́dẹ̀ ńpàfọ̀ the-pig is-wallowing-in-mud, ó rò pé it thinks that òún ńṣoge it-is being-a-dandy.
Idiomatic: "The pig wallows in mud, but thinks it is being a dandy."
Meaning: A person can be entirely wrong about how their own behaviour reads, mistaking degradation for style.
Used when: Owomoyela: "People who lack good judgement are never aware of their own misbehavior"
Notes: Ṣoge, to dress or carry oneself fashionably, is a word for deliberate, admired self-presentation, and applying it to a pig in mud is the entire joke: the gap between the animal's self-perception and its actual condition could not be wider. Owomoyela also records the flatter companion proverb Ẹlẹ́dẹ̀ ò mẹ̀yẹ, "a pig does not know what is becoming," stating the same point without the ironic self-assessment.
45. Ẹní bá dẹ ojú-u rẹ̀ sílẹ̀ á rímú-u rẹ̀.
Literal: Ẹní bá dẹ ojú-u rẹ̀ sílẹ̀ whoever lowers his-eyes downward á rímú-u rẹ̀ will see his-own nose.
Idiomatic: "Whoever gazes downwards with will see his or her nose."
Meaning: Undignified conduct brings a person face to face with the least flattering view of themselves.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Whoever comports himself or herself indecorously will be disgraced"
Notes: The nose is the one part of a person's own face genuinely visible to them without a mirror, so "seeing one's own nose" stands here for confronting the truth about oneself at close, unavoidable range, brought on by one's own posture rather than by anyone else's judgement.
46. Ẹni tí à ńwò láwò-sunkún ńwo ara-a rẹ̀ láwò-rẹ́rìnín.
Literal: Ẹni tí à ńwò láwò-sunkún the-person we regard in-a-tearful-manner ńwo ara-a rẹ̀ láwò-rẹ́rìnín regards himself in-a-laughing-manner.
Idiomatic: "A person whose appearance moves one to tears is moved to laughter by his own appearance."
Meaning: A person's own view of their condition can be the complete opposite of how others see it, with no correction available from the inside.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The miserable person has no notion of his own miserableness"
Notes: This is one of the starkest statements in the file of the corpus's recurring theme, that self-perception is not reliable evidence, extended here to its limit case: a person can be an object of pity to everyone around them and a source of amusement to themselves, and the proverb offers no mechanism for resolving the gap.
47. Kò sí mi lájọ àjọ ò kún: ara ẹ̀ ló tàn jẹ.
Literal: Kò sí mi lájọ without-me in-the-assembly àjọ ò kún the-assembly is-not-complete: ara ẹ̀ ló tàn jẹ he-himself is-who deceives and-eats (deceives only himself).
Idiomatic: "Without-me-in-an-assembly-the-assembly-is-not-complete deceives only himself/herself."
Meaning: Believing oneself indispensable to a group is a private delusion that costs the believer alone.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Whoever thinks he or she is indispensable is self-deceived"
Notes: The proverb's subject is not named directly but constructed entirely as a quoted self-description, Kò sí mi lájọ àjọ ò kún, treated grammatically as a compound epithet, "the-without-me-the-assembly-is-incomplete person," a construction this corpus's notes elsewhere identify as a standard way Yorùbá proverbs characterise a type through their own words rather than through direct description.
Self-respect and dignity under hardship
48. Ojú kì í pọ́n ẹdun kó dẹni ilẹ̀; ìṣẹ́ kì í ṣẹ́ igún kó di ojúgbà adìẹ.
Literal: Ojú kì í pọ́n ẹdun circumstances do-not so-narrow the-colobus-monkey kó dẹni ilẹ̀ that-it becomes a-ground-hugging-creature; ìṣẹ́ kì í ṣẹ́ igún poverty does-not so-afflict the-vulture kó di ojúgbà adìẹ that-it becomes the-equal of-a-chicken.
Idiomatic: "The colobus monkey is never so reduced in circumstances that it becomes a land-hugging creature; the vulture is never so badly off that it becomes the equal of a chicken."
Meaning: However severe one's misfortune, there is a floor beneath which dignity does not fall.
Used when: Owomoyela: "No matter one's misfortune one should maintain one's dignity"
Notes: Both animals are defined against a lesser counterpart that shares their general category, an arboreal creature against a ground creature, a bird of prey against a barnyard bird, so the claim is not that hardship has no effect but that it cannot demote a creature into an entirely different, lesser kind. This is the header proverb for a small cluster (entries 49 to 51) that Owomoyela's source runs in immediate sequence, all built on the same ojú kì í pọ́n ("circumstances never narrow one so far that...") frame.
49. Ojú kì í pọ́n baálé ilé kó fọwọ́ gbálẹ̀ ilé ẹ̀.
Literal: Ojú kì í pọ́n baálé ilé circumstances do-not so-narrow the-head-of-household kó fọwọ́ gbálẹ̀ ilé ẹ̀ that-he sweeps his-compound with-bare-hands.
Idiomatic: "A head of a household is never so hard up that he sweeps his compound with his bare hands."
Meaning: Certain minimal instruments of one's station remain non-negotiable even in real poverty.
Used when: Owomoyela: "However desperate one might be, there are certain things one must not stoop to do"
Notes: A broom is one of the cheapest tools imaginable, so the claim is not that expensive dignity is protected but that even the most trivial marker of proper method, using a broom rather than bare hands, is held to be worth defending.
50. Ojú kì í pọ́n babaláwo kó bèrè ẹbọ àná.
Literal: Ojú kì í pọ́n babaláwo circumstances do-not so-narrow the-diviner-priest kó bèrè ẹbọ àná that-he asks-for yesterday's-sacrifice.
Idiomatic: "An Ifá diviner-priest is never so hard up that he asks for yesterday's sacrifice."
Meaning: A person of a dignified profession does not chase after a payment already forfeited by the passage of time.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should not permit one's hardship to lead one to demeaning behavior"
Notes: Owomoyela's source records an independent, shorter variant of this same proverb, Babaaláwo kì í bèrè ẹbọ àná, glossed "one should not demean oneself by demanding piddling favors," confirming that this specific image of the diviner and the stale sacrifice circulated as a fixed unit both inside and outside the longer ojú kì í pọ́n series.
51. Ojú kì í pọnni ká fàkísà bora.
Literal: Ojú kì í pọnni circumstances do-not so-narrow one ká fàkísà bora that-one covers-oneself with-rags.
Idiomatic: "One should never be so benighted that one covers oneself in rags."
Meaning: Basic self-presentation is a line hardship should not be allowed to cross.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Despite adverse circumstances, one should strive to maintain one's dignity"
Notes: Closing the four-proverb ojú kì í pọ́n cluster given here (entries 48 to 51), this one moves from behaviour and tools to clothing itself, the most visible and immediate marker of a person's condition to anyone who sees them.
52. Tẹ̀tẹ̀ kì í tẹ́.
Literal: Tẹ̀tẹ̀ the-spinach-plant kì í tẹ́ is-never disgraced.
Idiomatic: "Spinach is never disgraced."
Meaning: Some things, by their nature, are simply not subject to shame.
Used when: "May one never know disgrace"
Notes: Owomoyela glosses this two-word proverb as a blessing rather than an observation, "may one never know disgrace," which shows the same text functioning as an invocation rather than a statement of fact. Tẹ̀tẹ̀ and tẹ́ (disgrace) form a near-pun that the English cannot carry, and the extreme compression, a plant name and a negated verb, is characteristic of proverbs used as blessings at naming or other ceremonies.
53. Èsúrú ṣe fújà ó tẹ́ lọ́wọ́ oníyán; aláǹgbá ṣe fújà ó tẹ́ lọ́wọ́ ògiri; Ọlámọnrín àjàpá ṣe fújà ó tẹ́ lọ́wọ́-ọ̀ mi.
Literal: Èsúrú ṣe fújà the-èsúrú-yam forgets-itself ó tẹ́ lọ́wọ́ oníyán it is-disgraced before the-maker-of-pounded-yam; aláǹgbá ṣe fújà the-lizard forgets-itself ó tẹ́ lọ́wọ́ ògiri it is-disgraced before the-wall; Ọlámọnrín àjàpá ṣe fújà the-tortoise, Ọlámọnrín, forgets-itself ó tẹ́ lọ́wọ́-ọ̀ mi it is-disgraced before-me.
Idiomatic: "Èsúrú yam forgets itself and loses favor with the maker of pounded yams; the lizard forgets itself and falls into disfavor with the wall; tortoise-like He-who-will-remain-nameless forgets himself and loses all regard with me."
Meaning: Forgetting one's proper place, in each case with the natural party one should be in easy relation with, is what produces disfavour, not any inherent flaw in the party itself.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A person who does not know his or her place soon suffers disgrace"
Notes: Èsúrú is a yam too fibrous for pounding, out of place with the pounder's mortar; the lizard belongs on the wall it clings to; the tortoise, Ọlámọnrín in oral literature, belongs in easy company with the speaker. Three creatures each mismatched with something that should naturally suit them, escalating to the human speaker, whose own falling-out with the tortoise-figure is left deliberately unnamed, "he who will remain nameless," a discretion typical of proverbs that carry a real, specific grievance behind a general form.
54. Gbogbo èèyàn ní ńsunkún-un Bánjọ; ṣùgbọ́n Bánjọ ò sunkún ara ẹ̀.
Literal: Gbogbo èèyàn everybody ní ńsunkún-un Bánjọ is-who laments Bánjọ; ṣùgbọ́n Bánjọ ò sunkún ara ẹ̀ but Bánjọ does-not lament himself.
Idiomatic: "Everybody laments Banjọ's fate, but Banjọ does not lament his own fate."
Meaning: A person's own reading of their situation can be untouched by the pity everyone around them feels.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Some people remain blissfully unaware of their own misfortune, even though the misfortune is obvious to others"
Notes: Named individuals are rare in this proverb corpus, and using one, Bánjọ, personalises what is otherwise stated as a general type in entry 46's near-identical claim (the person seen with tears and self-regarded with laughter). Whether Bánjọ is a fixed character from a longer narrative this proverb condenses, or simply a common name standing in for anyone, is not recoverable from the text alone.
55. Ẹní à ńgbé gẹ̀gẹ̀ ni yó ba ara-a rẹ̀ jẹ́.
Literal: Ẹní à ńgbé gẹ̀gẹ̀ the-one who is-being placed-on-a-pedestal ni yó ba ara-a rẹ̀ jẹ́ is-who will spoil himself.
Idiomatic: "It is the person who is revered that will disgrace himself or herself."
Meaning: Elevated regard creates the opportunity for self-inflicted downfall that an ordinary position does not.
Used when: Owomoyela: "People who are placed on pedestals have ample opportunities to topple themselves"
Notes: The disgrace here is explicitly self-caused, ba ara-a rẹ̀ jẹ́, "spoils himself," not inflicted by an envious rival or by circumstance, which makes this a fitting close to the file: reverence does not corrupt a person from outside, it simply supplies room for a failure of self-knowledge to do damage that a lower position would not have permitted.
Reading this set
Two patterns run through these fifty-five proverbs more clearly than in a simple opposition of pride against humility.
Self-knowledge, not humility as a feeling, is the operative virtue. The largest single group of proverbs here is not about feeling small but about measuring correctly: the ant that cannot lift a boulder, the one-eyed man who should not attempt a somersault, the cane-rat that loses its teeth against a palm-tree, the person who arrives with no more noise than their actual worth produces. None of these condemn ambition as such. Entry 28, "if one is yet unable to build a house, one makes a tent," states directly that the corpus does not counsel giving up, only scaling the attempt to an accurately assessed capacity. The failure mode these proverbs return to again and again is not wanting too much but knowing too little about oneself while wanting it.
The proverbs are pessimistic about introspection and confident about external correction. Entries 45 through 47 and 54 form a small, striking cluster asserting that a person's own view of their condition is not trustworthy evidence: the miserable person laughs at his own reflection that moves everyone else to tears, the person everyone pities does not pity himself, the person who believes the group cannot function without them is simply wrong and finds out from no one but their own later disappointment. Where owe-iwa-character's entry on this same problem (Ìwà ní ńjọ oníwà lójú, cross-referenced but not repeated here) makes one clean statement of it, this file surrounds the claim from several directions and treats it as close to structural: a person cannot see their own face without a nose in the way, so to speak, and the corpus repeatedly routes accurate self-assessment through other people, animals as stand-ins, or bare physical consequence, rather than through the person's own reflection.
A third, smaller thread deserves notice because it complicates rather than confirms the rest: entry 43, the longest text in the file, insists that "what one thinks of oneself is every bit as important as what others think of one," which sits in tension with the introspection-distrust cluster above it. Assembling these fifty-five proverbs into one doctrine would flatten a real disagreement that the source material itself does not resolve, and this file leaves the disagreement standing rather than choosing a side for it.