Òwe on Truthfulness, Lying and Integrity
Sourced Yorùbá proverbs about telling the truth, the mechanics of lying and self-deception, and the value placed on a person whose word is reliable.
This file collects Yorùbá proverbs about òtítọ́, truth, and its opposite irọ́, the lie. The set is larger than a simple opposition would suggest: Yorùbá proverb-makers were interested not only in truth-telling as a virtue but in the mechanics of deceit itself, the euphemisms that disguise wrongdoing without changing it, the self-deception of the liar, and the social fact that an honest person is not always a popular one. Read together, the proverbs argue that truth is durable and lies are structurally unstable, but they do not pretend that honesty is comfortable or that it is rewarded on any predictable schedule.
How this file is sourced
The proverbs below, unless otherwise noted, 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 5, "On consistency; honesty, openness, plain speaking, reliability" 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) .
None of the proverbs below duplicate the forty-three collected in yoruba-owe-proverbs, including its truth-and-speech entries (Òtítọ́ korò; Irọ́ pọ̀ ju ojú lọ; Ojú ẹni tí ó ń ṣe ni ń tì í), which are cross-referenced rather than repeated.
Truth as durable, lies as structurally weak
1. Ìbáà tínrín, okùn òtítọ́ kì í já; bí irọ́ tó ìrókò, wíwó ní ńwó.
Literal: Ìbáà tínrín even-if-it-were thin, okùn òtítọ́ the-rope of-truth kì í já does-not snap; bí irọ́ tó ìrókò even-if a-lie is-as-thick-as an-ìrókò-tree, wíwó ní ńwó falling is-what-it-does.
Idiomatic: "Even if it is flimsy, the thread of truth never snaps; even though a lie might be the girth of an ìrókò tree, it inevitably crashes."
Meaning: Truth holds regardless of how insubstantial it looks, and a lie collapses regardless of how solid it looks.
Used when: Said to reassure someone whose true account seems too thin or too simple to be believed against an elaborate false one.
Notes: The ìrókò (Milicia excelsa) is one of the largest trees in the Yorùbá forest, so the comparison sets the flimsiest possible true thing against the most massive possible false thing, and still gives the victory to truth. The proverb does not promise that truth will look strong; it promises that it will not break.
2. Òtítọ́ kì í kú ká fi irọ́ jọba.
Literal: Òtítọ́ truth kì í kú does-not die ká fi irọ́ jọba for-us to-install a-lie as-king.
Idiomatic: "The truth does not die to be replaced as king by the lie."
Meaning: Falsehood cannot inherit the position that truth holds, because truth never vacates it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The lie cannot match the truth in esteem"
Notes: Jọba, to become or install as king, treats truth's standing as an office rather than a mere fact, so the proverb is making a claim about rank as well as durability.
3. Òtítọ́ kì í ṣìnà; irọ́ ní ńforí gbọgbẹ́.
Literal: Òtítọ́ kì í ṣìnà truth does-not go-astray; irọ́ a-lie ní ńforí gbọgbẹ́ is-what gets its-head gashed.
Idiomatic: "Truth never goes awry; it is falsehood that earns a gash on the head."
Meaning: Truth does not lead its holder into disaster; a lie eventually does.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Truth will not bring misfortune; falsehood leads to trouble in the end"
Notes: The injury is specific and violent, not abstract misfortune, which gives the proverb more force than a general warning would.
4. Òtítọ́ korò; bí omi tooro nirọ́ rí.
Literal: Òtítọ́ korò truth is-bitter; bí omi tooro like clear-broth nirọ́ rí is-how-a-lie looks.
Idiomatic: "Truth is bitter; falsehood is like meat stew."
Meaning: Truth is unpalatable to hear and lies go down easily, which is exactly why lies are dangerous.
Used when: Owomoyela: "It is more difficult to be truthful than to lie"
Notes: This is a variant of the two-word Òtítọ́ korò collected in yoruba-owe-proverbs, extended here with the second clause comparing a lie to appetising stew. The extension changes the point: the short form states a fact about truth, this form explains why people prefer lies anyway.
5. Òtítọ́ lolórí ìwà.
Literal: Òtítọ́ truthfulness lolórí ìwà is-the-head of-character.
Idiomatic: "Truthfulness is the chief of attributes."
Meaning: Among the traits that make up character, truthfulness ranks first.
Used when: Owomoyela: "There is no better attribute than truthfulness"
Notes: Orí, head, used this way names the foremost member of a category, the same construction as baba ìwà for patience in yoruba-owe-proverbs. Yorùbá proverbs about virtue routinely nominate a different quality as the chief one depending on which virtue is under discussion; this is not a contradiction so much as a sign that each proverb is doing rhetorical work for its own occasion.
6. Òtítọ́ ní ńtú ẹrù ìkà palẹ̀.
Literal: Òtítọ́ truth ní ńtú is-what unpacks ẹrù ìkà the-load of-the-wicked-person palẹ̀ onto-the-ground.
Idiomatic: "It is truth that unpacks the load of the wicked for all to see."
Meaning: Truth is the agent that exposes what wickedness has been carrying and hiding.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Truth will triumph over the wicked"
Notes: The image is of a head-load being untied and spilled open, so that its contents, previously bundled and concealed, become visible to onlookers. Truth is not passive here; it actively does the unpacking.
7. Ọ̀nà irọ́ kì í pẹ́ẹ́ pin.
Literal: Ọ̀nà irọ́ the-road of-a-lie kì í pẹ́ẹ́ pin does-not take-long to-end.
Idiomatic: "The path of deceit soon ends."
Meaning: A course built on deception runs out quickly.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Deceit is soon exposed"
Notes: Compact, four words in Yorùbá, and it treats deceit as a journey with a fixed and near horizon rather than an open-ended strategy.
8. Òfìífìí là ńrí, a ò rí òkodoro; òkodoro ḿbọ̀, baba gba-n-gba.
Literal: Òfìífìí là ńrí it-is-shadows we-see, a ò rí òkodoro we-do-not see clarity; òkodoro ḿbọ̀ clarity is-coming, baba gba-n-gba father of-open-plainness.
Idiomatic: "All we see is shadows, not clarity; but clarity will come, father of all openness."
Meaning: What is currently obscure will eventually resolve into the open.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The truth may be hidden for long, but in the end it will emerge into the open"
Notes: Gba-n-gba, wide open or in plain view, is treated as a personified authority, "father of open-plainness," which gives the proverb a small mythic weight beyond a plain prediction.
9. Ògèdèm̀gbé irọ́ kì í dáni síyẹ̀wù; gba-n-gba ní ńdáni sí.
Literal: Ògèdèm̀gbé irọ́ an-audacious lie kì í dáni síyẹ̀wù does-not trip-one in-one's-closet; gba-n-gba the-open-place ní ńdáni sí is-where it-trips-one.
Idiomatic: "An audacious lie does not trip one in one's closet; it exposes one in a public place."
Meaning: A bold lie's collapse happens publicly, not privately.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One's transgressions are liable to catch up with one in the most embarrassing circumstances"
Notes: The verb dá ... sí, to trip or catch someone, treats the lie's exposure as an accident that ambushes the liar rather than a discovery someone else makes, which shifts the agency onto the lie itself.
Euphemism and the refusal to name a thing
10. Àdàpè olè ní ńjẹ́ àfọwọ́rá.
Literal: Àdàpè olè the-nickname-for-a-thief ní ńjẹ́ is-what-is-called àfọwọ́rá causing-to-disappear-by-hand.
Idiomatic: "It is simply a euphemism for theft to say àfọwọ́rá."
Meaning: A softened name for stealing is still a name for stealing.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The use of a euphemism does not change the nature of a thing"
Notes: Àfọwọ́rá, literally "making disappear through the operations of the hand," is a genuine idiom for pilfering, and the proverb's method is to state the euphemism and then flatly translate it back into olè, thief, undoing its own softening in the same breath. See the following entry, which makes the identical move with a different euphemism.
11. Àdàpè olè ní ńjẹ́ "ọmọ-ọ̀ mi ńfẹ́wọ́."
Literal: Àdàpè olè the-nickname-for-a-thief ní ńjẹ́ is-what-is-called "ọmọ-ọ̀ mi ńfẹ́wọ́" my-child's hands-are-restless.
Idiomatic: "It is a euphemistic description of stealing to say, 'My child's hands are uncontrollably nimble.'"
Meaning: A parent's excuse for a child's theft is still a description of theft.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should face facts and not skirt them"
Notes: The quoted excuse is put in a parent's mouth, which extends the proverb's target from the thief to the household that shields the thief with softer language, a theme also present in owe-family-lineage-compound.
12. Àfọwọ́rá ní ńjẹ́ olè.
Literal: Àfọwọ́rá causing-to-disappear-by-hand ní ńjẹ́ is-what-is-called olè theft.
Idiomatic: "Employing the hands to make things disappear is called stealing."
Meaning: Naming the euphemism does not stop it from being named correctly in the end.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Euphemistic circumlocution does not relieve a crime of its true nature"
Notes: The reverse of entry 10: there the fancy word is unpacked into the plain one, here the plain word is asserted directly. Owomoyela's collection preserves both directions of the same pairing, which suggests the proverb circulated as a matched set used to answer whichever euphemism was currently in fashion.
13. "Ó fò sókè ó pẹ́ títí," irọ́ ló ńpa.
Literal: "Ó fò sókè he jumped up ó pẹ́ títí" he-stayed-up for-a-long-time, irọ́ ló ńpa it-is-a-lie that-he-is-telling.
Idiomatic: "'He jumped up and stayed aloft almost for ever': that is a lie."
Meaning: A dramatic exaggeration told as fact is still a lie, whatever grain of truth sits inside it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should control the urge to exaggerate"
Notes: The proverb is built as a quoted boast followed by a flat verdict, one of several in this set that dramatise the lie as reported speech rather than describing lying in the abstract. Compare entry 4 in yoruba-owe-proverbs, the corpse who never says "I was nearly there," which uses the identical device.
14. Ó jọ gàtè, kò jọ gàtè, ó fẹsẹ̀ méjèèjì tiro rìn.
Literal: Ó jọ gàtè it resembles staggering, kò jọ gàtè it does-not resemble staggering, ó fẹsẹ̀ méjèèjì he with both-feet tiro rìn walks tiptoeing.
Idiomatic: "It may seem like staggering, and it may not seem like staggering, but he is tipping forward on tiptoes."
Meaning: Calling a thing by an ambiguous name does not stop it from being the thing it is.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A euphemism does not make an action anything other than what it is"
Notes: Structurally close to entries 10 through 12: the proverb entertains the softer description only to insist on the plain one underneath it.
Self-deception and the liar's own mind
15. Afasẹ́gbèjò ńtan ara-a rẹ̀ jẹ.
Literal: Afasẹ́gbèjò one-who-would-collect rainwater ńfí sieve with-a-sieve, ńtan ara-a rẹ̀ jẹ deceives self his.
Idiomatic: "He who would collect rain water in a sieve deceives himself."
Meaning: Some deceptions have no victim except the person practising them.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The shiftless person hurts himself more than others"
Notes: A sieve cannot hold water by its nature, so the futility is built into the image rather than argued for. The proverb belongs to a cluster, including entry 16 below, in which the liar's real target turns out to be himself.
16. A-jí-má-jẹ-ǹkan, a-fàkàṣù-mẹ́fà-ṣoògùn-aràn.
Literal: A-jí-má-jẹ-ǹkan one-who-wakes-and-eats-nothing, a-fàkàṣù-mẹ́fà-ṣoògùn-aràn one-who-uses-six-loaves as-medicine-against-worms.
Idiomatic: "He who wakes in the morning and eats nothing; he who 'makes' a worm-cure of six loaves."
Meaning: A person who denies going without, while quietly consuming a great deal under a pretext, deceives no one but themself about what they are actually doing.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The deceitful person deceives himself"
Notes: Both halves of the epithet are compressed nominals of the a- agentive type, the same construction Owomoyela uses for A-bí-ì-kọ́ in the household-formation proverbs collected in owe-iwa-character. The claimed medicinal purpose, curing intestinal worms, is the pretext; the six loaves are the real point.
17. Apani kì í jẹ́ ká mú idà kọjá nípàkọ́ òun.
Literal: Apani a-murderer kì í jẹ́ does-not allow ká mú idà kọjá for-us to-pass a-sword nípàkọ́ òun behind his-neck.
Idiomatic: "A murderer never permits the passage of a sword behind his skull."
Meaning: Guilt produces a permanent, disproportionate vigilance in the guilty.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The criminal is ever suspicious of other people's intentions"
Notes: A near-relative of entry 39 in owe-iwa-character, where the person of evil character assumes every conversation is about him; here the same mechanism is narrowed specifically to the killer's bodily fear.
18. Apajájẹ-ẹ́ ní ẹ̀rù adìẹ ḿba òun.
Literal: Apajájẹ-ẹ́ the-one-who-kills-and-eats-dogs ní says ẹ̀rù adìẹ fear of-chickens ḿba òun afflicts him.
Idiomatic: "The person who kills and eats dogs claims to be afraid of chickens."
Meaning: A person capable of a large wrong performs squeamishness about a trivial one.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A hardened criminal pretends to have scruples about mere peccadillos"
Notes: Eating dog meat, though practised in parts of Yorùbáland, carries more social weight than killing a chicken, so the claimed fear is deliberately, almost comically, disproportionate to the person's actual conduct.
Testimony, judgement and impartiality
19. Àbẹ̀tẹ́lẹ̀ ní ńfọ́jú onídàájọ́.
Literal: Àbẹ̀tẹ́lẹ̀ bribery ní ńfọ́jú is-what blinds onídàájọ́ the-owner-of-judgement.
Idiomatic: "It is bribery that blinds a judge."
Meaning: Money paid to a judge destroys the judge's capacity to see the case clearly.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Bribery beclouds judgement"
Notes: Onídàájọ́, owner of judgement, treats the capacity to judge as a possession that can be taken away, consistent with how this whole proverb corpus treats faculties as things one has rather than things one merely does.
20. A-gbẹ́jọ́-ẹnìkan-dájọ́, òṣìkà èèyàn.
Literal: A-gbẹ́jọ́-ẹnìkan-dájọ́ one-who-decides-a-case-having-heard-only-one-person, òṣìkà èèyàn a-wicked person.
Idiomatic: "He who decides a case after hearing only one side, is the dean of wicked persons."
Meaning: Ruling without hearing both sides is itself a form of wickedness, not merely a procedural lapse.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Justice requires considering both sides of a case"
Notes: The moral weight the proverb puts on procedure (calling one-sided judgement wickedness rather than error) is unusually strong and is direct evidence for how seriously the two-sided hearing was taken in practice; see entries 21 and 22.
21. Etí, gbọ́ èkejì kí o tó dájọ́.
Literal: Etí ear, gbọ́ èkejì hear the-second-one kí o tó dájọ́ before you judge.
Idiomatic: "Ear, hear the other side before passing judgement."
Meaning: A single account is not enough grounds for a ruling.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should not form an opinion after hearing only one side of an argument"
Notes: Addressed directly to the organ of hearing rather than to a person, which is an apostrophe device this collection uses occasionally to universalise a rule beyond any one judge.
22. Ẹ̀ẹ̀mejì letí ọlọ́jà ńgbọ́rọ̀.
Literal: Ẹ̀ẹ̀mejì twice letí ọlọ́jà is-how-the-ear of-the-king-of-the-market ńgbọ́rọ̀ hears-a-matter.
Idiomatic: "The ears of the king hear everything twice."
Meaning: A ruler adjudicating a dispute hears it from both parties before deciding.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Whoever will judge a case must hear it twice from both sides of the dispute"
Notes: Ọlọ́jà here functions as a title for whoever presides, market chief or otherwise, and the proverb is evidence, alongside entries 20 and 21, that the two-sided hearing was a recognised norm of Yorùbá adjudication rather than an occasional courtesy. See the treatment of proverbs in dispute settlement in yoruba-owe-proverbs.
23. Ẹlẹ́rìí ní ńyanjú ẹjọ́; ẹlẹ́rìí kì í ṣe elégbè.
Literal: Ẹlẹ́rìí a-witness ní ńyanjú ẹjọ́ is-what settles a-case; ẹlẹ́rìí kì í ṣe elégbè a-witness is-not a-partisan.
Idiomatic: "It is a witness that clears up a case; a witness is not a partisan."
Meaning: Testimony only functions if the witness is not taking a side.
Used when: Owomoyela: "People called to bear witness in a case should be impartial"
Notes: Elégbè, a partisan or member of a faction, is set in flat opposition to ẹlẹ́rìí, and the proverb defines the second role by excluding the first from it.
24. Ìmàlé gbààwẹ̀ ó lóun ò gbétọ́ mì; ta ní ńṣe ẹlẹ́rìí fún un?
Literal: Ìmàlé gbààwẹ̀ the-Muslim keeps-the-fast, ó lóun ò gbétọ́ mì he-says he did-not swallow saliva; ta ní ńṣe ẹlẹ́rìí fún un who is witness for-him?
Idiomatic: "The Muslim fasts and swears he did not swallow his saliva; who is to corroborate his story?"
Meaning: A claim that cannot be checked by anyone else is not worth acting on.
Used when: Owomoyela: "There is no point in paying attention to a claim that cannot be verified"
Notes: The example is drawn from Islamic fasting practice and dates the proverb, or at least this phrasing of it, to a period of established Yorùbá Islam. It is not mocking the fast itself; the target is the unverifiable claim, using the fast as a convenient unverifiable case.
The unpopularity and the vindication of the honest person
25. Olóòótọ́ ìlú nìkà ìlú.
Literal: Olóòótọ́ ìlú the-honest-person of-the-town nìkà ìlú is-the-wicked-one of-the-town.
Idiomatic: "The honest person in a town is the ogre of the town."
Meaning: Honesty, socially, plays the role that wickedness plays: it is resented and feared in roughly the same way.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Honesty seldom makes one popular"
Notes: One of the harder proverbs in the set and worth keeping precisely because it refuses to flatter honesty: it says plainly that the honest person is treated as the town's villain, not its hero, which sits in real tension with entries 30 and 31 below.
26. Òtítọ́ dọ́jà ó kùtà; owó lọ́wọ́ là ńra èké.
Literal: Òtítọ́ truth dọ́jà arrives-at-market ó kùtà it goes-unsold; owó lọ́wọ́ money in-hand là ńra èké is-what-we-use to-buy falsehood.
Idiomatic: "Truth arrives at the market but finds no buyer; it is with ready cash, though, that people buy falsehood."
Meaning: People will pay for a comfortable lie before they will take a true thing offered for free.
Used when: Owomoyela: "People appreciate falsehood more than truthfulness"
Notes: The market image turns truth into unsold merchandise, an unusually bleak commercial metaphor for a proverb tradition that elsewhere insists truth always wins in the end (compare entries 1, 3, 6, and 9). Yorùbá proverbs about truth do not resolve into one consistent doctrine, and this entry is the clearest counterweight to the optimistic ones.
27. Olóòótọ́ kì í sùn sípò ìkà.
Literal: Olóòótọ́ the-honest-person kì í sùn does-not sleep sípò ìkà in-the-place of-the-wicked-person.
Idiomatic: "The honest person will not sleep in the place prepared for the wicked person."
Meaning: Whatever an honest person's immediate troubles, they will not end up where the wicked end up.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The honest person will in the end be vindicated"
Notes: Ipò, place or position, carries the same double sense of social station and physical location seen in entry 17 of owe-iwa-character, on the good person's manner of death. The proverb circulates in an expanded form, given next.
28. Bí ó ti wù kó pẹ́ tó, olóòótọ́ ò níí sùn sípò ìkà.
Literal: Bí ó ti wù kó pẹ́ tó however-long it-may-take, olóòótọ́ the-honest-person ò níí sùn sípò ìkà will-not sleep in-the-place-of-the-wicked.
Idiomatic: "However long it takes, a truthful person will not wind up in the bed made for the wicked."
Meaning: The vindication of the honest person is guaranteed but not scheduled; the proverb explicitly allows for a long wait.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Whatever happens in the short run, in the long run the truthful person will be vindicated"
Notes: This is entry 27 with an added concessive clause, bí ó ti wù kó pẹ́ tó, that Owomoyela lists as a separate item; the addition changes the proverb from a flat assertion into an argument that anticipates the objection "but it has already taken a long time."
Consistency of word and conduct
29. Ọ̀kánkán là ńṣe ìbí; ìkọ̀kọ̀ là ńṣe ìmùlẹ̀; bí a tọ́jú ìmùlẹ̀ tán, ká tọ́jú ìbí pẹ̀lú; bí a bá kú ará ẹni ní ńsinni.
Literal: Ọ̀kánkán là ńṣe ìbí with-forthrightness we-conduct kinship-matters; ìkọ̀kọ̀ là ńṣe ìmùlẹ̀ in-secret we-conduct covenant-making; bí a tọ́jú ìmùlẹ̀ tán once we-attend-to the-covenant fully, ká tọ́jú ìbí pẹ̀lú let-us attend-to kinship also; bí a bá kú when we die ará ẹni one's-kin ní ńsinni is-who buries-one.
Idiomatic: "One conducts affairs with one's kin with forthrightness; one enters into covenants with non-relatives in secret; as one attends to one's secret compacts, one should also attend to affairs with one's kin; on the day one dies it is one's kin who attend to one's funeral."
Meaning: A person owes their outside dealings and their family dealings different registers of openness, but the family claim is never allowed to lapse in favour of the outside one.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Never neglect your kin in favor of others"
Notes: The proverb draws a real distinction between two kinds of trustworthiness, directness with kin and discretion with covenant-partners, and then insists that honouring the second must never come at the cost of the first. Relevant to owe-family-lineage-compound.
30. Àkàsọ̀ faratilẹ̀ faratilé; bí ẹni tí a fẹ̀hìntì óò bá yẹni a wí fúnni.
Literal: Àkàsọ̀ a-ladder faratilẹ̀ rests-on-the-ground faratilé leans-on-the-house; bí ẹni tí a fẹ̀hìntì if-the-one whom one leans-on óò bá yẹni would leave-one, a wí fúnni they should tell-one.
Idiomatic: "A ladder rests on the ground and leans on the house; if the person one leans on must remove his support he should warn one."
Meaning: A person one depends on owes fair warning before they withdraw that support, not silent abandonment.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A person one trusts should be completely trustworthy"
Notes: The ladder image is doubled, resting on the ground and leaning on the wall, so it names two simultaneous supports, which makes the sudden loss of either one a real fall rather than a minor inconvenience.
31. Ẹni tí ó bá máa jẹ́ Ọ̀ṣákálà a jẹ́ Ọṣákálá; ẹni tó bá máa jẹ́ Òṣokolo a jẹ́ Òṣokolo; èwo ni Ọ̀ṣákálá-ṣokolo?
Literal: Ẹni tí ó bá máa jẹ́ Ọ̀ṣákálà whoever will be-called Ọ̀ṣákálà a jẹ́ Ọṣákálá should-be-called Ọ̀ṣákálà; ẹni tó bá máa jẹ́ Òṣokolo whoever will be-called Òṣokolo a jẹ́ Òṣokolo should-be-called Òṣokolo; èwo ni Ọ̀ṣákálá-ṣokolo what-is Ọ̀ṣákálá-ṣokolo?
Idiomatic: "Whoever wants to be known as Ọ̀ṣákálá should be known as Ọ̀ṣákálá; whoever wants to be known as Òṣokolo should be known as Òṣokolo; what is the meaning of Ọ̀ṣákálá-ṣokolo?"
Meaning: A person should commit to one identity or position rather than straddling two.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should make up one's mind to be one way or the other, and not keep straddling fences"
Notes: The two names are near-homophones, which is part of the joke: the hybrid third form sounds almost plausible and that is exactly the fault being mocked, a person constructing a compromise identity that satisfies no one.
32. A-ṣọ̀tún-ṣòsì-má-ba-ibìkan-jẹ́; irọ́ la ó bàá níbẹ̀.
Literal: A-ṣọ̀tún-ṣòsì-má-ba-ibìkan-jẹ́ one-who-is-tight-with-the-right-and-tight-with-the-left-without-spoiling-either-side; irọ́ la ó bàá níbẹ̀ a-lie is-what one-will-find there.
Idiomatic: "One who is tight with the right and tight with the left without alienating either; what one will find in that characterization is a lie."
Meaning: Claiming full loyalty to both sides of a dispute at once is not possible; the claim itself is the falsehood.
Used when: Owomoyela: "There is no way to be tight with both sides of a quarrel without betraying one side"
Notes: Companion to entry 32: both proverbs attack the pose of neutrality, this one naming the pose itself a lie rather than merely an unstable position.
33. "Ọ̀ràn yí ò dùn mí": ẹ̀ẹ̀kanṣoṣo là ńwí i.
Literal: "Ọ̀ràn yí ò dùn mí" this-matter does-not hurt me: ẹ̀ẹ̀kanṣoṣo là ńwí i only-once is-how-one says it.
Idiomatic: "'This matter does not hurt me': stating it only once suffices."
Meaning: True indifference does not need repeating; repetition of a denial is itself evidence against it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "If one is indifferent to something, it should not dominate one's conversations"
Notes: A close relative of the English "the lady doth protest too much," arrived at independently through a different image; there is no evidence of borrowing either way and none is claimed here.
34. Ẹ̀wà yí kò dùn, ẹ̀wà yí kò dùn, àáṣó ìpàkọ́ ḿmì tìtì.
Literal: Ẹ̀wà yí kò dùn these-beans are-not tasty, ẹ̀wà yí kò dùn these-beans are-not tasty, àáṣó ìpàkọ́ the-coiffure at-the-nape ḿmì tìtì shakes vigorously.
Idiomatic: "These beans are not delicious, these beans are not delicious, yet the coiffure at the occiput is shaking vigorously."
Meaning: What a person's body is doing (eating eagerly) contradicts what their mouth is saying (complaining), and the body is the honest witness.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A person's actions towards a person or thing belie his or her detracting comments; if one claims to dislike something or someone, one's actions should not say the opposite"
Notes: The vigorous hair-shaking is the physical evidence of enthusiastic eating, visible from behind, which is what makes the proverb funny: the speaker cannot see their own betrayal, but everyone watching can.
Secrecy, exposure and what cannot stay hidden
35. A kì í sọ̀rọ̀ ìkọ̀kọ̀ kó má diyàn ní gba-n-gba.
Literal: A kì í sọ̀rọ̀ ìkọ̀kọ̀ one does-not speak-a-matter in-secret kó má diyàn ní gba-n-gba without-it becoming-a-dispute in-the-open.
Idiomatic: "One does not conspire in secret without the matter eventually causing a public argument."
Meaning: Secret plotting reliably surfaces as open conflict.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Whatever is done in secret soon becomes exposed"
Notes: See the closely related entries 37 and 38, which restate the same claim with different imagery; Owomoyela's collection preserves several near-duplicate phrasings of this idea, which is itself evidence of how often the point needed making.
36. Ọ̀rọ̀ ìkọ̀kọ̀, ní gba-n-gba ní ḿbọ̀.
Literal: Ọ̀rọ̀ ìkọ̀kọ̀ a-secret matter, ní gba-n-gba in-the-open ní ḿbọ̀ is-where-it-is-coming.
Idiomatic: "Secret matters have open exposure as their ultimate destination."
Meaning: Concealment is a temporary state, not a permanent one.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Whatever is done in secret will eventually be exposed"
Notes: The shortest and plainest statement of the theme in this file; compare its greater compression against entry 36's fuller narrative form.
37. Ohun tí a ò fẹ́ kéèyàn ó mọ̀ là ńṣe lábẹ́lẹ̀.
Literal: Ohun tí a ò fẹ́ the-thing that we do-not want kéèyàn ó mọ̀ people to know là ńṣe lábẹ́lẹ̀ is-what-we-do in-private.
Idiomatic: "It is what one wishes to keep a secret that one does in private."
Meaning: The act of concealment is itself an admission that the thing concealed would not survive being seen.
Used when: Owomoyela: "If one has nothing to hide, one should not do things in secret"
Notes: The proverb reasons backward from behaviour to guilt: secrecy is treated as diagnostic rather than neutral, an assumption this whole section shares.
38. Bí a bá ńyọ́lẹ̀ dà, ohun abẹ́nú a máa yọ́ni ṣe.
Literal: Bí a bá ńyọ́lẹ̀ dà if we are secretly plotting-treachery, ohun abẹ́nú the-hidden-thing a máa yọ́ni ṣe will secretly happen-to-one.
Idiomatic: "If one engages secretly in treachery, secret disasters befall one."
Meaning: Concealed wrongdoing brings concealed consequences of its own kind.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Crimes committed in secret do not go unrequited"
Notes: The proverb matches the register of the wrongdoing to the register of the punishment, secret for secret, rather than promising a public reckoning the way entries 36 to 38 do; the two ideas, hidden sins become public and hidden sins are punished in kind, sit side by side in the source without being reconciled.
39. Bí abẹ́rẹ́ bí abẹ́rẹ́ lèèyàn ńṣèké; ọjọ́ tó bá tóbi tó ọkọ́ tí a fi ńroko ní ńpani.
Literal: Bí abẹ́rẹ́ bí abẹ́rẹ́ like-a-needle like-a-needle lèèyàn ńṣèké is-how-a-person builds-up-deceit; ọjọ́ tó bá tóbi tó ọkọ́ the-day it-becomes-as-large-as a-farm-hoe tí a fi ńroko that-one-uses to-till-a-farm ní ńpani is-when-it-kills-one.
Idiomatic: "Like a needle, like a needle, one compiles falsehood; the day it is as big as the hoe one uses on a farm, that is the day it kills one."
Meaning: Small individual lies accumulate into a mass large enough to be lethal.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Small falsehoods eventually grow into a habit powerful enough to kill"
Notes: The scale runs from a needle to a hoe blade, both metal, both size-graded tools, which keeps the image consistent while the object grows; this is a more developed metaphor than most entries in the set and repays reading slowly.
Reading this set
Two tensions run through these thirty-nine proverbs and neither is resolved by the collection.
Truth's promised victory is not scheduled. Entries 1, 3, 6, 9, 27 and 28 all promise truth's eventual triumph, but entry 26, on the same authority, says truth goes unsold at market while people pay cash for lies, and entry 25 says the honest person is treated as the town's ogre. Owomoyela prints both without flagging the contradiction, which is consistent with his general caution that a proverb is selected for its occasion rather than asserted as a fixed doctrine .
Deceit is treated as structurally, not just morally, unstable. A large share of these proverbs, especially entries 10 through 18 and 36 through 40, are not moral exhortations at all but observations about mechanism: euphemism does not change a referent, secrecy invites its own discovery, the liar's fear outlives the lie. The proverb tradition is doing something closer to describing a physics of deceit than preaching against it, and that descriptive register is part of why these sayings function so well as indirect correction in conversation: nothing needs to be said about the person being corrected, only about how lying behaves.