Òwe on Work, Farming and Diligence
Sourced Yorùbá proverbs about labour, the farm and the discipline of effort, presented with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation each is spoken in.
Iṣẹ́ is work or labour, and oko is the farm, the ordinary workplace behind most of these proverbs in a society where farming was the base occupation. This file collects fifty-three proverbs in which work, the farm and the discipline of sustained effort are the subject: what the farmer's day looks like, what laziness costs, how trades and traders are judged, and what happens to a person who will not work. The proverbs treat idleness as close to a moral failing and treat the farm as the proving ground where character, not just crops, becomes visible.
How this file is sourced
All entries below are taken from Oyekan Owomoyela's digitised proverb collection The Good Person: Excerpts from the Yorùbá Proverb Treasury, hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, which prints each proverb in standard orthography with full tone marking, followed by Owomoyela's own English translation and a bracketed usage note . Where a proverb is marked , the Yorùbá text and the idiomatic English are Owomoyela's, reproduced as printed. Most entries here come from the section of that collection on perseverance, industry, resilience, self-confidence, self-reliance, resourcefulness, daring, fortitude and invulnerability, though farm and market proverbs recur throughout the collection's other thematic sections as well and some entries are drawn from those.
A small final block, marked , comes from Osoba's peer-reviewed article on the socio-pragmatic functions of Yorùbá proverbs, based on field collection at Ile-Ife, which prints Yorùbá in apostrophe-based orthography without tone marks throughout . Those entries are reproduced exactly as printed, untoned, and flagged as such.
The literal line in each record is by the compiler of this corpus, working from the printed Yorùbá and separating out the metaphor that the idiomatic rendering smooths. Where the compiler's literal reading and the source's idiomatic rendering pull in different directions, the notes field says so.
The farmer's day
1. Àgbẹ̀ gbóko róṣù.
Literal: Àgbẹ̀ the-farmer gbóko stays-on-the-farm róṣù to-see-the-moon.
Idiomatic: "A farmer stays on the farm and sees the moon."
Meaning: A conscientious farmer's day extends from dawn until moonrise.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The conscientious farmer spends long periods on the farm; persistence is the key to success"
Notes: The moon marking the end of the farmer's day, rather than sunset, is a small but exact detail: it implies the farmer is still there after the sun has gone down, not merely working a full daylight shift.
2. Àgbẹ̀ tó bá pẹ́ nílé ò níí kọ oko ọ̀sán.
Literal: Àgbẹ̀ tó bá pẹ́ nílé a-farmer who lingers at-home ò níí kọ oko ọ̀sán will-not refuse the-farm at-midday.
Idiomatic: "A farmer who tarries in the house will not object to hoeing the farm in the afternoon."
Meaning: Someone who delays the start of a task cannot then complain about having to do the hard part of it in the heat of the day.
Used when: Owomoyela: "He who dallies makes his tasks that much more difficult"
Notes: Farm labour done at midday, under full sun, is understood as the least desirable part of the day's work, so the proverb is really about the self-inflicted cost of procrastination.
3. Ìgbà tí a bá dóko làárọ̀ ẹni.
Literal: Ìgbà tí a bá dóko the-time when one arrives-at-the-farm làárọ̀ ẹni is-one's dawn.
Idiomatic: "The time of one's arrival on the farm is one's dawn."
Meaning: A person's working day begins whenever they actually start, regardless of the clock.
Used when: Owomoyela: "People must not be slaves of time but use time to their own advantage"
Notes: The proverb redefines "morning" as a functional rather than fixed category: whatever hour work starts, that hour becomes the person's own dawn, which licenses a late start without excusing an unproductive one.
4. Bí ojú bá mọ́, olówò a gbówò; ọ̀rànwú a gbé kẹ́kẹ́; ajagun a gbé apata; àgbẹ̀ a jí tòun tòrúkọ́; ọmọ ọdẹ a jí tapó tọrán; ajíwẹṣẹ a bá odò omi lọ.
Literal: Bí ojú bá mọ́ when day breaks, olówò a gbówò the-trader takes-up his-trade; ọ̀rànwú a gbé kẹ́kẹ́ the-cotton-spinner picks-up the-spindle; ajagun a gbé apata the-warrior takes-up his-shield; àgbẹ̀ a jí tòun tòrúkọ́ the-farmer rises with-himself and-his-hoe; ọmọ ọdẹ a jí tapó tọrán the-hunter's-child rises with-quiver and-bow; ajíwẹṣẹ a bá odò omi lọ he-who-rises-to-wash-with-soap goes to-the-river-water.
Idiomatic: "When day breaks, the trader takes up his trade; the cotton spinner picks up the spindle; the warrior grabs his shield; the farmer gets up with his hoe; the son of the hunter arises with his quiver and his bows; he-who-wakes-and-washes-with-soap makes his way to the river."
Meaning: Each trade has its own dawn ritual, and the day properly begins with everyone taking up the tool of their calling.
Used when: Owomoyela: "When morning comes, everybody should embark on something useful"
Notes: The proverb is a small catalogue of occupations, each announced by its characteristic implement rather than by name, which is a common device in these proverbs: the tool stands in for the trade.
5. Ilé nÌjèṣà-á ti ńmúná lọ sóko.
Literal: Ilé nÌjèṣà-á ti ńmúná it-is-from-home that-the-Ìjèṣà-person takes-fire lọ sóko to-go-to-the-farm.
Idiomatic: "It is from the home that the Ìjèṣà person takes fire to the farm."
Meaning: The prepared person arrives at the workplace already equipped, rather than expecting to improvise there.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The wise person assembles all the materials he/she will need before embarking on a venture"
Notes: The Ìjèṣà, a Yorùbá subgroup, is invoked here for self-sufficiency specifically; a close variant on the same theme, Ìjèṣà ò nídì-i ìṣáná; ilé lọmọ Ọwá ti ńfọnná lọ sóko ("The Ìjèṣà does not need matches; it is from the home that the scion of Ọwa takes burning faggots to the farm"), makes the identical point through the Ọwá, the Ìjèṣà ruling title .
6. Ọjọ́ tí a dóko là ńjìjà ilẹ̀.
Literal: Ọjọ́ tí a dóko the-day one arrives-at-the-farm là ńjìjà ilẹ̀ is-when-we contest-over land.
Idiomatic: "The day one gets to the farm is the day one fights over boundaries."
Meaning: Disputes over a task's terms should be settled at the very start, not deferred.
Used when: Owomoyela's note is a plain instruction: "Do not procrastinate"
Notes: Land-boundary disputes were a real and recurring feature of farm life, so the proverb's image is drawn from an actual, common occasion rather than an invented one, then generalised to disputes of any kind.
7. Ọjọ́ tí a ńkọ́ṣẹ́ là ńkọ́ ìyára.
Literal: Ọjọ́ tí a ńkọ́ṣẹ́ the-day one is-learning-a-trade là ńkọ́ ìyára is-when-we learn speed.
Idiomatic: "The day one learns a trade is the day one learns to be quick at it."
Meaning: Competence and speed should be learned together from the outset, not added later.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Whatever one does one should do thoroughly and expertly"
Notes: The proverb rejects a common excuse, that slowness is acceptable while still learning, and insists the standard is set from day one.
8. Òru ni ìnàhìn àgbẹ̀.
Literal: Òru night ni ìnàhìn àgbẹ̀ is the-back-stretching-time of-the-farmer.
Idiomatic: "Night time is a farmer's time to stretch the back."
Meaning: Rest for the farmer comes only after dark; the working day fills every daylight hour.
Used when: Owomoyela: "As long as the day lasts there will be work to do"
Notes: Ìnàhìn, back-stretching, names the specific physical relief of straightening up after a day bent over farm work, so the proverb is concrete about the farmer's body, not just abstract about hours.
9. Oòrùn ò pa ọ́, òjò ò pa ọ́, o ní ò ńṣiṣẹ́ ajé.
Literal: Oòrùn ò pa ọ́ the-sun does-not strike-you, òjò ò pa ọ́ the-rain does-not strike-you, o ní ò ńṣiṣẹ́ ajé yet-you say you-are doing gainful-work.
Idiomatic: "The sun does not beat you, the rain does not beat you, and yet you say you are engaged in a gainful pursuit."
Meaning: Real productive labour exposes a person to the weather; someone untouched by sun or rain is not actually doing the work they claim.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Profitable labor is seldom pleasurable"
Notes: The proverb uses physical exposure as evidence, treating a comfortable claim to be "working" with open suspicion, since genuine farm labour cannot be done in comfort.
10. Ọdọọdún làgbẹ̀ ńníyì.
Literal: Ọdọọdún every-year làgbẹ̀ ńníyì is-when-the-farmer has-honour.
Idiomatic: "It is every year that the farmer receives praise."
Meaning: The farmer's recognition is renewed annually, tied to each year's harvest.
Used when: Owomoyela's note frames it as a blessing formula: a statement or prayer that a person will receive perennial praise, just as the annual harvest brings praise to the farmer .
Notes: Unlike most proverbs in this file, which describe or instruct, this one is used performatively as a wish spoken over someone, which the usage note makes explicit.
11. Ìpọ́njú àgbẹ̀ ò ju ọdún kan.
Literal: Ìpọ́njú àgbẹ̀ the-farmer's hardship ò ju ọdún kan does-not exceed one year.
Idiomatic: "A farmer's suffering will not last longer than a year."
Meaning: Hardship tied to the agricultural cycle has a natural endpoint at harvest.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Every reversal has its end"
Notes: The proverb's comfort is structural rather than sentimental: it works because the farm year genuinely has a fixed length, and the promise of relief is therefore literal, not merely hopeful.
12. Oṣù mẹ́ta lebi ńpàgbẹ̀.
Literal: Oṣù mẹ́ta three months lebi ńpàgbẹ̀ is-how-long hunger afflicts-the-farmer.
Idiomatic: "The farmer's hunger lasts only three months."
Meaning: The lean season before harvest, when a farmer's own stores may run low, is bounded and temporary.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The hardship an industrious person experiences does not last long"
Notes: This is a more specific version of entry 11's claim, naming the length in months rather than the round figure of a year, and it is consistent with the actual agricultural calendar rather than a rhetorical exaggeration.
Laziness and its wages
13. Ìròjú baba ọ̀lẹ.
Literal: Ìròjú shirking, procrastination-in-work baba ọ̀lẹ is-the-father-of laziness.
Idiomatic: "Shirking work is the father of laziness."
Meaning: The habit of shirking is what produces a lazy person, not the reverse.
Used when: Owomoyela's note ranks the two: "The person who will not work is worse than a lazy person"
Notes: By making shirking the parent of laziness rather than a symptom of it, the proverb treats the avoidance of work as the more fundamental and more culpable fault.
14. Iṣẹ́ ọ̀gẹrọ̀ lọ̀lẹ́ mọ̀-ọ́ ṣe; kò jẹ́ wá iṣẹ́ agbára.
Literal: Iṣẹ́ ọ̀gẹrọ̀ light, undemanding work lọ̀lẹ́ mọ̀-ọ́ ṣe is-what-the-lazy-person knows to-do; kò jẹ́ wá iṣẹ́ agbára he-does-not seek-out work-of strength.
Idiomatic: "The lazy person knows how to do only things that call for little effort; he/she never seeks out work that demands strength."
Meaning: Laziness shows not as total inactivity but as a consistent preference for the easiest available task.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Said of those who always seek the easiest way out of a dilemma"
Notes: The proverb refines the picture of laziness: it is not idleness as such but a systematic avoidance of demanding work while still performing light work, which is a sharper and less forgiving diagnosis than simple sloth.
15. Iṣẹ́-ajé-ò-gbé-bòji, ọmọ ẹ̀ Òjíkùtù.
Literal: Iṣẹ́-ajé-ò-gbé-bòji work-for-gain-does-not-stay-in-the-shade, ọmọ ẹ̀ its child Òjíkùtù is-named First-Up-At-Dawn.
Idiomatic: "Gainful-work-does-not-keep-to-the-shade; his/her child is named First-up-at-dawn."
Meaning: Real productive work does not happen in comfort, and it produces early rising as its natural offspring.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Success in life calls for self-sacrifice"
Notes: The proverb personifies "gainful work" as a parent naming a child after its own defining habit, a construction that treats an abstract virtue as a lineage-founder in exactly the way owe-family-lineage-compound documents Yorùbá names doing for real households.
16. Ìyà tó ńjẹ ọ̀lẹ ò kéré; a-lápá-má-ṣiṣẹ́.
Literal: Ìyà tó ńjẹ ọ̀lẹ the-suffering that-afflicts the-lazy-person ò kéré is-not small; a-lápá-má-ṣiṣẹ́ one-who-has-arms-that-will-not-work.
Idiomatic: "The malaise that afflicts the lazy person is not trifling; one-who-has-arms-that-will-not-work."
Meaning: Laziness is itself a serious affliction, not a minor character flaw.
Used when: Owomoyela's note states it flatly: "Laziness is a great affliction"
Notes: The closing compressed nominal, a-lápá-má-ṣiṣẹ́, describes arms that exist but refuse their function, which frames laziness as a kind of self-inflicted disability rather than simple unwillingness.
17. Bí ebí bá ńpa ọ̀lẹ, à jẹ́ kó kú.
Literal: Bí ebí bá ńpa ọ̀lẹ if hunger is-killing a-lazy-person, à jẹ́ kó kú let-us allow him-to die.
Idiomatic: "If a lazy person is suffering from hunger, he/she should be left to die."
Meaning: Hunger brought on by refusal to work does not merit rescue.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Shiftless people deserve no sympathy"
Notes: This is among the harshest proverbs in the file, withholding even the household's ordinary obligation to feed its members; it is best read as a rhetorical extreme used to shame, not as literal counsel to let anyone starve.
18. Òṣìṣẹ́ lọ̀tá ọ̀lẹ.
Literal: Òṣìṣẹ́ the-industrious-person lọ̀tá ọ̀lẹ is-the-enemy-of the-lazy-person.
Idiomatic: "The industrious person is the enemy of the shiftless person."
Meaning: A hardworking person's presence exposes a lazy person's failure by comparison, and is resented for it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "People with flaws hate those who might show them up"
Notes: The "enmity" here is not aggression from the industrious party; it is resentment felt by the lazy one, so the proverb is really a comment on how comparison itself functions as an accusation.
19. Òṣìṣẹ́ wà lóòrùn; ẹní máa jẹ́ wà níbòji.
Literal: Òṣìṣẹ́ wà lóòrùn the-labourer is in-the-sun; ẹní máa jẹ́ wà níbòji the-one-who-will-benefit is in-the-shade.
Idiomatic: "The laborer is in the sun; the person who will reap the fruit is in the shade."
Meaning: Those who do the work and those who benefit from it are often not the same people.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Quite often those who labor are not the ones who reap the fruits of the labor"
Notes: A close variant substitutes traders for labourers, Oníṣòwò wà lóòrùn; náwónáwó wà níbòji, "The person who does the trading is in the sun; the person who spends the money is in the shade," with the usage note criticising "people who expend no effort but take advantage of other people's exertions" The sun-and-shade image recurs across both as the fixed shorthand for exposure to labour versus insulation from it.
20. Bí ilẹ̀-ẹ́ bá mọ́, ojú orun lọ̀lẹ ńwà.
Literal: Bí ilẹ̀-ẹ́ bá mọ́ when the-ground/day breaks, ojú orun the-face-of sleep lọ̀lẹ ńwà is-where the-lazy-person is-found.
Idiomatic: "When day breaks the lazy person will still be asleep."
Meaning: The lazy person is defined by missing the start of the working day that everyone else takes up.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Lazy people will not rouse themselves to do an honest day's work"
Notes: Read directly against entry 4's catalogue of every trade rising at daybreak, this proverb names the one figure conspicuously absent from that list.
21. Bí ojúmọ́ mọ́ lékèélékèé a yalé ẹlẹ́fun, agbe a yalé aláró, àlùkò a yalé olósùn.
Literal: Bí ojúmọ́ mọ́ when day breaks lékèélékèé the-cattle-egret a yalé ẹlẹ́fun heads-for-the-home of-the-chalk-dealer, agbe the-blue-touraco a yalé aláró heads-for-the-home of-the-indigo-dealer, àlùkò the-purple-àlúkò-bird a yalé olósùn heads-for-the-home of-the-camwood-dealer.
Idiomatic: "When day dawns the cattle egret makes for the home of the dealer in chalk, the blue touraco heads for the home of the indigo dealer, the purple àlúkò bird seeks out the dealer in camwood resin."
Meaning: Diligent creatures go straight to their proper business at first light, each to the trade matching its own colouring.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Diligent people never dally in pursuing their trade"
Notes: Each bird is matched to a dye-seller whose product resembles the bird's own colouring, white, blue, and reddish-brown respectively, so the image is doing double duty: describing punctuality and displaying a small piece of natural-history wordplay at once.
22. Ọlọgbọ́n kì í kú sóko ọ̀lẹ; bí ọlọgbọ́n bá kú sóko ọ̀lẹ, ọ̀ràn náà-á nídìí.
Literal: Ọlọgbọ́n kì í kú the-wise-person does-not die sóko ọ̀lẹ on-the-farm of-a-lazy-person; bí ọlọgbọ́n bá kú sóko ọ̀lẹ if a-wise-person dies on-a-lazy-person's-farm, ọ̀ràn náà-á nídìí that matter has-a-reason-behind-it.
Idiomatic: "The wise will not die on a farm for the lazy; if a wise person dies on a farm for the lazy, there must be some explanation."
Meaning: A capable person does not normally exhaust themselves labouring on behalf of someone who will not work; if it happens, something unusual is going on.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The resourceful person will always find a way out of a predicament"
Notes: The proverb's structure, stating the rule and then immediately allowing for its exception, is a common shape in this corpus and signals that the "rule" is really a strong expectation rather than an absolute.
23. Kí á gbé ọkọ́ so sájà ká pète ìmẹ́lẹ́; ojúgun-ún yó tán ó fikùn sẹ́hìn.
Literal: Kí á gbé ọkọ́ so sájà to hang-up the-hoe in-the-rafters ká pète ìmẹ́lẹ́ and plot to-shirk-work; ojúgun-ún yó tán the-shin has-eaten-its-fill and ó fikùn sẹ́hìn it-has-put a-belly on-its-back.
Idiomatic: "Hiding the hoe in the loft and contriving to shirk work; the shin ate its fill and developed a stomach at its back."
Meaning: Someone who avoids work still expects to eat well, an absurd combination the proverb pictures as a leg growing a paunch.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Said of people who shirk work but eagerly partake of the rewards"
Notes: The image of a shin developing a belly is a deliberately grotesque impossibility, used to mock the equally impossible expectation of reward without labour.
24. Ó gbọ́ tiyán sògìrì mọ́dìí; o gbọ́ toko sọ àdá nù.
Literal: Ó gbọ́ tiyán he heard about-pounded-yam sògìrì mọ́dìí he-girded cooked-melon-seeds around-his-waist; o gbọ́ toko he heard about-farm-work sọ àdá nù he-threw the-cutlass away.
Idiomatic: "On hearing about pounded yam he girded himself with cooked melon seeds for stew seasoning; on hearing about farm work he threw his cutlass away."
Meaning: The lazy person prepares eagerly for eating and refuses even to be equipped for work.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The lazy person will eagerly heed the summons to eat, but not to work"
Notes: The two reactions are staged as mirror images, girding oneself for one call and discarding one's tool at the other, which makes the contrast visual rather than merely stated.
25. Ọ̀lẹ́ fẹ́ àrùn kù, ó bú pùrù sẹ́kún.
Literal: Ọ̀lẹ́ fẹ́ àrùn kù the-lazy-person wants illness remaining, ó bú pùrù sẹ́kún he bursts suddenly into-weeping.
Idiomatic: "The lazy person cannot find a disease to contract, he bursts into tears."
Meaning: A lazy person is so desperate to avoid work that the absence of a plausible excuse, such as sickness, reduces him to open weeping.
Used when: Owomoyela's note is blunt: "A lazy person will rather catch a disease than submit to work"
Notes: The proverb's comedy is in the specificity: not merely avoiding work, but actively wishing for illness as a legitimate pretext, and being distressed at having none available.
26. Ọ̀lẹ́ mọ èèwọ̀ ìjà: ó ní bàbá òún ní kóun má jà lọ́nà oko.
Literal: Ọ̀lẹ́ mọ èèwọ̀ ìjà the-coward knows the-taboo of-fighting: ó ní bàbá òún ní he says his-father told kóun má jà lọ́nà oko him-not to-fight on-the-farm-road.
Idiomatic: "The coward knows the preventive for fighting: he says his father has ordered him not to fight on the way to the farm."
Meaning: A person unwilling to work or fight invents a plausible-sounding prohibition to excuse himself.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The coward will use every excuse to get out of a fight"
Notes: Ọ̀lẹ́ here does double duty, as elsewhere in the corpus, between "lazy person" and "coward," and Owomoyela's translation chooses "coward" for this entry specifically because the excuse concerns fighting rather than farm labour, even though the same word covers both failings.
27. Kantí-kantí ní ká wá ǹkan dí agbè lẹ́nu kí ǹkankan má kòó sí i; eṣinṣín ńpọntí; ekòló ńṣú ọ̀lẹ̀lẹ̀.
Literal: Eṣinṣín ńpọntí the-fly is-brewing-palm-wine; ekòló ńṣú ọ̀lẹ̀lẹ̀ the-earthworm is-steaming bean-cakes; kantí-kantí ní ká wá ǹkan dí agbè lẹ́nu the-sugar-fly says let-us-find something to-plug the-gourd's-mouth kí ǹkankan má kòó sí i so-that-nothing falls-into it.
Idiomatic: "The fly is procuring wine while the worm is cooking bean-meal, and the sugar-fly asks them to find something to cork the gourd so nothing would enter into it."
Meaning: An idler contributes nothing to a joint effort and instead invents busywork that only interferes with those who are actually producing something.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The idler seeks to find more work for those already fully and usefully employed"
Notes: All three insects are named as if running a small household economy, and the sugar-fly's "contribution," plugging the gourd, actively obstructs rather than helps, which is the whole joke.
Trades, traders and the market
28. Àbọ̀ṣẹ́ kì í ṣe iṣẹ́ òòjọ́; iṣẹ́-ẹ baba ẹni ní ńgbani lọ́jọ́ gan-an.
Literal: Àbọ̀ṣẹ́ spare-time-work kì í ṣe iṣẹ́ òòjọ́ is-not a-daily profession; iṣẹ́-ẹ baba ẹni one's-father's assignment ní ńgbani lọ́jọ́ gan-an is-what truly takes-up-one's-whole-day.
Idiomatic: "Spare-time work is no profession; it is an assignment from one's father that takes all of one's day."
Meaning: A hobby pursued in idle moments does not count as a livelihood; a real occupation demands the whole of one's time.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One does not waste one's time on trifles or hobbies"
Notes: Naming the father's assignment specifically situates real work inside the household economy, where a son's labour was owed to and directed by the head of the compound, consistent with what owe-family-lineage-compound documents about filial labour obligations.
29. Àjẹkù làgbẹ̀ ńtà.
Literal: Àjẹkù the-leftovers làgbẹ̀ ńtà is-what-the-farmer sells.
Idiomatic: "It is the leavings from his table that the farmer sells."
Meaning: A producer keeps the best of what they make for their own use and only sells the surplus.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One takes care of one's needs before one disposes of the excess"
Notes: The proverb states a rule of prudent household economy through the specific figure of the farmer, whose product is visible and countable in a way that makes the principle easy to see.
30. Àjàpá ní kò sí ohun tó dà bí ohun tí a mọ̀ ọ́ṣe; ó ní bí òún bá ńrìn lóko ẹ̀pà, ọ̀kọ̀ọ̀kan a máa bọ́ sóun lẹ́nu.
Literal: Àjàpá ní Tortoise says kò sí ohun tó dà bí ohun tí a mọ̀ ọ́ṣe there-is-nothing like a-thing one knows-how-to-do; ó ní bí òún bá ńrìn lóko ẹ̀pà he-says when he walks through a-peanut-farm, ọ̀kọ̀ọ̀kan a máa bọ́ sóun lẹ́nu one-by-one they pop into-his mouth.
Idiomatic: "Tortoise says there is nothing quite like what one knows how to do; it says when it walks through a peanut farm, peanuts keep popping one by one into its mouth."
Meaning: True mastery of a skill makes its results look effortless, almost automatic.
Used when: Owomoyela: "When one does what one is a true expert at doing, it seems like performing magic"
Notes: Àjàpá, the tortoise, is the trickster figure throughout this proverb tradition, so his boast here is characteristically self-serving even while the observation itself, that expertise looks like magic, stands on its own.
31. Ìdí òwò ni òwòó gbé tà.
Literal: Ìdí òwò the-base/foundation of-a-trade ni òwòó gbé tà is-where the-trade thrives-and-sells.
Idiomatic: "It is at its home base that a company or trade prospers."
Meaning: A business does best where it is rooted, among the customers and connections that established it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One would be wise to protect one's base"
Notes: Ìdí, base or foundation, is the same word used elsewhere in the corpus for the structural support of a building or a relationship, which frames a trade's home market as load-bearing rather than incidental.
32. Elékuru kì í kiri lóko.
Literal: Elékuru the-seller-of-steamed-bean-cakes kì í kiri lóko does-not hawk-her-wares on-a-farm.
Idiomatic: "The seller of steamed ground beans does not hawk her wares on a farm."
Meaning: A seller does not waste effort offering goods where the people already produce that very good themselves.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One wastes one's time attempting to sell things to those who produce them"
Notes: Beans are a staple farm crop, so a bean-cake seller on a farm is trying to sell to the very people least likely to need to buy, which is the precise economic error the proverb names.
33. Ẹ̀ni tí a bá ḿbá nájà là ńwò, a kì í wo ariwo ọjà.
Literal: Ẹ̀ni tí a bá ḿbá nájà the-person one is-bargaining-with-at-market là ńwò is-what-we watch, a kì í wo ariwo ọjà one does-not watch the-noise of-the-market.
Idiomatic: "One pays attention to the person with whom one is bargaining, not to the commotion of the market place."
Meaning: In a negotiation, attend to the counterpart, not the surrounding distraction.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should keep one's mind on one's business and leave extraneous matters aside"
Notes: The market, elsewhere in this corpus a site of general social observation, is here narrowed to its transactional function, and the proverb insists on that narrower focus during an actual negotiation.
34. Òwò tí a ó ṣe là ńtọ́jú; Òjí fabẹ họra.
Literal: Òwò tí a ó ṣe the-trade one will practise là ńtọ́jú is-what-one takes-care-of; Òjí fabẹ họra Òjí uses-a-razor to-scratch-his-body.
Idiomatic: "The trade one will pursue is the one one protects; Òjí scratches his body with a razor."
Meaning: People maintain and keep close the tools of the trade they actually intend to practise.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The gadgets people favor give away the trade they pursue"
Notes: Òjí, likely a barber by the razor detail, is offered as a concrete illustration of the general claim: what a person keeps sharp and ready reveals their real occupation, even one as mundane as scratching an itch with the tool of the trade.
35. Bí kò bá sí oníṣẹ́ iṣẹ́ ò leè lọ; bí kò bá sí ọlọ́wẹ̀ a kì í ṣọ̀wẹ̀; àkẹ̀hìnsí ọlọ́wẹ̀ là ńṣípá.
Literal: Bí kò bá sí oníṣẹ́ if the-owner-of-the-job is-absent iṣẹ́ ò leè lọ work cannot proceed; bí kò bá sí ọlọ́wẹ̀ if the-one-who-engaged-help is-absent a kì í ṣọ̀wẹ̀ no communal-help is-rendered; àkẹ̀hìnsí ọlọ́wẹ̀ the-moment-the-back-is-turned of-the-one-who-engaged-help là ńṣípá is-when-we lift-our-hands from-the-work.
Idiomatic: "If the owner of the job is absent the job does not progress; if the person who engaged the help is absent no help is given; when the back of the person who engaged help is turned, one lifts one's hands from the job."
Meaning: Hired or communal labour proceeds only under direct supervision and stops the moment the supervisor's attention is elsewhere.
Used when: Owomoyela: "The employee is most industrious when under the supervision of the employer"
Notes: The proverb describes a specific labour arrangement, ọ̀wẹ̀, communal or reciprocal work parties, rather than wage labour generally, and its observation about supervision is offered as a fact about how such arrangements actually function, not as praise for the workers involved.
36. Èrò kì í jẹ́wọ́-ọ "Mo tà tán."
Literal: Èrò kì í jẹ́wọ́-ọ the-trader does-not confess "Mo tà tán." "I have sold everything."
Idiomatic: "The trader never confesses, 'I sold all my wares.'"
Meaning: A trader will not openly admit to having done unusually well.
Used when: Owomoyela: "People are ever loath to disclose the extent of their good fortune"
Notes: The reluctance described is presented as standard market etiquette rather than dishonesty as such, consistent with the broader Yorùbá caution against inviting envy by advertising success.
37. Ọ̀wọ́n yúnlé, ọ̀pọ̀-ọ́ yúnjà.
Literal: Ọ̀wọ́n yúnlé the-scarce-and-costly heads-to-the-home, ọ̀pọ̀-ọ́ yúnjà the-plentiful-and-cheap heads-to-the-market.
Idiomatic: "Expensive commodities come to the home; inexpensive ones go to the market."
Meaning: Overpriced goods find no buyers in the open market and are instead sold privately, at home, if at all.
Used when: Owomoyela: "If one overprices one's goods one will find no takers"
Notes: The proverb reports the practical consequence of overpricing without moralising about it: the goods do not vanish, they simply move to a smaller, less competitive channel.
Diligence, industry and the reward of effort
38. Ẹ̀ni tí ó bá ní ìtara ló ní àtètèbá.
Literal: Ẹ̀ni tí ó bá ní ìtara whoever has enthusiasm/eagerness ló ní àtètèbá is-who has the-early-arrival's-share.
Idiomatic: "It is the industrious person that wins the spoils."
Meaning: Eagerness and application, not luck, determine who benefits.
Used when: Owomoyela's note states the general principle: "Industry ensures success"
Notes: Àtètèbá, literally "the early-one's find," names the specific advantage of arriving first, so the proverb links diligence to being first on the scene rather than to sheer hours spent working.
39. "Bùn mi níṣu kan" kì í ṣáájú "Ẹ̀kú oko òo."
Literal: "Bùn mi níṣu kan" "give me one yam" kì í ṣáájú does-not precede "Ẹ̀kú oko òo." "greetings to you on the farm."
Idiomatic: "'Give me one yam' does not precede 'Greetings to you on the farm.'"
Meaning: A request is not proper etiquette until the courtesy of a greeting has been offered first.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One does not ask a favor of, or transact any business with any person without first exchanging pleasantries with the person"
Notes: The farm greeting Ẹ̀kú oko, "well done at the farm," is a fixed courtesy formula addressed to anyone encountered at their work, and the proverb uses its correct sequencing, greeting before request, as the model for all proper social approach, business included.
40. Orí iṣẹ́ laago ńkú lé.
Literal: Orí iṣẹ́ at-the-head-of work laago ńkú lé is-where the-clock dies upon.
Idiomatic: "It is while at work that a clock dies."
Meaning: One should be found still working when time runs out, not idle.
Used when: Owomoyela's note reads it as "a vow never to stop working until death"
Notes: The clock "dying" stands for the end of allotted time or of life itself, and the proverb is unusual in this file for being spoken as a personal vow rather than a description or reproach of someone else.
41. A níṣẹ́ iṣẹ́ ẹ, o ní ò ńlọ sóko; bó o bá lọ sóko ò ḿbọ̀ wá bá a nílé.
Literal: A níṣẹ́ iṣẹ́ ẹ one-is-told a-job is-yours, o ní ò ńlọ sóko you say you-are-going to-the-farm; bó o bá lọ sóko even-if you go to-the-farm ò ḿbọ̀ wá bá a nílé it will-come to-meet you at-home.
Idiomatic: "You are told that a job is your responsibility and you say you are on your way to the farm; you may be on your way to the farm, but the job will be there on your return."
Meaning: An obligation cannot be escaped by leaving; it simply waits for the person's return.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One may devise stratagems to defer carrying out one's duties, but they are unlikely to make others carry them out"
Notes: The farm here functions as an excuse rather than a genuine competing obligation, so the proverb is really about deferral tactics in general, using the farm as the plausible cover story of the moment.
42. A kì í mú oko mú ẹjọ́ kí ọ̀kan má yẹ̀.
Literal: A kì í mú oko one does-not take-up the-farm mú ẹjọ́ and-take-up a-court-case kí ọ̀kan má yẹ̀ such-that neither is-neglected.
Idiomatic: "One does not opt to work on the farm and also opt to go argue one's case and avoid neglecting one or the other."
Meaning: A person cannot give full attention to two demanding, mutually exclusive undertakings at the same time.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One cannot do two mind-absorbing tasks at once"
Notes: Farm work and a court case are chosen as the paired example because both were understood as requiring a person's whole attention over a sustained period; a close variant, A kì í múlé móko kọ́kan má yẹ̀ ("One does not devote oneself to the home and devote oneself to the farm and not wind up neglecting one of them"), makes the identical structural point with home and farm rather than farm and litigation .
43. Ẹ̀rúkọ́ ńṣe bí ọkọ́.
Literal: Ẹ̀rúkọ́ the-haft-of-the-hoe ńṣe bí ọkọ́ is-behaving like the-hoe.
Idiomatic: "The haft of the hoe is behaving like a hoe."
Meaning: A subordinate part or person is acting as if it were the whole, more important thing.
Used when: Owomoyela: "A certain person is putting on airs to which he or she is not entitled"
Notes: The hoe is only useful because of its blade; the haft is merely what the hand grips, so the image is precise about which part of the tool actually does the work of farming and which part is claiming credit.
44. Ọkọ́ ọlọ́kọ́ la fi ńgbọ́n èkìtì.
Literal: Ọkọ́ ọlọ́kọ́ another-person's hoe la fi ńgbọ́n èkìtì is-what-we-use to-clear a-mound-of-rubbish.
Idiomatic: "It is other people's hoe that one uses to clear a mound of rubbish."
Meaning: People are more careless with tools and effort that are not their own than with their own property.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One is usually more respectful of one's own property than of others'"
Notes: The proverb is descriptive of a common human tendency rather than an instruction, and it implicitly warns anyone lending tools what to expect.
45. Kí a máa re tábà ká máa wòkè, kọ́jọ́ tó kanrí ká wo oye ìka tí yó kù.
Literal: Kí a máa re tábà let-us keep cutting tobacco-leaves ká máa wòkè while looking-up, kọ́jọ́ tó kanrí until-the-day reaches-its-head ká wo oye ìka tí yó kù and-we-see how-many fingers will-remain.
Idiomatic: "Let us keep on cutting tobacco leaves to pieces while looking up, and let us see at day's end how many fingers will be left."
Meaning: Performing dangerous, exacting work while distracted invites injury, made vivid by imagining the day's toll in lost fingers.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One should pay close attention when one is engaged in dangerous work"
Notes: The image is darkly practical rather than hypothetical: tobacco-cutting with a blade is genuinely hazardous close work, and the "count your fingers at day's end" framing turns a safety warning into something closer to gallows humour.
46. Bí a kò ṣe ọdẹ rí, a kò lè mọ ẹsẹ̀-ẹ kò-lọ-ibẹ̀un.
Literal: Bí a kò ṣe ọdẹ rí if one has-never been-a-hunter, a kò lè mọ ẹsẹ̀-ẹ kò-lọ-ibẹ̀un one cannot know the-tracks-of it-did-not-go-that-way.
Idiomatic: "If one has never hunted, one would not know the tracks of 'it-did-not-go-that-way.'"
Meaning: Reading the specialised signs of a trade is a skill only its practitioners possess.
Used when: Owomoyela: "One is an ignoramus in a trade that is not one's own"
Notes: The compressed nominal ẹsẹ̀-ẹ kò-lọ-ibẹ̀un, "the tracks of it-did-not-go-that-way," names a specific piece of hunting lore, the reading of tracks that rule out a direction, and the proverb's whole force rests on the outsider not even knowing that such a category of sign exists.
47. Ọ̀ràn-an-yàn ò sí nínúu iyánrán.
Literal: Ọ̀ràn-an-yàn the-matter-of-choosing ò sí nínúu iyánrán is-not present in-voluntary-work.
Idiomatic: "There is no compulsion in voluntary work."
Meaning: Work freely offered cannot afterward be treated as an obligation owed.
Used when: Owomoyela's note is direct: "Volunteering is not an obligation"
Notes: This proverb sits in productive tension with entries 35 and 4, which describe work as sharply bound by supervision and social role; here the proverb marks out a category, freely offered labour, that those binding expectations do not reach.
48. Ṣiṣe-é rorò, jíjẹ ọ̀fẹ́.
Literal: Ṣiṣe-é rorò working is-harsh, jíjẹ ọ̀fẹ́ eating for-free.
Idiomatic: "Working is difficult; one would rather freeload."
Meaning: Work is hard, and the temptation to live off others without contributing is real and common.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Few people enjoy labor; all would like to live the good life for free"
Notes: Unlike most proverbs in this file, which condemn laziness outright, this one concedes the underlying temptation as ordinary and near-universal before the rest of the collection goes on to condemn acting on it.
49. Bí a kò bá gbọ́n ju àparò oko ẹni lọ, a kì í pa á.
Literal: Bí a kò bá gbọ́n if one is-not clever ju àparò oko ẹni lọ surpassing 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."
Meaning: Success against a challenge requires outmatching it, not merely opposing it.
Used when: Owomoyela: "To succeed one must be more clever than one's adversary"
Notes: The partridge appears repeatedly in this corpus as farmland vermin clever enough to evade capture, so invoking it specifically, rather than a generic pest, draws on an established figure the audience would recognise as a genuine test of cunning.
50. Bí a kò ránni sọ́jà, ọjà kì í ránni sílé.
Literal: Bí a kò ránni sọ́jà if one does-not send-word to-the-market, ọjà kì í ránni sílé the-market does-not send-word to-one at-home.
Idiomatic: "If one does not send a message to the market, the market does not send a message to one at home."
Meaning: Opportunity and reward do not seek out the passive; a person must reach toward them first.
Used when: Owomoyela: "Unless one makes an effort, one cannot expect rewards"
Notes: The market is personified as a correspondent who will not initiate contact, reversing the more common image elsewhere in this corpus of money or wealth as an agent that comes looking for its owner.
Untoned sources
The three proverbs in this section come from a source that prints Yorùbá without tone marks, using apostrophe orthography. They are reproduced in that state. No diacritics have been supplied, because supplying them would supply a reading the source did not authorise.
51. Oju Oloko ni agbado se Igbo.
Literal: Oju Oloko in-the-sight-of the-farmer ni agbado se Igbo is-where corn ripens fully.
Idiomatic: "Corn becomes ripe while the farmer is yet living."
Meaning: A farmer sees his crop reach maturity, offered as a small statement about a labourer living to witness the fruit of his own effort.
Used when: Osoba cites this alongside a comparable proverb about a knife not shaping its own already-fitted handle, as an example of literal-form proverbs that "present the thought in a simple, direct and straightforward way"
Notes: Osoba's discussion treats this proverb primarily as an example of proverb form (the literal, non-figurative type) rather than glossing its social use in detail, so the usage note here reflects the compiler's inference from the plain sense of the text rather than an explicit usage gloss from the source. Confidence on usage: medium.
52. Gidigidi ko m'ola, ka sise bi eru ko da nkan.
Literal: Gidigidi restless-scurrying-effort ko m'ola does-not know-tomorrow's-prosperity, ka sise bi eru to work like a-slave ko da nkan does-not amount-to-anything.
Idiomatic: "Restless efforts are not criteria for one to be rich, working like a slave does not make one become important."
Meaning: Frantic activity and hard labour on their own do not guarantee wealth or standing.
Used when: Cited as a caution against equating visible busyness with genuine prosperity or importance.
Notes: This proverb closely parallels Owomoyela's toned Gìdì-gìdì ò mọ́là; ká ṣiṣẹ́ bí ẹrú ò da nǹkan, "Scurrying around does not ensure prosperity; working like a slave results in nothing," recorded with the usage note "One does not necessarily prosper by working oneself to death" It is treated here as an independent, separately field-collected attestation rather than silently merged with the toned version, since Osoba's text is untoned and the two are not verified to be identical letter for letter. This entry is also cited in owe-wealth-poverty-money for its bearing on wealth specifically; it appears again here for its equally direct bearing on labour and effort.
53. Alagbara ma mero baba ole.
Literal: Alagbara the-strong-and-capable-person ma mero who-does-not-think/plan baba ole is-no-better-than a-lazy-person.
Idiomatic: "A thoughtless hardworking man is not better than a lazy man."
Meaning: Physical strength or capacity for labour, exercised without judgement, does not outrank laziness in outcome.
Used when: Cited as a caution that raw diligence without thought is not by itself praiseworthy.
Notes: This proverb qualifies nearly every other entry in this file: where the rest of the collection treats industriousness as an unqualified good measured against laziness, this one insists that unthinking effort is no real improvement, which is a distinct and less common position within the sourced material.
Reading this set
Three observations specific to this theme.
The farm is treated as a moral proving ground, not merely a workplace. A person's character becomes visible there in a way it might not elsewhere: entry 20 catches the lazy person by their conspicuous absence from the dawn scene every other trade populates; entry 2 shows procrastination compounding its own cost; entry 6 uses the farm as the place where disputes must be settled honestly and promptly. The farm functions in these proverbs the way the household compound functions in owe-family-lineage-compound, as a site where conduct is read as evidence about the person.
Laziness is treated as a serious affliction, argued about rather than simply mocked. Most entries in the "Laziness and its wages" section state the harshest possible view, that the lazy deserve no sympathy (entry 17) and that laziness itself is a great and real suffering (entry 16). But entry 48 concedes that the underlying wish to avoid hard work is ordinary and near-universal, and entry 53 goes further, denying that unthinking hard work is even better than laziness. The collection does not resolve this into one consistent doctrine of labour; it offers a set of tools for different occasions, exactly as owe-iwa-character documents for proverbs on character generally.
Trades are described through their tools and their characteristic hour, not through abstract praise of "hard work." The farmer is identified by the hoe, the trader by the sun on his back, the diligent bird by the dye-seller's door it makes for at dawn. This corpus's proverbs on work rarely moralise about diligence in the abstract; they specify exactly which implement, which hour, and which visible sign marks a person as industrious or idle, which is consistent with the concrete, occasion-bound character of Yorùbá proverb speech documented across this whole file series.