Ìwà lòrìṣà; bí a ti hù ú sí ní ńgbeni sí.
Character as the ground of a person
Ìpilẹ̀
Ìwà lòrìṣà; bí a ti hù ú sí ní ńgbeni sí.
Ìtumọ̀ ọ̀rọ̀-sí-ọ̀rọ̀
- Ìwà character lòrìṣà is-an-òrìṣà; bí a ti hù ú sí as we cultivate it ní ńgbeni sí is-how it-supports-one.
Ìtumọ̀ Gẹ̀ẹ́sì
"Character is a god; just as one lives it, so it succors one."
Orísun náà kò dárúkọ ẹni tí ó túmọ̀ rẹ̀.
Ohun tí ó túmọ̀ sí
Character functions the way a deity does: it is served, and it responds to the quality of service.
Ìgbà tí a ń lò ó
Owomoyela: "One's fortune depends on one's character"
Àkíyèsí lórí ìtumọ̀
Hù is the verb used of a plant putting out growth, so hù ìwà is to grow character rather than to have it. The proverb makes an unusually strong claim by Yorùbá standards, placing character in the category of òrìṣà, and it is one of the texts most often cited in the scholarly argument that Yorùbá ethics is not simply derived from religious command. The next entry makes the same move with ẹ̀sìn, worship.