Bí a ó ti tó kì í jẹ́ ká hùwà búburú; bí a ó ti mọ kì í jẹ́ ká hùwà rere.

Ohun tí ó túmọ̀ sí

A person's destined scope shapes the conduct they turn out to be capable of.

Ìgbà tí a ń lò ó

Owomoyela: "A person's achievements are enhanced or limited by the person's character"

Àkíyèsí lórí ìtumọ̀

Owomoyela's usage note runs the causation the opposite way from his own translation: the translation has destiny governing conduct, the note has character governing achievement. The proverb is genuinely reversible in Yorùbá because neither clause marks which term is prior, and this is one place where the collection's translation and its gloss are in visible tension. Confidence on the meaning: contested.

Nínú àkójọpọ̀ yìí

• Ìwà lẹwà.Character is beauty.
• Ìwà rere lẹ̀ṣọ́ èèyàn; ehín funfun lẹ̀ṣọ́ ẹ̀rín.Good character is a person's best adornment; white teeth are the adornment of a smile.
• Ìwà lòrìṣà; bí a ti hù ú sí ní ńgbeni sí.Character is a god; just as one lives it, so it succors one.
• Ìwà lẹ̀sìn.Character is worship.
• Ìwà kì í fi oníwà sílẹ̀.Character will not forsake its owner.
• Tìwà tìwà là ńràjò.It is in the company of one's character that one goes on a journey.