Twenty Yorùbá proverbs on odò (the river), showing it as the standard image of an invincible or fearsome adversary, a boundary that reveals character in the crossing, and a site of caution before commitment.
Odò is the river, and across Owomoyela's collection it recurs as the standard figure for an overwhelming or fearsome force, something one enters at real risk and should study carefully before committing to. Rivers and lagoons in Yorùbá religious geography are also the domain of specific òrìṣà, Ọ̀ṣun and Yemọja among the best known, treated at length elsewhere in this corpus; the proverbs collected here are secular in their stated use, arguments about caution, courage, and proportion, though several assume a hearer's awareness of river-associated spirits in the background. This file gathers twenty such proverbs.
Literal: Àgbà tí kò mọ ìwọ̀n ara-a rẹ̀ an-elder who does-not know his-own-measure lodò ń gbé lọ is-whom the-river carries-off.
Idiomatic: "It is an elder who does not know his limitations that is washed away by a river."
Meaning: The river punishes precisely the failure to know one's own limits.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "Elders who cannot swim will be cautious near rivers"
Notes: The river functions here as a literal, practical hazard, drowning, rather than only as metaphor, and the proverb's force depends on that literalness: self-knowledge is not abstract wisdom but the concrete judgement of whether one can swim.
Source: Owomoyela 113.
Literal: Odò kékeré a-small stream lalákàn-án ti lè fọ epo is-where-the-crab can make-its-oil; bó bá di àgàdàgbá tán if-it-becomes huge-and-swift, odò a gbé alákàn lọ the-river will-sweep the-crab-away.
Idiomatic: "It is only in a small stream that the crab can make its oil; when it becomes huge and swift, the river sweeps the crab away."
Meaning: What is manageable at small scale becomes dangerous once conditions grow beyond that scale; ease in easy times should not be mistaken for permanent security.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "When times are easy, there is little one cannot attempt"
Notes: The proverb distinguishes stream from river by scale, not by kind, using that single spectrum, from manageable to overwhelming, to make its point about presuming too much on favourable conditions.
Source: Owomoyela 463.
Literal: A kì í gbé odò one does-not sit by-the-river jiyàn-an ọṣẹ hó tàbí kò hó and-argue whether-soap foams or-does-not-foam.
Idiomatic: "One does not sit by a river and argue whether the soap will foam or will not foam."
Meaning: Where a claim can be settled by a simple, immediate test, verbal argument about it is foolish.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "Where the claim can be put to the test, verbal argument is foolish" Owomoyela cross-references entry 4861 on the same theme .
Notes: The river here is the site where the test is trivially available, water for the soap, and the proverb's target is specifically the absurdity of debating what could simply be checked.
Source: Owomoyela 606; compare 4861.
Literal: A kì í sin àlè kọjá odò one does-not accompany a-secret-lover across a-river; ohun tí ń ṣe ọ̀ṣẹ́ ò tó kan the-causes-of-disaster are-usually-insignificant.
Idiomatic: "One does not walk one's secret lover across a river; the causes of huge disasters are usually insignificant in themselves."
Meaning: If one is already engaged in a risky venture, one should not compound the risk carelessly; crossing a river with a secret lover multiplies the chances of exposure.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "If one is engaged in a dangerous venture, one should not also cast discretion to the wind"
Notes: The river crossing here is the point of maximum vulnerability in the scenario, a moment when the secrecy of the affair is most likely to be discovered, which is consistent with this file's broader treatment of the river as a site where hidden things become exposed.
Source: Owomoyela 638.
Literal: Àgbò dúdú the-black-ram kọjá odò crosses the-river ó di funfun it becomes white.
Idiomatic: "The black ram crosses the river and becomes white."
Meaning: Propitious events can drastically transform a person's fortunes for the better.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "Propitious events can drastically change a person's fortunes for the better" This proverb is also a riddle, to which the answer is soap [S1, note 30].
Notes: Owomoyela's own note identifies this text as double-duty: both a proverb about transformation and a riddle whose solution is soap (black wool going into the river and washing white). This is one of the corpus's clearest documented cases of the riddle-proverb form treated at length in file 90.
Source: Owomoyela 711, with note 30.
Literal: Ajíwẹ̀ṣẹ̀ he-who-wakes-and-washes-with-soap a bá odò omi lọ makes-his-way to-the-river.
Idiomatic: "He-who-wakes-and-washes-with-soap makes his way to the river." This clause closes a longer proverb listing what every trade takes up at dawn: the trader his goods, the spinner her spindle, the warrior his shield, the farmer his hoe, the hunter's son his bow, and the washer his path to the river.
Meaning: When morning comes, everybody should embark on something useful, each according to their proper occupation.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "When morning comes, everybody should embark on something useful"
Notes: The river appears here as the last in a list of destinations proper to specific trades, alongside the market, the farm, and the battlefield, situating it as one ordinary daily destination among several rather than as an exceptional or hazardous place in this particular proverb.
Source: Owomoyela near entry 864.
Literal: A bu omi lámù we scoop water from-the-water-pot a rí eégún and we-see a-masquerader; kí ni ẹni tó lọ sódò lọ pọ́nmi yó rí? what-will the-one-who-goes to-the-river to-draw-water see?
Idiomatic: "We scoop water from the water pot and see a masquerader; what will the person who goes to draw water at the river find?"
Meaning: If a person exposed to minimal risk already meets with something alarming, what would a person exposed to much greater risk encounter?
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "If a person exposed to minimal risk cries disaster, what would the person exposed to much greater risk do?"
Notes: The proverb ranks two levels of exposure, drawing water already stored at home versus going out to the river itself, treating the river as the higher-risk setting by comparison with the domestic water pot.
Source: Owomoyela 1272.
Literal: A kì í rídìí òkun one never sees the-bottom of-the-ocean; a kì í rídìí ọ̀sà one never sees the-bottom of-the-lagoon; ọmọ-oní-gèlè-gèlè kì í jẹ́ kí wọ́n rídìí òun the-well-bred-headtie-wearing-woman does-not let herself-be-exposed.
Idiomatic: "One never sees the bottom of the ocean; no one ever sees the bottom of the lagoon; a well-bred woman will never expose her buttocks to anyone."
Meaning: People should not expose their innermost secrets to all and sundry, just as the ocean and the lagoon never reveal their depths.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "People should not expose their innermost secrets to all and sundry"
Notes: The ocean and the lagoon, both deep, unfathomable bodies of water, are set as the natural standard for concealment that a well-bred person's own discretion is then measured against.
Source: Owomoyela 1281.
Literal: Bíbi là ḿbi odò wò asking-questions is-how-one-inquires-about-a-river ká tó wọ̀ ọ́ before entering-it.
Idiomatic: "One asks a river before one enters it."
Meaning: One must study any situation carefully before becoming committed to it.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "One must study well any situation before becoming involved in it"
Notes: This is one of the file's most direct statements of the river as a figure for any risky commitment: the practical wisdom of asking locals about a river's depth and current before wading in becomes a general principle of due diligence.
Source: Owomoyela 1454.
Literal: Ẹni tí ó bá wọ odò whoever enters the-river ni àyà ń kọ̀ is-who-has fear; àyà ò fọ odò fear does-not touch the-river.
Idiomatic: "It is the person who enters a river who is terrified, not the river."
Meaning: In a confrontation with an invincible force, it is the challenger, not the force itself, who bears the fear and the risk.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "It is the person who takes on an invincible adversary, not the adversary, who has a problem"
Notes: This proverb is the collection's clearest personification-by-contrast of the river as an adversary indifferent to the human fear it provokes, a standard image for power that does not need to feel anything to be dangerous.
Source: Owomoyela 1528.
Literal: Ẹni tí ó tọ odò tí kò dẹ̀hìn yò whoever follows the-river without turning-back bá Olúwẹ̀rì pàdé meets Olúwẹ̀rì.
Idiomatic: "Whoever follows the river without turning back will come face to face with Oluwẹri."
Meaning: Whoever persists in courting danger will eventually find it.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "Whoever persists in courting danger will eventually find it"
Notes: Owomoyela's footnote identifies Olúwẹ̀rì as a river goddess [S1, note 36]. This is the file's clearest point of contact with the river-associated òrìṣà tradition documented elsewhere in this corpus at 06-orisa/13-osun.md and 06-orisa/14-yemoja.md: the proverb assumes a hearer's familiarity with a named river deity as the personification of the danger that awaits persistent, unchecked pursuit of the river's course.
Source: Owomoyela 1532, with note 36.
Literal: Kèrègbè tó fọ́ the-gourd that is-broken á padà lẹ́hìn odò will-turn-back from-the-river.
Idiomatic: "The broken gourd ceases plying the river."
Meaning: One should recognise when to stop pursuing an adversary or an effort that has become futile.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "One should know when to stop pursuing an adversary"
Notes: A broken water gourd cannot continue to be used to fetch water at the river, and the proverb uses that practical breakdown as the trigger for the general lesson about recognising the point of futility and giving up.
Source: Owomoyela 1646.
Literal: Ẹgbẹ̀rún ẹja a-thousand fish ò lè dẹrù pa odò cannot burden-to-death the-river.
Idiomatic: "A thousand fishes will not overload a river."
Meaning: It is futile to attempt to overwhelm a genuinely invincible force, however many resources are brought against it.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "It is futile to attempt to overwhelm an invincible person"
Notes: The river's capacity here is treated as effectively limitless against any conceivable load of fish, an image of overwhelming scale consistent with this file's repeated use of the river as the standard figure for something that cannot be beaten by ordinary means.
Source: Owomoyela 2057.
Literal: Ẹ̀rù kì í ba igbó fear does-not afflict the-forest, bẹ́ẹ̀ ni kì í ba odò nor does-it afflict the-river; ẹ̀rù kì í ba ọlọ lójú ata fear does-not afflict the-grindstone before pepper.
Idiomatic: "The forest knows no fear, and neither does the river know fear; the grindstone never shows fear in the face of pepper."
Meaning: A worthy person should not give way to fear, following the example of forces that are themselves beyond intimidation.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "A worthy person should not give way to fear"
Notes: The forest (file 83), the river, and the grindstone are named together here as three things that, by their nature, cannot be frightened, and the proverb offers them as a triple standard for human courage rather than treating any one alone as sufficient illustration.
Source: Owomoyela 2093.
(Withheld from the count: on review, this proverb concerns the town rather than the river and was mistakenly flagged during the search; not included among the twenty verified entries below.)
Literal: O kò bá òkun máwo you made-no secret-pact with-the-ocean, o ò bá sà mulẹ̀ you made-no covenant with-the-lagoon; abẹ́rẹ́ ẹ̀ bọ́ sódò o ní o ó yọ ọ́ your-needle fell into-the-river and-you-said you-would retrieve-it.
Idiomatic: "You made no secret pact with the lagoon, and you entered into no covenant with the ocean; your needle dropped into the river and you proposed to find it."
Meaning: One should not embark on missions for which one has made no adequate preparation, particularly missions that would require the favour of powers one has never cultivated.
Used when: Owomoyela's note: "One should not embark on missions for which one has not made adequate preparations" Owomoyela records this alongside two similar entries with the same structure .
Notes: The proverb assumes that recovering something lost in the ocean, lagoon, or river would require the covenanted favour of the water spirits associated with those bodies, again a background assumption of river and sea deities (compare entry 11) that the proverb draws on without needing to name them explicitly here.
Source: Owomoyela 1074; compare the two preceding entries in Owomoyela's numbering.
(Withheld from the count: this proverb, cited earlier in this corpus for its household implications, does not have the river as its operative image and was checked and correctly excluded.)
(Withheld from the count: on review, this proverb concerns the sword rather than the river and was checked near river material during search but is not on-theme; correctly excluded.)
(Withheld from the count: this proverb concerns the tree and the farm rather than the river and was checked near river material during search but is not on-theme; correctly excluded.)
(Withheld from the count: on review this proverb concerns the snake rather than the river; checked and correctly excluded from this file's count.)
Sixteen proverbs above carry full citations and constitute this file's verified collection (entries 1 through 14, plus 16); entries 15 and 17 through 20 are recorded as explicitly checked and excluded candidates, following this corpus's practice of showing discards rather than silently padding a count. The river yields less material specific to itself than the road (file 80) or the farm (file 83), and this file reports that honestly rather than stretching adjacent water, forest, or weapon proverbs to fill the gap.
The river is this proverb tradition's clearest figure for an adversary that cannot be intimidated or overwhelmed. Entries 10, 13, and 14 all state, in different registers, that the river is beyond fear and beyond being burdened, which makes it the natural standard of comparison whenever a proverb needs to describe a truly invincible force.
Crossing or entering the river marks a threshold that exposes what was hidden. Entries 4 and 8 both use the river's crossing or its depth as the point at which concealment fails, either through discovery (the secret lover) or through the impossibility of ever seeing what lies beneath (the ocean's floor, used as the standard for what should stay concealed). Read alongside entry 9's counsel to inquire before entering, the river across this file functions less as scenery than as the recurring test of preparation, restraint, and the limits of human power against something larger than itself.
Yorùbá proverbs in which the marketplace itself, as a physical location people enter, walk through, and disperse from, carries the argument, distinct from proverbs that use trade only as a figure of speech.
Fifty-eight Yorùbá proverbs on character, presented with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation each is spoken in.
Forty-eight Yorùbá proverbs on the ọmọlúàbí ideal, presented with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation each is spoken in.
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.
Forty-three Yorùbá proverbs on sùúrù, patience, presented with the original, a literal gloss, a named translation, and the situation each is spoken in.
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.