



























































                                                         Journal of Language and Literature  
Vol. 20 No. 2 – October 2020                                                                                                                  ISSN: 1410-5691 (print); 2580-5878 (online) 
 

261 
 

 
Contradictions and Inconsistencies in Human Nature: 
Evidence from Yorùbá Proverbs 
 
Timothy Adeyemi Akanbi 
 yemiakanbi@gmail.com 
Department of Linguistics and Nigerian Languages, Ekiti State University, NIGERIA 
 
 

Abstract Article information 
 

Yorùbá proverbs, and by extension, proverbs in every culture and clime, show 
the beliefs, philosophy, traditions, and norms of every society.  There is no 
community or society where proverbs are not in use.  Proverb is a phenomenon 
that aligns with the wisdom of people living within a community.  The Yorùbá race 
holds proverbs in high esteem.  They see it as a culture that cuts across all the 
strata of the society.  For every deed, action or interaction, there is always a make-
ready proverb that matches it.  This paper examines Yorùbá proverbs but in a 
different perspective.  It looks at the seeming contradictions observed in Yorùbá 
proverbs and brings to the fore the implications of such contradictions.  The paper 
also examines the paradox of these contradictions and affirms that the nature of 
man calls for the different proverbs that match the behaviors of people.  The paper 
also asserts that this phenomenon is to exemplify the dynamics, functions and 
usages of language in general and of the Yorùbá language in particular.  The 
paper concludes that the seeming contradictions observed in Yorùbá proverbs 
portray the nature of inconsistencies and contradictions in man.  The paper, 
therefore, opines that it is not that proverbs are contradictory on their own, but 
that the proverbs portray unpredictable behaviors that are found in human 
nature. 

 
Keywords: proverbs; human culture; contradiction 
 

 

Received:  
29 January, 2020 

 
Revised:  

4 May, 2020 
 

Accepted:  
17 May, 2020 

 

DOI : 10.24071/joll.v20i2.2393 
Available at  https://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/JOLL/index 
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribute-ShareAlike 4.0 International License 
 

 
 
Introduction  

 
Proverb is a social phenomenon that cuts 

across all the cultures of people all over the 
world. There is no social setting of human 
beings where proverbs are not found.  
Proverbs can be regarded as one of the 
aesthetics of language.  When a proverb is 
said, it portrays the beauty of the language.  
Yorùbá are the people who relish in proverbs 
and appreciate the genre so much.  Hardly can 

an elderly person utter few sentences before 
bringing in proverbs to buttress his/her point.  
The Yorùbá believe that it is the wise that say 
proverb.  That is why proverb is said to be the 
sayings of the wise. Buttressing the value 
Yorùbá people place on proverb, Olatunji 
(1984, p. 170) says: 

  
The Yorùbá value proverbs very highly, for 
they are considered to be the wisdom lore 
of the race.  And because the proverbs are 
considered to be traditional and originate 

mailto:yemiakanbi@gmail.com
https://e-journal.usd.ac.id/index.php/JOLL/index


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from the observation of natural 
phenomena and human relations, old 
people are regarded as a repository of 
proverbs.  Anyone who does not know or 
who cannot understand the application of 
proverbs is regarded as unwise. 
 
Therefore, because of the belief that 

everyone should have the understanding of 
proverbs in Yorùbá society, hence, the saying 
‘bı́ òwé bı́ òwe là ń lùlù ògı̀dı̀gbó, ọlọ́gbọ́n nı́ ı́ 
jó o, ọ̀mọ̀ràn nı́ ı́ mọ̀ ọ́’ translated loosely to 
mean that ‘the war drum is characteristically 
beaten in the form of proverb, it is the wise that 
dances to it and it is the informed that knows 
the meaning.’ 

 
Proverb is part of the philosophy of the 

Yorùbá people. It shows their belief, 
philosophy, and tradition. This is the reason, 
Finnegan (1994, p. 34) opines that “proverbs 
serve as insight into the philosophy of the 
people. Grobler (1994, p. 93), also claims that 
“proverb consists of a people’s accumulated 
wisdom formulated out of years of experience 
and practice.”  Fasiku (2006, p. 25) claims that 
“proverbs serve as a linguistic confirmation of 
the totality of a people’s world-view and the 
epistemic cognition of this world-view.”  
Abiodun (2018, p. 60) while writing on 
proverbs makes the following observations: 

 
Òwe jẹ́ àkojọpọ̀ afọ̀ tàbí gbólóhùn tí ó 
ṣàfihàn ìrírí, ìgbàgbọ́, èrò, ìtàn, ìṣe àti 
àkòónú ohun wọ̀n-ọn-nì tó jẹ mọ́ àwùjọ àti 
àyíká.  Òwe jẹ́ irúfẹ́ afọ̀ tó fi ọgbọ́n ìjìnlẹ̀ 
àwùjọ hàn nípa àyíká wọn, àṣepọ̀ wọn àti 
àfojúsùn wọn. 
 
Proverbs are the collection of statements 
or sentences that show the experience, 
beliefs, thoughts, stories, acts, and contents 
of those things that relate to the society 
and its surroundings. Proverbs are the 
sayings that show the depth of societal 
wisdom, their interaction and focus. 
 
  Fayemi (2010), while commenting on 

proverb as part of the Yorùbá philosophy, 
believes that proverbs are the axiomatic 
regimentation of formal logic in African 
philosophy. Therefore, for anyone to know 
what the philosophy of the Yorùbá people is, 
he must know of their various proverbs.  It is 

in Yorùbá proverb that we understand their 
beliefs, norms, culture, tradition, and social 
activities. As has been noted by scholars, 
proverbs can be used to resolve conflicts, to 
give warnings to people, to advice, and to 
caution, among many other things (Adegoju 
2009, Daramola, 2004; Salami, 2004 and 
Asiyanbola, 2006).  Because of the multi-
dimensional usages of proverbs, Fakoya 
(2007) opines that “it may be said that 
Africans (and Yorùbá especially) employ them 
(proverbs) in conversations to accomplish 
acts that ordinary words cannot realize.” 

 
Many scholarly works have been done on 

Yorùbá proverbs.  But each of these works has 
a different focus. For instance, Abiodun 
(2000) sees proverb as the prerogative of the 
elders. He argues that the young do not 
normally say proverbs where there are elders.  
If he has to say proverb at all, he must 
acknowledge the elders that are present.  The 
implication of this is that Yorùbá believe that 
elders are the custodians of proverbs because 
they are regarded as wiser than the young.   

 
Olumuyiwa (2012) and Akanbi (2015a) 

wrote nearly similar papers on Yorùbá 
proverbs.  However, while Olumuyiwa (ibid.) 
looks at the interrogative aspect of Yorùbá 
proverbs, Akanbi (2015a) looks at proverbs in 
the perspective of its syntactic structure.  
Olumuyiwa argues that some interrogative 
proverbs are rhetorical in nature, and that it 
is the individual that gives answers to the 
questions manifested in such proverbs.  He 
concludes that the answers given may vary; 
depending on the angle the person views the 
question.  

 
 The focus of Akanbi (2015a), even 

though similar to that of Olumuyiwa, (since 
both papers are syntactic based), is in the 
structural analysis of proverbs. Akanbi 
(2015a) argues that Yorùbá proverbs have 
syntactic patterns they follow.  He thereafter 
brings out among other types, four 
construction structural types on which 
Yorùbá proverbs are premised. These are (i) 
interrogative structure type proverbs (ii) 
focus construction structure type proverbs 
(iii) relative clause construction structure 
type and (iv) subjunctive clause construction 
structure type. Akanbi (2015a) concludes that 



                                                         Journal of Language and Literature  
Vol. 20 No. 2 – October 2020                                                                                                                  ISSN: 1410-5691 (print); 2580-5878 (online) 
 

263 
 

the various syntactic structures that are 
followed by Yorùbá proverbs bring out the 
aesthetic value of the proverbs.  It also shows, 
according to him, that Yorùbá proverbs are 
not just wound together haphazardly but in a 
grammatically patterned form.   

 
In the work done on proverbs by Akanbi 

(2015b) he looks at some Yorùbá proverbs 
that are said in a sexually explicit manner.  
Even though Yorùbá people frown at 
utterances that are vulgar in nature, yet no 
one raises eyebrow when a person says 
proverb in this vulgar manner. He concludes 
that using sexually explicit Yorùbá proverbs 
…should not be regarded as violating the 
restriction on taboo words but should be seen 
as driving home a point of argument in a way 
that the hearer will grasp the import of what 
is said in an understandable manner without 
frowning on the sexually explicit manner in 
which the proverb is rendered.   

 
All these and many more scholarly works 

have contributed immensely on the 
significance of Yorùbá proverbs in academic 
ways. However, the focus of the 
aforementioned scholars and many others has 
not been on the clearly observed 
contradictions found in Yorùbá proverbs, 
which of course portrays the nature of human 
beings; and this, exactly, is what this paper 
focuses and discusses. 

 
 The theoretical framework that we 

observe suitable for the analysis of Yorùbá 
proverbs selected in this work is the one 
proposed by Lado (1957) known as The 
Contrastive Analysis. This framework is 
adjudged better than that of Liepzig glossing 
rules common in linguistics, which in our 
view is more appropriate when working on 
the analyses of syntax, phonology, or 
semantics of a particular language. Lado’s 
framework is appropriate in that it is one that 
compares and contrasts two phenomena.  
However, while Lado’s theory is basically 
concerned with how two languages and 
cultures can be compared and contrasted in 
terms of their similarities and differences, we 
shall use it, not to compare two languages, but 
two different sayings that appear 
contradictory.  The main concern of this paper 
therefore is to observe how two contradictory 

positions can converge and then arrive at a 
positive phenomenon from out of it.  Our 
interest is also to find out why would the 
Yorùbá have two contradictory sayings in 
term of proverbs and still be able to show that 
the proverbs are germane in the day-to-day 
activities, manner and behaviour of the 
people. 

 
Methodology  
 

The data used for this work were 
collected from two main sources, the primary 
source and the secondary source. The primary 
source contains the recording of proverbs as 
said by the elders in the society. The various 
recordings were done during community 
meetings, settlement of rift between two or 
more people and those that are said during 
contest of Ayo game. The proverbs were 
recorded incognito without allowing those 
involved to have the awareness of the 
recordings. The secondary source considers 
the proverbs lifted from various Yorúbá 
literature books both prose and poetry. Other 
secondary sources include proverbs found in 
books like primers, Yorùbá story books and 
books on collection of proverbs.  All there 
were consulted. Some of the proverbs 
relevant to the paper were then culled out 
and gathered for analysis. 
 
Results and Discussion  
  

We shall consider twelve (12) pairs of 
Yorùbá proverbs among many others which 
we view as contradictory in this section. The 
reason for selecting the twelve proverbs is 
based on the view that they are 
representative of the other contradictory-like 
proverbs that are not put here but are still 
found in Yorùbá language.  The twelve 
selected proverbs cut across the various 
socio-cultural settings of the Yorùbá people.  
Following Asiyanbola’s (2007) method of 
translation, we shall translate the proverbs 
into English in the form in which their 
meaning and essence are not lost. Two modes 
of translations as seen in Olorode (1987) and 
Adegbite (1988) are normally employed in 
translation. They are a parallel word-to-word 
translation (PWT) which goes along the line 
of Liepzig glossing rules; and the normal 
sentential translation into English (NST). 



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264 
 

These two modes of translations are normally 
adopted to enable the readers have a 
thoroughly clear understanding of Yorùbá 
sentences translated and presented in 
English. We shall make use of the normal 
sentential translation for the proverbs 
selected in this paper. This will be done so as 
not to confuse the readers in getting the 
literal meanings of the proverbs chosen for 
our analysis. In translation, two approaches 
are normally employed. Translation can be 
either word-for-word versus sense-for-sense.  
Sense-for-sense translation is defined by 
Rabin (1958) quoted in Baker et al. as 

 
a process by which a spoken or written 
utterance takes place in one language 
which is intended and presumed to convey 
the same meaning as a previously existing 
utterance in another language. It thus 
involves two distinct factors, a ‘meaning’, 
or reference to some slice of reality, and 
the difference between two languages in 
referring to that reality (Rabin, 1958, p. 
123). 
   
This paper will make use of the latter 

approach in translating the proverbs to the 
English language. As mentioned above, twelve 
proverbs are selected for analysis in this 
paper. In selecting the proverbs for analysis, 
there are no criteria followed, neither is there 
any reason why the proverbs used for 
analysis were chosen as against those not 
chosen. In the body of the paper, each proverb 
is taken at random. The proverbs are selected 
in pairs; the (a) proverbs in the data are 
negated by their (b) counterparts. Though, 
there are some of the proverbs that have 
more than two contradictory variations, we 
have limited ourselves to using two of the 
variations for proper analysis. 

 
In the proverb numbered as (1) below, 

the one in (a) is giving information about 
interaction among people within a community 
as it regards to invitation to meal. It is the 
opinion of the Yorùbá that when one is invited 
to meal, it is not due to lack of what to eat on 
the part of the person being invited but it is an 
act of socialization; a kind of phatic 
communion or interaction. The second 
proverb in the pair does not take cognizance 
of this fact.  The data is presented. 

   
1. a. Dı́dùn lódùn tá ǹ bá ọ̀rẹ́ jẹ̀kọ, tilé   

ogé tóge é jẹ 
It is for the sake of interaction and 
friendliness that one eats with a 
friend, the food in one’s home is 
enough to satisfy. 

  
 b. A� jọjẹ kò dùn bẹ́nı̀kan kò nı́ 

Eating with an acquaintance is not 
proper, if one does not have food in 
his own home. 

 
Contradiction in the proverb above is 

evident. First in (a) the proverb is soliciting 
for friendliness and togetherness with one’s 
neighbors or acquaintances; the second 
proverb is advocating getting one’s own food 
before joining the other person in taking meal.  
A person who does not have food at home 
before joining the other person in taking meal 
is counted as a covetous person. Therefore, he 
will not be normally welcomed by the 
neighbors at another time he comes to their 
house. The implication of this is that the cord 
of friendliness cannot be strengthened and 
strong if such activity is one way and not the 
other way round. However, the contradiction 
in the proverb is pointing to the fact that 
there are those who always want to receive 
but not wanting to give out. It is for such 
people that the proverb aims at. This is to 
show the inconsistency in human behavior. 

 
The proverbs in (2) also show a kind of 

antithesis in human behavior. While the (a) 
proverb is insinuating that people do not 
reveal their intention to others, the second 
proverb in (b) is emphasizing openness.  
Consider the two proverbs. 

 
2. a. Màrı̀wò kı̀ ı́ wı́ fúnra wọn tẹ́lẹ̀ kı́ wọ́n 

tó ó yọ 
Mariwo1 does not tell each other 
before it grows out. 

 
 b. Ọ� rọ́ hanniyan hànnı̀yàn, èèyàn la fi ı́ 

hàn  
The matter that should be exposed 
must not be kept secret 

 
Yorùbá believe that many people like to 

keep issues or to themselves. By so doing, 
whatever achievement they made will 



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Vol. 20 No. 2 – October 2020                                                                                                                  ISSN: 1410-5691 (print); 2580-5878 (online) 
 

265 
 

manifest suddenly. This, they do, in order to 
forestall the achievement being truncated or 
frustrated by ‘evil’ people.  The other proverb 
in 2(b) goes against this kind of behavior.  
This type of proverb is advocating that it is 
not all the time that it is good to do things 
alone, there are matters that one must just let 
other people know about and make use of 
their wisdom through their contributions and 
advice. Thereby, doing so will enhance the 
total success being achieved. Therefore, it is 
not the proverbs that are contradictory per se 
but the way human beings view situation. 

 
The semantics of the proverbs in (3) 

comes close to those in (2). However, while 
the proverbs in two have to do with neither 
suspicion nor lack of confidence in the other 
person, the one in 3(a) is done because of 
suspicion of the other person’s supposed evil 
intentions. In (2), we have a situation where 
one person is trying to surpass the other in a 
way to elicit surprise; (3) is a case of 
suspecting the other fellow as having bad 
motive towards one’s progress. We consider 
the proverbs. 

  
3. a. Bánúsọ má bènı́yàn sọ, ènı̀yàn ò fẹ́ni 

fọ́rọ̀ à forı́ ẹni 
Keep your matters to yourself because 
human beings do not wish others well. 

  
 b. I�sı́n wò, ı̀kòrò wó, ohun a bá jı̀jọ wò, 

gı́gún nı́ ı́ gún 
The matter that is considered in 
unison normally ends well. 

 
As a matter of fact, it is not everybody in 

a society that wishes the others well, though 
they may appear superficially as if they have 
interest in the progress of others. There are 
those whose minds towards their fellowmen 
are evil, hence the proverb in (3a) under 
consideration. The belief is that when one 
tells others what he intends doing that can 
result in progress for him, there is every 
likelihood that evil people in the society may 
want to hinder such progress. Since there is 
no tag on people that shows who a person is, 
the best is to keep one’s plans to 
himself/herself. But the other proverb in (3b) 
is a negation to this kind of attitude.  In (3b) 
there is a belief that when you allow others to 
know your plan, their contributions may 

enhance and hasting the success of such plan 
to have a productive outcome better than 
when it is a lone consideration.   

 
We now consider the proverbs in (4). 
 
4. a. Bı́ ẹyẹ kò bá nı́ fı́n ẹyẹ nı́ràn, ojú ọ̀rún  

tẹ́yẹ ẹ́ fò láı̀ fapá kan ra. 
If birds will live in harmony, the air 
space is enough to fly without the 
wings touching the other. 
 

 b. Ọba kı̀ ı́ pé méjı̀ láàfin, ı̀jòyè lè pé 
mẹ́fà láàfin 
The palace cannot take two kings; 
chiefs can be as many as six in a place. 

 
The pair of proverbs in (4) is also another 
contradictory set. The one in (4a) is 
insinuating that there is enough space that 
could contain as many numbers of people as 
have interest in living together. Therefore, 
except somebody is trying to foment trouble 
that is when he would say that he has no 
sufficient space to accommodate others. The 
second proverb (4b) is an antithesis of (4a).  
The king’s palace is always very wide, big and 
spacious, yet only one person (so to say, and 
that is the king) can stay there. Chiefs do not 
normally live in the place; they only come 
there to hold meetings with the king. The 
palace (as big as it is) could not contain two 
kings at a time, or else, pandemonium will set 
in. The implication of this is that no matter 
how spacious an abode can be, there could 
still be conflict if more than one person is 
there without mutual agreement among 
themselves. Another proverb to consider is 
the one in (5). 

   
 5. a. Ẹni tóbá dami sı́wájú, yóò tẹlẹ̀ tútù 

He who pours water in front will 
match on wet ground. 

 
b. Ẹnu kò le gba dòdò, kó tún gbòdodo 

 One cannot receive without playing 
along 

 
The proverbs in this pair have to do with 

social interaction where taking and receiving 
bribe is rampant. There is no doubt that this 
practice is very common in some societies.  
The first proverb (5a) is sort of admonishing 
giving and receiving gratification. The 



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ISSN: 1410-5691 (print); 2580-5878 (online)                                                                      Timothy Adeyemi Akanbi 
 

266 
 

underlying meaning here is if one wants to 
curry the favor of another person, he/she 
must be ready to grease the palm of the 
person in charge; without which one cannot 
be able to court any favor. Therefore, in a 
subtle way, there is an advice to give 
gratification. However, the second proverb 
(5b) is surreptitiously advising against what 
the proverb in (5a) is advocating, albeit, in an 
indirect way. The point being made in the 
proverb in (5b) is that gratification is not 
good. The reason for its not being good is that 
it will not allow the receiver to hold on to the 
truth. When one receives bribe, he will 
pervert judgment, he will compromise, and he 
will not be able to hit the nail on the head in 
terms of saying the truth when the need 
arises. 

 
In the data numbered as (6) below, the 

proverbs in (a and b) are opposite in their 
semantic interpretation. While in (6a), we 
have a situation where pride is condemned; 
(6b) appears to encourage pomposity.  

   
6. a. Àgbá òfìfo ní í pariwo, èyí tó lómi   

nínú kì í dún 
Empty barrel makes the loudest noise, 
the one that has content does not 
make noise. 

  
b. Alára ní í gbára á ga, adìyẹ ń bẹ̀rẹ̀ kó 

tó wo pálọ̀ 
  If you do not praise yourself, nobody 
 will praise you 

 
It is pertinent to say that each view 

expressed in the two proverbs is correct and 
normal. In most cases, a person who has 
nothing is the one that will boast much in 
order to intimidate those who might want to 
look down on him. But the danger inherent in 
this type of attitude is that when the status of 
such a person is known, he becomes degraded 
and demeaned. However, the other proverb in 
(6b) views the matter in a way that if one 
does not praise himself, he might not see 
anybody to praise him. Nevertheless, if one 
will praise himself, he must have something 
worthy of praise so that he will not be looked 
down upon when the chips are down.   

 
The data in (7) below expresses another 

contradictory view, we consider the proverbs. 

 
7. a. Ẹni tí à ń gbéyàwó bọ̀ wá bá, kì í 

gbórí ògiri garùn 
He to whom a wife is coming should 
not be peeping through the wall. 

 
b.   Ojú àwo làwo fi í gbọbẹ̀ 

Be at the point of distribution, don’t 
allow anyone to represent you. 

 
The essence of the proverb in (7a) is to 

discourage anxiety. Once something is meant 
to be given to one, he needs not be anxious 
about the thing. Since the wife is coming to 
the home of the husband, why will the 
husband stand on a dilapidated wall and be 
peeping? No need for such a suicidal attitude.  
Whatever the husband would want to see in 
his wife can be seen when she arrives at 
home. However, the other proverb in (7b) is 
antithetical to that in (7a) in that (7b) is 
advocating one to be there. A kind of see it 
even if it is still far. In other words, if one does 
not want anyone to cheat him, he must be 
there, at the point of action.   

 
We take other proverbs for 

consideration. 
 
8.  a.  Akọni kì í gba idà lẹ́yìn 

A warrior does not receive a wound 
on the back 

 
b. Mọ̀jà mọ̀sá niyì akı́kanjú, akı́kanjú tó 

mọ̀jà tí kò mọ̀sá ní í bógun lọ 
To fight and run is the beauty of 
bravery; a brave person who knows 
how to fight but does not know how 
to retreat will perish in the battle. 

 
The proverb in (8), like others is 

antithetical and paradoxical. In (8a), the 
warrior is enjoined not to run away from the 
battle front. The proverb suggests that a brave 
person will have to fight, and die in battle, if 
needs be. The proverb also insinuates that it 
is a shame for a warrior to receive wound 
(either through gun or arrow) at his back side.  
What the proverb is aiming at is to instill 
courage in a warrior. However, the proverb in 
(8b) looks at the issue from another angle; an 
angle which contradicts what the meaning is 
in (8a). The meaning of the proverb in (8b) is 
not to terrify or intimidate a fighter but it is to 



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267 
 

advise that he who fights and run lives to fight 
another day. The proverb, therefore, is a piece 
of advice that if the battle is not won today, it 
could be won another time. There is no need 
dying in battle if there is a way of escape. 

 
We consider another proverb in (9) that 

appears contradictory. 
   
9. a.  Inú lokó ẹyẹ ń gbé 

The penis of a male bird is hidden 
inside it. 

 
b.   A kì í fi ọwọ́ tí ń dunni bọ abẹ́ aṣọ 

One does not hide his problem from 
those who will solve it. 

 
The proverbs in (9) have to do with human 
problems. In (9a) it is being advocated that 
one’s secret should be kept to oneself while 
the other proverb in (9b) advises that one’s 
problem should not be kept secret because 
doing so will make solution to elude the one 
that has the problem. Even though the two 
proverbs appear contradictory, they serve 
some benefits to whoever that will adhere to 
them. The proverb in (9a) implies that one 
does not allow others to know about his or 
her problem, because ‘Ojú la rí ọ̀rẹ́ ò dénú; 
gbogbo aláàmù ló dakùn délẹ̀, a ò mèyí tínú 
ń run. That is to say “only the facial 
appearance is seen, we do not see what is in 
the mind and that it is all lizards that 
prostrate, we do not know the one that has 
belly ache.” If one allows others to know his 
problems, they might turn around to use it 
against him or make jest about it. While it is 
commendable to do that, the proverb in (9b) 
is advising against such attitude.  The proverb 
is advocating openness. It is an advice that 
what constitutes a problem to a person 
should be made known to those who can 
solve it.   
 

We consider the proverbs in (10). 
 
 10. a. Ojú olójú kò jọ ojú ẹni 

 Another person’s eye is not like  
one’s own. 

 
b. Ojú kan ní í bímọ, igba ojú ní í wò 

Only one person bears a child, many 
people nurture him/her to maturity. 

 

The proverb in (10a) indicates that matters 
are viewed in different perspectives. In other 
words, others will not border about a matter 
like the person concerned. This means that 
one cannot rely on the judgment of others to 
reach a logical conclusion about a matter.  
While the proverb gives advice, it also gives 
warning to people that are too trusting not to 
completely believe the judgment of others 
without verifying the matter him/herself.  
However, the (10b) proverb appears to 
contradict that of (10a). The implication of the 
proverb in (10b) is that allowance should be 
given to others to have a say in a matter that 
concerns oneself. The Yorùbá people say 
àgbajọ ọwọ́ la fi ń sọ̀yà, àjèjé ọwọ́ kan kó 
gbẹ́rù dórí. That is to say “it is the 
combination of all fingers that beats the chest, 
just one hand does not put a load on the 
head.”    

 
The proverbs in (11) discuss another 

issue. 
 
11. a. Bí òwe bá jọ òwe ẹni ta ò bá lè sọ̀rọ̀, 

ẹ̀rù ìjà ló ń ba ni. 
If a discussion relates to one’s 
matter and we do not talk, it is due 
to cowardice. 

 
b. Yíyó ẹkùn bí i tojo kọ́. 

Stillness of a tiger is not due to 
fearfulness. 

 
The two proverbs in (11) also show the 
dynamics of language. The proverb in (11a) 
expresses fearfulness while that in (11b) 
counters fearfulness. The proverb in (11a) 
depicts a situation where a person would not 
talk in spite of the fact that he or she is being 
threatened. But in the other proverb (11b), 
the stillness of the tiger is not a result of 
cowardice but a result of looking for how he 
can accomplish what he is aiming at.   

 
In (12), the proverbs look at wisdom in 

disseminating information.  Consider the two 
proverbs. 

 
 12. a. A kì í ti ojú oníka mẹ́sàn án kà á. 

One does not talk of expressing a 
person’s weakness in his presence. 

 



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268 
 

 b. Pọ̀nún là á ṣẹ́fọ̀n bí ó bà ṣomi kó 
ṣomi bí ó bà ṣẹ̀jẹ kó ṣẹ̀jẹ́ 
Say it as it is, whatever be the 
consequence does not matter. 

 
The two proverbs in (12) are antithetical.  The 
one in (12a) is advocating circumventing 
talking on issues that could bring acrimony, 
especially in the presence of the affected 
person. It advocates that a person should not 
be frivolous in talking so that unity and not 
disunity will be engendered. The proverb in 
(12a) therefore, is insinuating that even if the 
weakness of another person be mentioned, it 
should not be at his presence. But the other 
proverb (12b) would rather want issues to be 
confronted headlong. In other words, proverb 
in (12b) is advocating saying it as it is or that 
one should hit the nail on the head. When this 
is done, in line with the proverb, heaven will 
not fall. And even if heaven falls, the truth has 
been disseminated. 

  
Conclusion 
  

We have demonstrated in this paper 
through some selected Yorùbá proverbs that 
language is dynamic. We have also shown that 
Yorùbá proverbs are not of one face, they are 
multifaceted. What seems to be positive will 
always have its negative counterparts.  
However, it needs be said that the 
contradictory nature of the proverbs 
presented for analysis, and others like them, 
does not suggest that Yorùbá has 
contradictory and inconsistent philosophy or 
world-view. The apparent ‘contradictory 
proverbs’ are the apt reflection of the 
contractions and inconsistency in human 
nature, human activities, human general 
disposition to life and to the environment. It 
also shows the contradictory nature of the 
world at large.  One can therefore conclude 
that Yorùbá proverbs are not contradictory; 
rather, they show the Yorùbá power of 
observation and analysis of human nature and 
human affairs. It is humans that are 
contradictory and inconsistent; and Yorùbá 
are capable of describing them in proverbs; 
thus, the proverbs are ‘mistakenly’ regarded 
as contradictory.  

 
It can also be said that proverbs are 

content dependent; each proverb is 

understood or semantically interpreted based 
on the context or situation that gave birth to 
it. When the Yorùbá observe a situation, they 
coin a proverb that describes what they 
observed. Should a contradictory situation 
arise, they coin a new proverb to describe the 
contradictory observation without 
discountenancing the earlier one. Ability to do 
this shows the wisdom of the people and how 
pragmatic the language is. 

 
The paper also shows that there is no 

situation that does not have a proverb that 
supports or negates it. It is on this premise 
that the Yorùbá say Ẹnu tí aráyé fi pe Adégún 
náà ni wọ́n fi ń pe Adéògún (the same mouth 
that commends is the one that condemns). It 
is also pertinent to say that tibi tire la dálé 
ayé (the world is a mixture of good and bad) 
and that ohun tó kọjú sẹ́nìkan, ẹ̀yìn ló kọ sí 
ẹlòmíràn (what is positive to one is negative 
to the other). This paradox of contradiction 
also shows that for every situation Yorùbá 
always find a proverb that matches it. It is 
also to be said that this phenomenon of 
seeming contradictions in Yorùbá proverbs 
shows the aesthetics of the Yorùbá language 
and by extension, all languages. 

 
 
 
 

 
 
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