Short Poems

The first sovereign who laid stress on costume and wore rings on his left hand was Jamshid; and being asked why he had adorned his left whereas excellence resides in the right hand, he replied: ‘The right hand is fully ornamented by its own rectitude.’

Feridun ordered Chinese embroiderers
To write around the borders of his tent:
‘Keep the wicked well, O intelligent man,
Because the good are in themselves great and fortunate.’

The gambler requires three sixes and only three aces turn up.

The pasture is a thousand times more pleasant than the racecourse
But the steed has not the bridle at its option.

When a wise man encounters obstacles, he leaps away and casts anchor at the proper opportunity, for thus he will be in the former instance safe on shore, and in the latter he will enjoy himself.

Who has no mercy upon inferiors will suffer from the tyranny of superiors.

Not every arm which contains strength
Breaks the hand of the weak for showing bravery.
Injure not the heart of the helpless
For thou wilt succumb to the force of a strong man

Gold is obtained from a mine by digging it, but from a miser by digging the soul.

Vile men spend not, but preserve.
They say hope of spending is better than spending.
One day thou seest the wish of the foe fulfilled
The gold remaining and the vile man dead.

The Most High sees a fault and conceals it, and a neighbour sees it not, but shouts.

Let us take refuge with Allah.
If people knew our faults
No one could have rest from interference by others.

A mendicant with a good end is better than a padshah with a bad end.

The grief thou sufferest before the joy
Is better than the grief endured after joy.

The earth receives showers from heaven and gives to it only dust. Every vessel exudes what it contains.

If my humour appears to thee unbecoming
Lose not thy own good humour.

Fortunate men are admonished by the adventures and similes of those who have preceded them, before those who follow them can use the event as a proverb, like thieves who shorten their hands, lest their hands be cut off.

The bird does not go to the grain displayed
When it beholds another fowl in the trap.
Take advice by the misfortunes of others
That others may not take advice from thee.

Whoever does not betake himself to the path of rectitude in consequence of the castigations of this world will fall under eternal punishment in the next. Allah the most high has said: And we will cause them to taste the nearer punishment of this world besides the more grievous punishment of the next.

Admonition is the address of superiors and then fetters.
If they give advice and thou listenest not, they put thee in fetters.