{
  "meta": {
    "schema_version": "1.1",
    "endpoint": "/api/sources/sufism/saadi-gulistan/08-chapter-viii-the-duties-of-society.json"
  },
  "work": {
    "slug": "saadi-gulistan",
    "name": "Gulistan (Saadi)"
  },
  "parents": [
    {
      "slug": "sufism",
      "name": "Sufi Poets",
      "url": "/sources/sufism/"
    }
  ],
  "chapter": {
    "num": 9,
    "slug": "08-chapter-viii-the-duties-of-society",
    "title": "Chapter VIII: The Duties of Society",
    "of": 9,
    "words": 7284,
    "text": "## Chapter VIII: The Duties of Society\n\n\nON RULES FOR CONDUCT IN LIFE\n\n Maxim 1\n\n Property is for the comfort of life, not for the accumulation of\nwealth. A sage, having been asked who is lucky and who is not,\nreplied: 'He is lucky who has eaten and sowed but he is unlucky who\nhas died and not enjoyed.'\n\n Pray not for the nobody who has done nothing,\n Who spent his life in accumulating property but\n has not enjoyed it.\n\n Moses, upon whom be peace, thus advised Quran: 'Do thou good as\nAllah has done unto thee.' But he would not listen and thou hast heard\nof his end:\n\n Who has not accumulated good with dirhems and dinars\n Has staked his end upon his dirhems and dinars.\n If thou desirest to profit by riches of the world\n Be liberal to mankind as God has been liberal to thee.\n\n The Arab says: Be liberal without imposing obligations and verily\nthe profit will return to thee.\n\n Wherever the tree of beneficence has taken root\n Its tallness and branches pass beyond the sky.\n If thou art desirous to eat the fruit thereof\n Do not put a saw to its foot by imposing obligations.\n\n Thank God that thou hast been divinely aided\n And not excluded from his gifts and bounty.\n Think not thou conferrest an obligation on the sultan by serving him\n But be obliged to him for having kept thee in his service.\n\n Maxim 2\n\n Two men took useless trouble and strove without any profit, when one\nof them accumulated property without enjoying it, and the other learnt\nwithout practising what he had learnt.\n\n However much science thou mayest acquire\n Thou art ignorant when there is no practice in thee.\n Neither deeply learned nor a scholar will be\n A quadruped loaded with some books.\n What information or knowledge does the silly beast posses\n Whether it is carrying a load of wood or of books?\n\n Maxim 3\n\n Knowledge is for the cherishing of religion, not for amassing\nwealth.\n\n Who sold abstinence, knowledge and piety\n Filled a granary but burnt it clean away.\n\n Maxim 4\n\n A learned man who is not abstinent resembles a torchbearer who\nguides others but does not guide himself.\n\n Who has spent a profitless life\n Bought nothing and threw away his gold.\n\n Maxim 5\n\n The country is adorned by intelligent and the religion by virtuous\nmen. Padshahs stand more in need of the advice of intelligent men than\nintelligent men of the proximity of padshahs.\n\n If thou wilt listen to advice, padshah,\n There is none better in all books than this:\n 'Entrust a business to an intelligent man\n Although it may not be his occupation.'\n\n Maxim 6\n\n Three things cannot subsist without three things: property without\ntrade, science without controversy and a country without punishment.\n\n Speak sometimes in a friendly, conciliatory, manly way\n Perhaps thou wilt ensnare a heart with the lasso.\n Sometimes speak in anger; for a hundred jars of sugar\n Will on occasion not have the effect of one dose of colocynth.\n\n Maxim 7\n\n To have mercy upon the bad is to injure the good; to pardon\ntyrants is to do violence to dervishes.\n\n If thou associatest and art friendly with a wretch\n He will commit sin with thy wealth and make thee his partner.\n\n Admonition 1\n\n The amity of princes and the sweet voice of children are not to be\ntrusted, because the former is changed by fancy and the latter in\nthe course of one night.\n\n Give not thy heart to a sweetheart of a thousand lovers,\n And if thou givest it, thou givest that heart for separation.\n\n Admonition 2\n\n Confide not to a friend every secret thou possessest. How knowest\nthou that he will not some time become thy foe? Inflict not every\ninjury thou canst upon an enemy because it is possible that one day he\nmay become thy friend.\n\n Admonition 3\n\n Reveal not thy secret to any man although he may be trustworthy,\nbecause no one can keep thy secret better than thyself.\n\n Silence is preferable than to tell thy mind\n To anyone; saying what is to remain unsaid.\n O simpleton, stop the source of the spring.\n When it becomes full, the brook cannot be stopped.\n\n Maxim 8\n\n A weak foe, who professes submission and shows friendship, has no\nother object than to become a strong enemy. It has been said that as\nthe friendship of friends is unreliable, what trust can be put in\nthe flattery of enemies?\n\n Admonition 4\n\n Who despises an insignificant enemy resembles him who is careless\nabout fire.\n\n Extinguish it today, while it may be quenched,\n Because when fire is high, it burns the world.\n Allow not the bow to be spanned\n By a foe because an arrow may pierce.\n\n Admonition 5\n\n Speak so between two enemies that thou mayest not be put to shame if\nthey become friends.\n\n Between two men contention is like fire,\n The ill-starred back-biter being the wood-carrier.\n When both of them become friends again\n He will among them be unhappy and ashamed.\n To kindle fire between two men\n Is not wise but is to burn oneself therein.\n\n Converse in whispers with thy friends\n Lest thy sanguinary foe may hear thee.\n Take care of what thou sayest in front of a wall\n Because an ear may be behind the wall.\n\n Admonition 6\n\n Whoever makes peace with the enemies of his friends greatly\ninjures his friends.\n\n Wash thy hands, O wise man, from a friend\n Who is sitting together with thy foes.\n\n Admonition 7\n\n When thou art uncertain in transacting an affair, select that\nportion of it which will entail no danger to thee.\n\n Speak not harshly to a man of gentle speech.\n Seek not to fight with him who knocks at the door of peace.\n\n Admonition 8\n\n As long as an affair can be arranged with gold, it is not proper\nto endanger life.\n\n When the hand is foiled in every stratagem\n It is licit to put the hand to the sword.\n\n Admonition 9\n\n Do not pity the weakness of a foe because when he gains strength\nhe will not spare thee.\n\n Boast not of thy moustaches when thou seest thy foe is weak.\n There is marrow in every bone, a man in every coat.\n\n Maxim 9\n\n Whoever slays a bad fellow saves mankind from a calamity and him\nfrom the wrath of God.\n\n Condonation is laudable but nevertheless\n Apply no salve to the wound of an oppressor of the people.\n He who had mercy upon a serpent\n Knew not that it was an injury to the sons of Adam.\n\n Maxim 10\n\n It is a mistake to accept advice from an enemy but permissible to\nhear it; and to act contrary to it is perfectly correct.\n\n Be cautious of what a foe tells thee to do\n Lest thou strike thy knee with the hand of pain.\n If he points thy way to the right like an arrow\n Deflect therefrom and take that to the left hand.\n\n Admonition 10\n\n Wrath beyond measure produces estrangement and untimely kindness\ndestroys authority. Be neither so harsh as to disgust the people\nwith thee nor so mild as to embolden them.\n\n Severity and mildness together are best\n Like a bleeder who is a surgeon and also applies a salve.\n A wise man uses neither severity to excess\n Nor mildness; for it lessens his authority.\n He neither exalts himself too much\n Nor exposes himself at once to contempt.\n\n A youth said to his father: 'O wise man,\n Give me for instruction one advice like an aged person.'\n He said: 'Be kind but not to such a degree\n That a sharp-toothed wolf may become audacious.'\n\n Maxim 11\n\n May that prince never govern a kingdom\n Who is not an obedient slave to God.\n\n Admonition 11\n\n It is incumbent upon a padshah to give way to anger towards his\nslaves only so far as to retain the confidence of his friends. The\nfire of anger first burns him who has given cause for it and\nafterwards the flame may or may not reach the foe.\n\n It is not proper for sons of Adam born of earth\n To inflate their heads with pride, violence and wind.\n Thou who displayest so much heat and obstinacy\n Must be, I think, not of earth but of fire.\n\n I visited a hermit in the country of Bilqan\n And requested him to purge me of ignorance by instruction.\n He replied: 'Be patient like earth, O lawyer,\n Or else, bury under the earth all thy learning.'\n\n Maxim 12\n An ill-humoured man is captive in the hands of a foe, from the grasp\nof whose punishment he cannot be delivered wherever he may go.\n\n If from the hand of calamity an ill-natured man escapes into the sky\n The evil disposition of his own nature retains him in calamity.\n\n Admonition 12\n\n When thou perceivest that discord is in the army of the foe, be thou\nat ease; but if they are united, be apprehensive of thy own distress.\n\n Go and sit in repose with thy friends\n When thou seest war among the enemies;\n But if thou perceivest that they all agree\n Span thy bow and carry stones upon the rampart.\n\n Maxim 13\n\n When all the artifices of an enemy have failed he shakes the chain\nof friendship, and thereon performs acts of friendship which no\nenemy is able to do.\n\n Admonition 13\n\n Strike the head of a serpent with the hand of a foe because one of\ntwo advantages will result. If the enemy succeeds thou hast killed the\nsnake and if the latter, thou hast been delivered from a foe.\n\n Advice\n\n If thou art aware of news which will grieve a heart, remain silent\nthat others may convey it.\n\n Nightingale, bring tidings of spring.\n Leave bad news to the owl.\n\n Caution\n\n Give not information to a padshah of the treachery of anyone, unless\nthou art sure he will accept it; else thou wilt only be preparing\nthy own destruction.\n\n Prepare to speak only when\n Thy words are likely to have effect.\n Speech is a perfection in the soul of man\n But do not ruin thyself by speaking.\n\n Maxim 14\n\n Whoever gives advice to a self-willed man stands himself in need\nof advice.\n\n Admonition 14\n\n Swallow not the deception of a foe. Purchase not conceit from a\npanegyrist. The one has laid out a snare for provisions and the\nother has opened the jaws of covetousness.\n\n Maxim 15\n\n A fool is pleased by flattery like the inflated heel of a corpse\nthat has the appearance of fatness.\n\n Take care not to listen to the voice of a flatterer\n Who expects cheaply to derive profit from thee.\n If one day thou failest to satisfy his wishes\n He enumerates two hundred faults of thine.\n\n Maxim 16\n\n Unless an orator's defects are mentioned by someone, his good points\nwill not be praised.\n\n Be not proud of the beauty of thy speech,\n Of the approbation of an ignoramus and of thy own opinion.\n\n Maxim 17\n\n Everyone thinks himself perfect in intellect and his child in\nbeauty.\n\n A Jew was debating with a Musalman\n Till I shook with laughter at their dispute.\n The Moslem said in anger: 'If this deed of mine\n Is not correct, may God cause me to die a Jew.'\n The Jew said: 'I swear by the Pentateuch\n That if my oath is false, I shall die a Moslem like thee.'\n Should from the surface of the earth wisdom disappear\n Still no one will acknowledge his own ignorance.\n\n Maxim 18\n\n Ten men eat at a table but two dogs will contend for one piece of\ncarrion. A greedy person will stir be hungry with the whole world,\nwhilst a contented man will be satisfied with one bread. Wise men have\nsaid that poverty with content is better than wealth and not\nabundance.\n\n Narrow intestines may be filled with dry bread\n But the wealth of the surface of the world will not fill a greedy\n eye.\n\n When the term of my father's life had come to an end\n He gave me this one advice and passed away:\n Lust is fire, abstain therefrom,\n Make not the fire of hell sharp for thee.\n In that fire the burning thou wilt not be able to bear,\n Quench this fire with water today.\n\n Admonition 15\n\n Whoever does no good in the time of ability will see distress in the\ntime of inability.\n\n No one is more unlucky than an oppressor of men\n Because in the day of calamity no one is his friend.\n\n Maxim 19\n\n Life is in the keeping of a single breath and the world is an\nexistence between two annihilations. Those who sell the religion for\nthe world 'are asses', they sell Joseph but what do 'they buy'? Did\nI not command you, O sons of Adam, that ye should not worship Satan?\n\n On the word of a foe thou hast broken faith with a friend.\n See from whom thou hast cut thyself off and to whom united.\n\n Maxim 20\n\n Satan cannot conquer the righteous and the sultan the poor.\n\n Lend nothing to a prayerless man\n Although his mouth may gasp from penury;\n Because he who neglects the commands of God\n Will also not care for what he may be indebted to thee.\n\n Maxim 21\n\n Whatever takes place quickly is not permanent.\n\n I have heard that eastern loam is made\n In forty days into a porcelain cup.\n A hundred are daily made in Baghdad.\n Hence thou seest also their price is vile.\n\n A little fowl issues from the egg and seeks food\n Whilst man's progeny has no knowledge, sense or discernment.\n Nevertheless the former attains nothing when grown up\n Whilst the latter surpasses all beings in dignity and excellence.\n Glass is everywhere, and therefore of no account,\n But a ruby difficult to get, and therefore precious.\n\n Maxim 22\n\n Affairs succeed by patience and a hasty man fails.\n\n I saw with my eyes in the desert\n That a slow man overtook a fast one.\n A galloping horse, fleet like the wind, fell back\n Whilst the camel-man continued slowly his progress.\n\n Maxim 23\n\n Nothing is better for an ignorant man than silence, and if he were\nto consider it to be suitable, he would not be ignorant.\n\n If thou possessest not the perfection of excellence\n It is best to keep thy tongue within thy mouth.\n Disgrace is brought on a man by his tongue.\n A walnut, having no kernel, will be light.\n\n A fool was trying to teach a donkey,\n Spending all his time and efforts in the task.\n A sage observed: 'O ignorant man, what sayest thou?\n Fear blame from the censorious in this vain attempt.\n A brute cannot learn speech from thee.\n Learn thou silence from a brute.'\n\n Who does not reflect what he is to answer\n Will mostly speak improperly.\n Come. Either arrange thy words like a wise man\n Or remain sitting silent like a brute.\n\n Admonition 16\n\n Whenever a man disputes with one who is more learned than himself to\nmake people know of his learning, they will know that he is ignorant.\n\n If one better than thyself begins to speak,\n Although thou mayest know better, contradict him not.\n\n Maxim 24\n\n Whoever associates with bad people will see no good.\n\n If an angel associates with a demon\n He will learn from him fear, fraud and hypocrisy.\n Of the wicked thou canst learn only wickedness.\n A wolf will not take to sewing jackets.\n\n Admonition 17\n\n Reveal not the secret faults of men because thou wilt put them to\nshame and wilt forfeit thy own confidence.\n\n Maxim 25\n\n Who acquires science and does not practise it, resembles him who\npossesses an ox but does not use him to plough or to sow seed.\n\n Maxim 26\n\n From a body without a heart obedience does not arise and a husk\nwithout a kernel is no stock in trade.\n\n Not everyone who is brisk in dispute is correct in business.\n\n Many a stature concealed by a sheet\n If revealed appears to be the mother of one's mother.\n\n Maxim 27\n\n If every night were to be the night of Qadr, the night of Qadr would\nbe without Qadr.\n\n If all stones were rubies of Badakhshan,\n The price of rubies and of stones would be the same.\n\n Maxim 28\n\n Not everyone who is handsome in form possesses a good character; the\nqualities are inside not upon the skin.\n\n It is possible in one day to know from a man's qualities\n What degree of science he has reached.\n Be however not sure of his mind nor deceived.\n A wicked spirit is not detected sometimes for years.\n\n Caution 2\n\n Who quarrels with great men sheds his own blood.\n\n One who thinks that he is great\n Is truly said to be squinting.\n Thou wilt soon see thy forehead broken\n If thou buttest it in play against a ram.\n\n Maxim 29\n\n To strike one's fist on a lion, and to grasp the sharp edge of a\nsword with the hand, is not the part of an intelligent man.\n\n Do not fight or try thy strength with a furious man.\n Hide thy hands in thy arm-pits to avoid his finger-nails.\n\n Caution 3\n\n A weak man trying to show his prowess off against a strong one\nonly aids his foe to encompass his own destruction.\n\n What strength has one brought up in the shade\n To go against champions in a fight?\n A man with weak arms in his folly throws\n His fist upon a man with iron claws.\n\n Maxim 30\n\n Whoever does not listen to advice will have occasion to hear\nreproof.\n\n If admonition enters not thy ear\n Be silent when I blame thee.\n\n Elegant saying 1\n\n Men void of accomplishments cannot behold those who possess some,\nwithout barking like the curs of the bazar on seeing a hunting dog,\nbut dare not come forward; that is to say, when a base fellow is\nunable to vie with an accomplished man he sets about slandering him\naccording to his own wickedness.\n\n The envious mean fellow will certainly slander,\n Whose tongue of speech is dumb when face to face.\n\n Maxim 31\n\n If there were no craving of the stomach, no bird would enter the\nsnare of the fowler; nay, he would not even set the snare.\n\n Maxim 32\n\n Sages eat slow, devotees half satisfy their appetite, recluses\nonly eat to preserve life, youths until the dishes are removed, old\nmen till they begin to perspire, but qalandars till no room remains in\nthe bowels for drawing breath and no food on the table for anybody.\n\n A slave to constipation spends two sleepless nights,\n One night from repletion and another from distress.\n\n Maxim 33\n\n To consult women brings on ruin and to be liberal to rebellious\nmen crime.\n\n To have mercy on sharp-toothed tigers\n Is to be tyrannical towards sheep.\n\n Admonition 18\n\n Who has power over his foe and does not slay him is his own enemy.\n\n With a stone in the hand and a snake on a stone\n It is folly to consider and to delay.\n\n Others, however, enounce a contrary opinion and say that it is\npreferable to respite captives because the option of killing or not\nkilling remains; but if they be slain without delay, it is possible\nthat some advantage may be lost, the like of which cannot be again\nobtained.\n\n It is quite easy to deprive a man of life.\n When he is slain he cannot be resuscitaied again.\n It is a condition of wisdom in the archer to be patient\n Because when the arrow leaves the bow it returns no more.\n\n Maxim 34\n\n When a sage comes in contact with fools, he must not expect to be\nhonoured, and if an ignorant man overcomes a sage in an oratorical\ncontest, it is no wonder, because even a stone breaks a jewel.\n\n What wonder is there that the song\n Of a nightingale ceases when imprisoned with a crow\n Or that a virtuous man under the tyranny of vagabonds\n Feels affliction in his heart and is irate.\n Although a base stone may break a golden vase,\n The price of the stone is not enhanced nor of the gold lost.\n\n Maxim 35\n\n Be not astonished when a wise man ceases to speak in company of vile\npersons, since the melody of a harp cannot overcome the noise of a\ndrum and the perfume of ambergris must succumb to the stench of rotten\ngarlic.\n\n A blatant ignoramus proudly lifted his neck\n Because he had overcome a scholar by his impudence.\n Knowest thou not that the Hejazi musical tune\n Succumbs to the roar of the drum of war?\n\n Maxim 36\n\n Even after falling into mud a jewel retains its costliness, and\ndust, although it may rise into the sky, is as contemptible as before.\nCapacity without education is deplorable and education without\ncapacity is thrown away. Ashes are of high origin because the nature\nof fire is superior, but as they have no value of their own, they\nare similar to earth and the price of sugar arises not from. the\ncane but from its own quality.\n\n The land of Canaan having no natural excellence,\n The birth of a prophet therein could not enhance its worth.\n Display thy virtue if thou hast any, not thy origin.\n The rose is the offspring of thorns and Abraham of Azer.\n\n Maxim 37\n\n Musk is known by its perfume and not by what the druggist says. A\nscholar is silent like the perfumer's casket but displays\naccomplishments, whilst an ignoramus is loud-voiced and\nintrinsically empty like a war-drum.\n\n A learned man among blockheads\n (So says the parable of our friends)\n Is like a sweetheart among the blind\n Or a Quran among unbelievers.\n\n Maxim 38\n\n A friend whom people have been cherishing during a lifetime they\nmust not suddenly insult.\n\n It takes a stone many a year to become a ruby.\n Beware not to break it in a moment with a stone.\n\n Maxim 39\n\n Intellect may become captive to lust like a weak man in the hands of\nan artful woman.\n\n Bid farewell to pleasure in a house\n Where the shouting of a woman is loud.\n\n Maxim 40\n\n A design without strength to execute it is fraud and deception and\napplication of strength without a design is ignorance and lunacy.\n\n Discernment is necessary. Arrangement and intellect, then a realm;\n For realm and wealth with an ignorant man are weapons against\n himself.\n\n Maxim 41\n\n A liberal man who eats and bestows is better than a devote who fasts\nand hoards.\n\n Maxim 42\n\n Who has renounced appetites for the sake of approbation by men has\nfallen from licit into illicit appetites.\n\n A devotee who sits in a corner not for God's sake\n Is helpless. What can he see in a dark mirror?\n\n Little by little becomes much and drop by drop will be a torrent;\nthat is to say, he who has no power gathers small stones that he may\nat the proper opportunity annihilate the pride of his foe.\n\n Drop upon drop collected will make a river.\n Rivers upon rivers collected will make a sea.\n Little and little together will become much.\n The granary is but grain upon grain.\n\n Maxim 43\n\n A scholar is not meekly to overlook the folly of a common person\nbecause thus both parties are injured; the dignity of the former being\nlessened, and the ignorance of the latter confirmed.\n\n Speak gracefully and kindly to a low fellow,\n His pride and obstinacy will augment.\n\n Maxim 44\n\n Transgression by whomsoever committed is blamable but more so in\nlearned men, because learning is a weapon for combating Satan and,\nwhen the possessor of a weapon is made prisoner, his shame will be\ngreater.\n\n It is better to be an ignorant poor fellow\n Then a learned man who is not abstemious;\n Because the former loses the way by his blindness\n While the latter falls into a well with both eyes open.\n\n Maxim 45\n\n Whose bread is not eaten by others while he is alive, he will not be\nremembered when he is dead. A widow knows the delight of grapes and\nnot the lord of fruits. Joseph the just, salutation to him, never\nate to satiety in the Egyptian dearth for fear he might forget the\nhungry people.\n\n How can he who lives in comfort and abundance\n Know what the state of the famished is?\n He is aware of the condition of the poor\n Who has himself fallen into a state of distress.\n\n O thou who art riding a fleet horse, consider\n That the poor thorn-carrying ass is in water and mud.\n Ask not for fire from thy poor neighbour's house\n Because what passes out of his window is the smoke of his heart.\n\n Admonition 19\n\n Ask not a dervish in poor circumstances, and in the distress of a\nyear of famine, how he feels, unless thou art ready to apply a salve\nto his wound or to provide him with a maintenance.\n\n When thou seest an ass, fallen in mud with his load,\n Have mercy in thy heart and step not on his head.\n But when thou hast gone and asked him how he fell,\n Gird thy loins and take hold of his tail like a man.\n\n Maxim 46\n\n Two things are contrary to reason: to enjoy more than is decreed and\nto die before the time appointed.\n\n Fate will not change by a thousand laments and sighs,\n By thanks or complaints, issuing from the mouth.\n The angel appointed over the treasures of wind\n Cares not if the lamp of a widow dies.\n\n Admonition 20\n\n O thou asker of food, sit for thou wilt eat; and 0 thou asked by\ndeath, run not for thou wilt not save thy life.\n\n Whether thou strivest for a maintenance or not\n God the most high and glorious will send it to thee;\n And if thou rushest into the jaw of a lion or tiger\n They will not devour thee unless on the day decreed.\n\n Maxim 47\n\n What is not placed cannot be reached by the hand and whatever is\nplaced will be reached wherever it is.\n\n Hast thou heard that Alexander went into the darkness\n And after all his efforts could not taste the water of\n immortality?\n\n Maxim 48\n\n A rich profligate is a lump of earth gilded and a pious dervish is a\nsweetheart besmeared with earth. The latter is the patched garment\nof Moses and the former is the bejewelled beard of Pharaoh.\nNevertheless good men retain a cheerful countenance in adversity\nwhilst the rich droop their heads even in prosperity.\n\n Who possesses wealth and dignity but therewith\n Succours not those whose minds are distressed,\n Inform him that no kind of wealth and dignity\n He will enjoy in the mansion of the next world.\n\n Maxim 49\n\n An envious man is avaricious with the wealth of God and hates the\nguiltless as foes.\n\n I saw a crackbrained little man,\n Reviling a possessor of dignity,\n Who replied: 'O fellow, if thou art unlucky,\n What guilt is there in lucky men?'\n\n Forbear to wish evil to an envious man\n Because the ill-starred fellow is an evil to himself.\n What needest thou to show enmity to him\n Who has such a foe on the nape of his neck?\n\n Maxim 50\n\n A disciple without intention is a lover without money; a traveller\nwithout knowledge is a bird without wings; a scholar without\npractice is a tree without fruit, and a devotee without science is a\nhouse without a door. The Quran was revealed for the acquisition of\na good character, not for chanting written chapters. A pious\nunlettered man is like one who travels on foot, whilst a negligent\nscholar is like a sleeping rider. A sinner who lifts his hands in\nsupplication is better than a devotee who keeps them proudly on his\nhead.\n\n A good humoured and pleasant military officer\n Is superior to a theologian who injures men.\n\n One being asked what a learned man without practice resembled,\nreplied: 'A bee without honey.'\n\n Say to the rude and unkind bee,\n 'At least forbear to sting, if thou givest no honey.'\n\n Maxim 51\n\n A man without virility is a woman and an avaricious devote is a\nhighway robber.\n\n O thou, who hast put on a white robe for a show,\n To be approved of men, whilst the book of thy acts is black.\n The hand is to be restrained from the world,\n No matter whether the sleeve be short or long.\n\n Maxim 52\n\n Regret will not leave the hearts of two persons and their feet of\ncontention will not emerge from the mire: a merchant with a wrecked\nship and a youth sitting with qalandars.\n\n Dervishes will consider it licit to shed thy blood\n If they can have no access to thy property.\n Either associate not with a friend who dons the blue garb,\n Or bid farewell to all thy property.\n Either make no friends with elephant-keepers\n Or build a house suitable for elephants.\n\n Maxim 53\n\n Although a sultan's garment of honour is dear yet one's own old robe\nis more dear; and though the food of a great man may be delicious, the\nbroken crumbs of one's own sack are more delicious.\n\n Vinegar by one's own labour and vegetables\n Are better than bread received as alms, and veal.\n\n Maxim 54\n\n It is contrary to what is proper, and against the opinion of to\npartake of medicine by guess and to go after a caravan without\nseeing the road. The Imam Murshid Muhammad Ghazali, upon whom be the\nmercy of Allah, having been asked in what manner he had attained\nsuch a degree of knowledge, replied: 'By not being ashamed to ask\nabout things I did not know.'\n\n The hope of recovery is according to reason,\n That he should feel thy pulse who knows thy nature.\n Ask what thou knowest not; for the trouble of asking\n Will indicate to thee the way to the dignity of knowledge.\n\n Admonition 21\n\n Whatever thou perceivest will become known to thee in due course\nof time. Make no haste in asking for it, else the awe of thy dignity\nwill be lessened.\n\n When Loqman saw that in the hands of David\n All iron became by miracle soft like wax,\n He asked not: 'What art thou doing?' Because\n He knew he would learn it without asking.\n\n Maxim 55\n\n One of the requirements for society is to attend to the affairs of\nthy household and also at the house of God.\n\n Tell thy tale according to thy hearer's temper,\n If thou knowest him to be biased to thee.\n Every wise man who sits with Mejnun\n Speaks of nothing but the story of Laila's love.\n\n Maxim 56\n\n Anyone associating with bad people, although their nature may not\ninfect his own, is supposed to follow their ways to such a degree that\nif he goes to a tavern to say his prayers, he will be supposed to do\nso for drinking wine.\n\n Thou hast branded thyself with the mark of ignorance,\n When thou hast selected an ignoramus for thy companion.\n I asked some scholars for a piece of advice.\n They said: 'Connect thyself not with an ignorant man,\n For if thou be learned, thou wilt be an ass in course of time\n And if unlearned thou wilt become a greater fool.'\n\n Maxim 57\n\n The meekness of the camel is known to be such that if a child\ntakes hold of its bridle and goes a hundred farsakhs, it will not\nrefuse to follow, but if a dangerous portion occurs which may occasion\ndeath and the child ignorantly desires to approach it, the camel tears\nthe bridle from his hand, refusing any longer to obey because\ncompliance in times of calamity is blamable. It is also said that by\ncomplaisance an enemy will not become a friend but that his greed will\nonly be augmented.\n\n To him who is kind to thee, be dust at his feet\n But if he opposes thee fill his two eyes with dust.\n Speak not kindly or gently to an ill-humoured fellow\n Because a soft file cannot clean off inveterate rust.\n\n Maxim 58\n\n Who interrupts the conversation of others that they may know his\nexcellence, they will become acquainted only with the degree of his\nfolly.\n\n An intelligent man will not give a reply\n Unless he be asked a question.\n Because though his words may be based on truth,\n His claim to veracity may be deemed impossible.\n\n Maxim 59\n\n I had a wound under my robe and a sheikh asked me daily how, but not\nwhere it is, and I learned that he refrained because it is not\nadmissible to mention every member; and wise men have also said that\nwhoever does not ponder his question will be grieved by the answer.\n\n Until thou knowest thy words to be perfectly suitable\n Thou must not open thy mouth in speech.\n If thou speakest truth and remainest in captivity,\n It is better than that thy mendacity deliver thee therefrom.\n\n Maxim 60\n\n Mendacity resembles a violent blow, the scar of which remains,\nthough the wound may be healed. Seest thou not how the brothers of\nJoseph became noted for falsehood, and no trust in their veracity\nremained, as Allah the most high has said: Nay but ye yourselves\nhave contrived the thing for your own sake.\n\n One habitually speaking the truth\n Is pardoned when he once makes a slip\n But if he becomes noted for lying,\n People do not believe him even when speaking truth.\n\n Maxim 61\n\n The noblest of beings is evidently man, and the meanest a dog, but\nintelligent persons agree that a grateful dog is better than an\nungrateful man.\n\n A dog never forgets a morsel received\n Though thou throwest a stone at him a hundred times.\n But if thou cherishest a base fellow a lifetime,\n He will for a trifle suddenly fight with thee.\n\n Maxim 62\n\n Who panders to his passions will not cultivate accomplishments and\nwho possesses none is not suitable for a high position.\n\n Have no mercy on a voracious ox\n Who sleeps a great deal and eats much.\n If thou wantest to have fatness like an ox,\n Yield thy body to the tyranny of people like an ass.\n\n Maxim 63\n\n It is written in the Evangel: 'O son of Adam, if I give thee riches,\nthou wilt turn away from me with mundane cares, and if I make thee\npoor thou wilt sit down with a sad heart; then where wilt thou enjoy\nthe sweetness of adoring me, and when wilt thou hasten to serve me?'\n\n Sometimes thou art made haughty, and careless by wealth,\n Sometimes art in distress from exhaustion and penury.\n If thy state be such in joy and in distress,\n I know not when thou wilt turn to God from thyself.\n\n Maxim 64\n\n The will of the Inscrutable brings down one from the royal throne,\nand protects the other in the belly of a fish.\n\n Happy is the time of the man\n Who spends it in adoring thee.\n\n Maxim 65\n\n When God draws the sword of wrath, prophets and saints draw in their\nheads, but if he casts a look of grace, he converts wicked into\nvirtuous men.\n\n If at the resurrection he addresses us in anger\n What chance of pardon will even prophets have?\n Say: 'Remove the veil from the face of mercy\n Because sinners entertain hopes of pardon.'\n\n Maxim 66\n\n Whoever does not betake himself to the path of rectitude in\nconsequence of the castigations of this world will fall under\neternal punishment in the next. Allah the most high has said: And we\nwill cause them to taste the nearer punishment of this world besides\nthe more grievous punishment of the next.\n\n Admonition is the address of superiors and then fetters.\n If they give advice and thou listenest not, they put thee in\n fetters.\n\n Maxim 67\n\n Fortunate men are admonished by the adventures and similes of\nthose who have preceded them, before those who follow them can use the\nevent as a proverb, like thieves who shorten their hands, lest their\nhands be cut off.\n\n The bird does not go to the grain displayed\n When it beholds another fowl in the trap.\n Take advice by the misfortunes of others\n That others may not take advice from thee.\n\n Maxim 68\n\n How can he hear whose organ of audition has been created dull, and\nhow can he avoid progressing upon whom the noose of happiness has been\nflung?\n\n To the friends of God a dark night\n Shines like the brilliant day.\n This felicity is not by strength of arm\n Unless God the giver bestows it.\n\n To whom shall I complain of thee? There is no other judge\n And there is no other hand superior to thine.\n Whom thou guidest -no one can lead astray.\n Whom thou castest off no one can guide.\n\n Maxim 69\n\n The earth receives showers from heaven and gives to it only dust.\nEvery vessel exudes what it contains.\n\n If my humour appears to thee unbecoming\n Lose not thy own good humour.\n\n Maxim 70\n\n A mendicant with a good end is better than a padshah with a bad end.\n\n The grief thou sufferest before the joy\n Is better than the grief endured after joy.\n\n Maxim 71\n\n The Most High sees a fault and conceals it, and a neighbour sees\nit not, but shouts.\n\n Let us take refuge with Allah.\n If people knew our faults\n No one could have rest from interference by others.\n\n Maxim 72\n\n Gold is obtained from a mine by digging it, but from a miser by\ndigging the soul.\n\n Vile men spend not, but preserve.\n They say hope of spending is better than spending.\n One day thou seest the wish of the foe fulfilled\n The gold remaining and the vile man dead.\n\n Maxim 73\n\n Who has no mercy upon inferiors will suffer from the tyranny of\nsuperiors.\n\n Not every arm which contains strength\n Breaks the hand of the weak for showing bravery.\n Injure not the heart of the helpless\n For thou wilt succumb to the force of a strong man.\n\n Maxim 74\n\n When a wise man encounters obstacles, he leaps away and casts anchor\nat the proper opportunity, for thus he will be in the former\ninstance safe on shore, and in the latter he will enjoy himself.\n\n Maxim 75\n\n The gambler requires three sixes and only three aces turn up.\n\n The pasture is a thousand times more pleasant than the racecourse\n But the steed has not the bridle at its option.\n\n Story 1\n\n A dervish prayed thus: 'O Lord, have mercy upon the wicked,\nbecause thou hast already had mercy upon good men by creating them\nto be good.'\n\n Maxim 76\n\n The first sovereign who laid stress on costume and wore rings on his\nleft hand was Jamshid; and being asked why he had adorned his left\nwhereas excellence resides in the right hand, he replied: 'The right\nhand is fully ornamented by its own rectitude.'\n\n Feridun ordered Chinese embroiderers\n To write around the borders of his tent:\n 'Keep the wicked well, O intelligent man,\n Because the good are in themselves great and fortunate.'\n\n Story 2\n\n A great man having been asked why he wore his seal-ring on his\nleft hand, whereas the right possesses so much excellence, replied:\n'Knowest thou not that the meritorious are always neglected?'\n\n He who has created joy and distress\n Apportions either excellence or luck.\n\n Maxim 77\n\n He may freely warn who neither fears to lose his life nor hopes\nfor gold.\n\n Pour either gold at the feet of a monotheist\n Or place an Indian sabre to his head.\n He entertains no hope nor fear from anyone\n And this is a sufficient basis of monotheism.\n\n Maxim 78\n\n The padshah is to remove oppressors; the police, murderers; and\nthe qazi to hear complaints about thieves; but two enemies willing\nto agree to what is right will not apply to him.\n\n When thou seest that it must be given what is right\n Pay it rather with grace than fighting and distressed.\n If a man pays not his tax of his own accord\n The officer's man will take it by force.\n\n Maxim 79\n\n The teeth of all men are blunted by sourness, but those of the\nqazi by sweetness.\n\n The qazi whom thou bribest with five cucumbers\n Will prove that ten melon-fields are due to thee.\n\n Maxim 80\n\n What can an old prostitute do but vow to become chaste, and an\npoliceman not to commit oppression upon men?\n\n A youth who sits in a corner is a hero in the path of God\n Because an old man is unable to rise from his corner.\n\n A youth must be strong minded to abstain from lust,\n Because even the sexual tool of an old man, of sluggish desire,\n rises not.\n\n Maxim 81\n\n A sage was asked: 'Of so many notable, high and fertile trees\nwhich God the most high has created, not one is called free, except\nthe cypress, which bears no fruit. What is the reason of this?' He\nreplied: 'Every tree has its appropriate season of fruit, so that it\nis sometimes flourishing therewith, and looks sometimes withered by\nits absence; with the cypress, however, neither is the case, it\nbeing fresh at all times, and this is the quality of those who are\nfree.'\n\n Place not thy heart on what passes away; for the Tigris\n Will flow after the Khalifs have passed away in Baghdad.\n If thou art able, be liberal like the date tree,\n And if thy hand cannot afford it, be liberal like the cypress.\n\n Maxim 82\n\n Two men died, bearing away their grief One had possessed wealth\nand not enjoyed it, the other knowledge and not practised it.\n\n No one sees an excellent but avaricious man\n Without publishing his defect\n But if a liberal man has a hundred faults\n His generosity covers his imperfections.\n\n Conclusion of the Book\n\n The book of the Gulistan has been completed, and Allah had been\ninvoked for aid! By the grace of the Almighty, may his name be\nhonoured, throughout the work the custom of authors to insert verses\nfrom ancient writers by way of loan, has not been followed.\n\n To adorn oneself with one's own rag\n Is better than to ask for the loan of a robe.\n\n Most of the utterances of Sa'di being exhilarant and mixed with\npleasantry, shortsighted persons have on this account lengthened the\ntongue of blame, alleging that it is not the part of intelligent men\nto spend in vain the kernel of their brain, and to eat without\nprofit the smoke of the lamp; it is, however, not concealed from\nenlightened men, who are able to discern the tendency of words, that\npearls of curative admonition are strung upon the thread of\nexplanation, and that the bitter medicine of advice is commingled with\nthe honey of wit, in order that the reader's mind should not be\nfatigued, and thereby excluded from the benefit of acceptance; and\npraise be to the Lord of both worlds.\n\n We gave advice in its proper place\n Spending a lifetime in the task.\n If it should not touch anyone's ear of desire\n The messenger told his tale; it is enough.\n\n O thou who lookest into it, ask Allah to have mercy\n On the author and to pardon the owner of it.\n Ask for thyself whatever benefit thou mayest desire,\n And after that pardon for the writer of it.\n If I had on the day of resurrection an opportunity\n Near the Compassionate one I should say: 'O Lord,\n I am the sinner and thou the beneficent master,\n For all the ill I have done I crave for thy bounty.'\n\n Gratitude is due from me to God that this book is ended Before my\nlife has reached its termination. -THE END-\n.",
    "project_translation": false,
    "license": null,
    "methodology_url": null
  }
}