Words That Fall Upon the Heart from Saʿdī Shīrāzī
The wisdoms of Saʿdī Shīrāzī are a selection of short sayings that touch the human heart, character, and inner discipline. Although each saying may appear as a simple note on its own, behind it lie fundamental issues such as discipline of the nafs (the lower self), awareness of mortality, knowledge, adab (propriety), and maturity of the qalb (the heart).
On this page, a concise selection of 72 sayings has been compiled for Saʿdī Shīrāzī.
01
“Even if the sun were bread on his table, no one would see the face of the sun in this world until the Day of Resurrection.”
02
“As for the wasp without generosity, since it does not give honey, let it at least not sting.”
03
“When one’s benefit ends, so does their affection.”
04
“Do not cut off your melody; even if sorrow is cast into you. If the heart is broken by ebb and flow; all passes, all passes.”
05
“Be neither so harsh as to break those around you, nor so soft as to embolden those before you.”
06
“The master wakes to the sound of the drum; how could he know how the watchman’s night passed?”
07
“Good things always end quickly.”
08
“Man is a drop of blood and a thousand worries.”
09
“Two things darken the ruh (the spirit) of a person: speaking when one should be silent, and being silent when one should speak.”
10
“Strive to be a good person and do not give opportunity to those with evil thoughts. If the harmony of your instrument is right, you will not have to bow to the plectrum.”
11
“To pity the guilty is to betray the innocent and the blameless, and to oppose the laws of Allah the Exalted.”
12
“A man whose faults are not told to him mistakes his flaws for virtues.”
13
“No matter how much you know, if your limit is what you do not know, in my view you are nothing.”
14
“No matter how much you read, if you do not act in a manner befitting your knowledge, you are ignorant.”
15
“The greatest trick of the enemy is his friendship.”
16
“One must be at ease, but not insensitive. One must be frank, but not rude.”
17
“O Allah! Raise me up Yourself so that no one else may bring me down.”
18
“No matter how much you read; as long as you do not act in a manner befitting your knowledge, you are ignorant.”
19
“The problem is not that you are ignorant, but that you think yourself a scholar.”
20
“Allah has given everyone the jewel they deserve. If the cat had wings, the sparrow’s lineage would be extinct.”
21
“Adab (propriety) is to guard your tongue when you speak, your qalb (the heart) when you are alone, and your gaze when you go out!”
22
“If an ignorant person overcomes a wise one by force of jaw, it is no wonder. For he is a stone, breaking a pearl.”
23
“If the ruler unjustly takes an egg from a peasant, his men will take all the peasant’s chickens.”
24
“No matter how much you read, if you do not act in a manner befitting your knowledge, you are ignorant.”
25
“As much as you are able, try not to break a heart. For a single sigh can overturn the world.”
26
“No one throws stones at a fruitless tree.”
27
“Those who are disturbed by the sun know nothing but darkness.”
28
“When speaking between two enemies, speak in such a way against both that, if they reconcile, you will not be ashamed before either.”
29
“If I speak of anyone but you, it would be disloyalty to the covenant. Others are on my tongue, but you are within my very soul.”
30
“A person needs skill, virtue, religion, and maturity. What you call rank and wealth comes and goes.”
31
“Man is three or five drops of blood and a thousand and one worries.”
32
“Wealth is for spending one’s life in peace. Life is not for accumulating wealth and honor.”
33
“If provision increased with knowledge, none would be poorer than the ignorant.”
34
“If you do not want your heart to be distressed, do not cast out those who are distressed from your heart.”
35
“Do not suppose that someone who speaks of others by their faults will speak of you with gratitude!”
36
“Hear your character from your enemy; in the eyes of your friend, all you do is good.”
37
“One night my beloved entered. I leapt up so quickly that the hem of my robe extinguished the candle. My beloved, who dispelled the darkness with beauty, asked: ‘Why did you extinguish the light when I entered?’ I replied: ‘I thought the sun had risen.’”
38
“A beautiful woman is a jewel, a good woman is a treasure.”
39
“We all have our own unique flaws. We are all, in fact, cracked pitchers. In the grand scheme, nothing is wasted. Do not fear your flaws. Embrace them. If you know that you find your true strength in your flaws, you too can be the cause of beauty.”
40
“Let us not raise our children like lambs, lest they be herded like sheep in the future.”
41
“If a sick ox enters the pasture, it infects all the village oxen.”
42
“The one who oppresses thought he did this oppression to me. The oppression done to me has passed, but its burden remains on his neck.”
43
“It is better to eat your own bread and sit than to wear a golden belt and stand before someone.”
44
“And love is to cross a sea of fire in a boat of wax.”
45
“When death is as near to you as a bird, you must learn not to laugh at the pains of others.”
46
“Wise people are humble, just as trees with ripened fruit bow their heads to the ground.”
47
“There is no treasure like contentment, no nobility like discipline, no honor like knowledge.”
48
“Two things darken our lives: speaking when one should be silent, and being silent when one should speak.”
49
“Would one whose captain is Noah fear the waves of the sea?”
50
“An empty walnut betrays its lightness.”
51
“A friend is one who knows everything about you and still loves you.”
52
“If you ask something from the lowly with gratitude, you may increase in body, but you decrease in soul.”
53
“He whose enemies outnumber his friends will have happy enemies and sorrowful friends.”
54
“Let there be no meatballs on my table; for me, even plain bread is a meatball for my labor.”
55
“Justice delayed is injustice.”
56
“A person may be saved from the wrath of Allah by tawba (repentance), but there is no way to be saved from the tongue of the people.”
57
“If the ignorant speaks harshly with rudeness, the wise will win his heart with gentleness.”
58
“When others are gathering the harvest, how negligent it is not to have sown seeds in time.”
59
“If you wish to befriend a mature man, criticize him. If you wish to befriend a simple man, praise him.”
60
“The ignorant man shows his claws to fate.”
61
“Those who live without purpose remain without fortune.”
62
“O possessor of intellect! The rose is found together with the thorn. What business have you with the thorn? Make a bouquet of roses. If your nature is to see only faults, you will see nothing in the peacock but its ugly feet.”
63
“After your donkey has been taken by the enemy and your taxes by the sultan, is there any prosperity left in the crown and throne of that land?”
64
“Defeat is always temporary.”
65
“Those who sleep peacefully in their graves are those who kept the people at ease on earth.”
66
“The miser’s silver is unearthed only after he himself is buried.”
67
“When a person stoops to this base world, he becomes like a fly drawn to honey.”
68
“Those who do not know how to forgive those under their command will one day need the forgiveness of these very people.”
69
“If the eye of the worthy cannot see by day, what fault is it of the sun?”
70
“The wolf’s head must be cut off before, not after, it ravages the people’s sheep.”
71
“The drunkard of wine wakes at midnight, but the drunkard of stinginess wakes on the morning of resurrection.”
72
“The shepherd has fallen asleep, the wolf is among the flock: this is not something the wise would approve.”