Muslims From Iran

"A little and a little collected together becomes a great deal; the heap in the barn consists of single grains, and drop and drop form an inundation."

"How hast thou so profound a lore attained?" "To ask another, I was ne’er ashamed."

"The wise man never heard a joke But living wisdom from it broke; The fool no wisdom ever learned But it in him to folly turned."

"Each is bounded by his nature, And remains the same in stature, In the valley, on the mountain: Scoop from ocean or from fountain With a poor hand or a richer, You can only fill your pitcher."

"Our condition is like the darting lightning, one instant flashing and the next disappearing. Sometimes we are seated above the fourth heaven, and at other times we cannot see the back of our feet."

"He only has drunk the pure wine of unity who has forgotten, by remembering , all else in both worlds."

"To pious minds, each verdant leaf displays A volume teeming with the Almighty’s praise."

"From earth arise bright colors, scent, and food, To please the eye, the brain, and hunger’s mood. Bees honey give, sweet dew the heavens shed, The dates from palms, and trees from seeds are bred. Gnawing his hand, each gardener shows despair: For who but He can make the world so fair? The sun, the moon, the Pleiades on high,— Thy chandeliers; thy palace roof, the sky! The rose from thorns, and musk from bags He brings; Gold from the mines, a leaf from dry wood springs. His own hand drew thine eye and brow so fair; A friend one cannot leave to other’s care. That mighty One, who hath so cherished thee With blessings varied as the colored sea,— In praising him, our lives we ought to spend: Our tongues can’t count his virtues without end. O God! my heart is blood, sore wounds mine eyes: For, lo! I see thy praise beyond me lies. I say not beasts and ants and flies thee praise, But angel hosts, amazed, their hands upraise! Although by all the world thy praise is rung, Ten thousand thousands yet remain unsung. Saadi, depart! thy pen and paper quit; Take not that road which has no end to it!"

"A return of good for good is a slight reciprocity; but the true recompense is to confer benefits on him who has injured thee."

"O brothers, Mecca is in front, and robbers in the rear. By proceeding, we escape; and, if we sleep, we die."

"Not all the year, the vines their clusters keep: Now fruitful are, now leafy tears do weep. Sunlike, the pure are shadowed by a cloud; As sparks on water are the envious crowd: Those, by degrees, their former radiance shed; These are extinguished in a wat’ry bed. Fear not the dark, my friend, howe’er profound: Perchance therein life’s water may be found. Let not despair, though dark, thy soul dismay, For night is pregnant with the glorious day."

"In Suna’s town, my child’s life passed away; How can I tell the sadness of that day! As fair as Joseph, God creates a slave; Then, Jonah-like, he’s swallow’d by the grave. In this fair world, scarce grown, the cypress form Uprooted is, by death’s relentless storm. It is not strange the rose on earth should grow, So many rose-like bodies sleep below. Madly I longed to see his form once more, So off the tomb the weighty stone I tore. Fear seized me in that place, so dark and strange: It made me shake, and all my color change. Then came a voice (my child’s) from out the bier: "Dost thou feel terror at this darksome sight? Live, then, with care, and let thy works be bright. If thou dost wish thy grave as light as day, Illume life’s lamp with virtue’s shining ray." Saadi, he eats the fruit who plants the tree; Who sows the seed will fruitful harvests see."

"The beloved of the Almighty are the rich who have the humility of the poor, and the poor who have the magnanimity of the rich."

"Take warning by the misfortunes of others, that others may not take example from you."

"Let him who neglects to raise the fallen, fear lest, when he falls, no one will stretch out his hand to lift him up."

"The rose and the thorn, and sorrow and gladness are linked together."

"That which is not allotted the hand cannot reach; and what is allotted you will find wherever you may be."

"Capacity without education is deplorable, and education without capacity is thrown away."

"O wise man, wash your hands of that friend who associates with your enemies."

"The telling of a falsehood is like the cut of a sabre; for though the wound may heal, the scar of it will remain."

"The bad fortune of the good turns their faces up to heaven; the good fortune of the bad bows their heads down to the earth."

"Independence is of more value than any gifts; and to receive gifts is to lose it. — Men most commonly seek to oblige thee only that they may engage thee to serve them."

"He who is a slave to his belly seldom worships God."

"I fear God, and next to God I chiefly fear him who fears him not."

"Nothing is so good for an ignorant man as silence; and if he was sensible of this he would not be ignorant."

"A wise man in the company of those who are ignorant, has been compared to a beautiful girl in the company of blind men."

"A grateful dog is better than an ungrateful man."

"Two persons take trouble in vain, and use fruitless endeavors, — he who acquires wealth without enjoying it, and he who is taught wisdom but does not practice it. How much soever you may study science, when you do not act wisely you are ignorant. The beast whom they load with books is not profoundly learned and wise; what knoweth his empty skull whether he carrieth firewood or books?"

"He who learns, and makes no use of his learning, is a beast of burden with a load of books. — Does the ass comprehend whether he carries on his back a library or a bundle of faggots?"

"He who is intoxicated with wine will be sober again in the course of the night, but he who is intoxicated by the cup-bearer will not recover his senses until the day of judgment."

"An enemy to whom you show kindness becomes your friend, excepting lust, the indulgence of which increases its enmity."

"Obedience is not truly performed by the body, if the heart is dissatisfied."

"Were the king at noonday to say, "This day is night," it would behoove us to reply, "Lo! there are the moon and seven stars!""

"Nothing is so good for an ignorant man as silence; if he were sensible of this he would not be ignorant."

"God gives sleep to the bad, in order that the good maybe undisturbed."

"A traveller without observation is a bird without wings."

"A little and a little, collected together, become a great deal; the heap in the barn consists of single grains, and drop and drop make the inundation."

"He who learns the rules of wisdom without conforming to them in his life is like a man who ploughs in his field but does not sow."

"A handsome woman is a jewel; a good woman is a treasure."

"Abar gar ab-i-zindagi barad Hargiz az shakh-i-bed bar na khori Bar faromaya rozgar mabar Kaz nai boriya shakar nakhori."

"[H]e is a fervent believer in the imminent reappearance of the 12th Imam, Shi'ism's version of the Messiah. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been reported as saying in official meetings that the end of history is only two or three years away. He reportedly told an associate that on the podium of the General Assembly last September, he felt a halo around him and for "those 27 or 28 minutes, the leaders of the world did not blink … as if a hand was holding them there and it opened their eyes to receive" his message. He believes that the Islamic revolution's raison d'être is to prepare the way for the messianic redemption, which in his eschatology is preceded by worldwide upheaval and chaos."

"Khomeini was succeeded as Supreme Leader by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who stymied a weak 1990s 'reform' movement and backed the 2005 election of Iran’s current president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a radical demagogue and rabid anti-Semite who has denied the Holocaust, declared he wishes to exterminate Israel, and whose pursuit of an Iranian nuclear arsenal, in defiance of the West, may yet bring the world to nuclear catastrophe."

"We have to confront the Iranian revolution immediately. There is no way to stabilize the Middle East today without defeating the Iranian regime. The Iranian nuclear program must be stopped. [...] We have to consider killing him [President Ahmadinejad]. All options must be considered."

"Since his election as president of Iran in June 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has caused something of a sensation by, among other things, questioning the reality of the Holocaust and suggesting that Israel be moved in Europe or Alaska. His outrageous speeches have been good theatre for both his supporters and for foreign opponents who want to demonize him. However, his power is actually quite limited. For example, even with the support of the Iranian legislature, he cannot make law, and he is not the commander-in-chief of the Iranian armed forces. Above the elected government in Iran is an unelected twelve-man Guardian Council of mullahs, headed by Ayatollah Khamenei, who has ruled the nation since the death of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989. Khamenei is the leader of the military, and the Guardian Council has the right to veto any law passed by the elected government. Since 2001, Khamenei has undone the reforms that had been gradually changing the face of Iran."

"The Soviet Union died peacefully but that does not have any affect on what will happen in there [Israel]. The Zionist regime will either go two ways. They will peacefully be disbanded and the Holy Land will become a democracy like our good friend Russia. Or the country will forcefully take on itself like Romania. He [Referring to Nicolae Ceauşescu] did not seem to know (or care) what was happening to the Romanians and the people got sick and tired of this to the point they got rid of the fake regime [Ahmadinejad Denounces Communism] by force. We do not want this option. We want a peacefully let the people choose what they truly want and everything will go right."

"I have no intention of arguing about the Holocaust. But, does it not stand to reason that some victorious countries of World War II intended to create an alibi on the basis of which they could continue keeping the defeated nations of World War II indebted to them. Their purpose has been to weaken their morale and their inspiration in order to obstruct their progress and power. In addition to the people of Germany, the peoples of the Middle East have also borne the brunt of the Holocaust. By raising the necessity of settling the survivors of the Holocaust in the land of Palestine, they have created a permanent threat in the Middle East in order to rob the people of the region of the opportunities to achieve progress."

"I have been told that Your Excellency follows the teachings of Jesus (PBUH)"

"Do you not think that if all of us come to believe in and abide by these principles, that is, monotheism, worship of God, justice, respect for the dignity of man, belief in the Last Day, we can overcome the present problems of the world"

"Western media only intensified the climate of fear and insecurity"

"September eleven was not a simple operation. Could it be planned and executed without coordination with intelligence and security services—or their extensive infiltration?"