Saadi

"Akibat gurg-zade gurg shavad Garche ba adami buzurg shavad."

"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."

"Agar dunya na bashad, dardmandem Wa agar bashad, ba mihrash pae bandem Bala'e z'in jahan ashubtar nest Ki ranj-i-khatirast ar hast wa nest."

"Agar sad sal gabar atish farozad Wa gar ek dam daru uftad basozad."

"Ahanera ki morchana bikhurad Natawan burd azū basaiqal zang; Ba siyah dil che sud guftan w'az? Narawad mekh-i-ahanin dar sang."

"He—in whose nature, is the ugly disposition Sees not the peacock,—only his ugly foot."

"Have patience! All things are difficult before they become easy."

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

"To give pleasure to a single heart by a single kind act is better than a thousand head-bowings in prayer."

"When the belly is empty, the body becomes spirit; when it is full, the spirit becomes body."

"Every leaf of the tree becomes a page of the sacred scripture once the soul has learnt to read."

"In the faculty of speech man excels the brute; but if thou utterest what is improper, the brute is thy superior."

"There is a difference between him who claspeth his mistress in his arms, and him whose eyes are fixed on the door expecting her."

"بنی آدم اعضای یک پیکرند که در آفرينش ز یک گوهرند چو عضوى به درد آورد روزگار دگر عضوها را نماند قرار تو کز محنت دیگران بی غمی نشاید که نامت نهند آدمیBanī 'ādam a'zā-ye yek peykar-and ke dar 'āfarīn-aš ze yek gowhar-and čo 'ozvī be dard āvarad rūzgār degar 'ozvhā-rā na-mānad qarār to k-az mehnat-ē dīgarān bīqam-ī na-šāyad ke nām-at nahand ādamī"

"If thou covetest riches, ask not but for contentment, which is an immense treasure."

"I never lamented about the vicissitudes of time or complained of the turns of fortune, except on the occasion when I was barefooted and unable to procure slippers. But when I entered the great mosque of Kufah with a sore heart, and beheld a man without feet, I offered thanks to the bounty of God, consoled myself for my want of shoes, and recited: "A roast fowl is to the sight of a satiated man less valuable than a blade of fresh grass on the table, and to him who has no means nor power a burnt turnip is [as good as] a roasted fowl.""

"Use a sweet tongue, courtesy, and gentleness, and thou mayst manage to guide an elephant with a hair."

"When gnats act in concert they will bring down an elephant: when ants set to work, and move in a body, they can strip a fierce lion of its hide."

"Were the diver to think on the jaws of the shark, he would never lay hands on the precious pearl."

"Whatever makes an impression on the heart seems lovely in the eye."

"Science is for the cultivation of religion, not for worldly enjoyments."

"Who despises an insignificant enemy resembles him who is careless about fire."

"Whatever is produced in haste goes easily to waste."

"Whenever you argue with another wiser than yourself, in order that others may admire your wisdom, they will discover your ignorance."

"Whoever interrupts the conversation of others to make a display of his own fund of knowledge, makes notorious his own stock of ignorance."

"Deep in the sea are riches beyond compare. But if you seek safety, it is on the shore."

"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."