10th-century-persian-poets

"I do repent of wine and talk of wine, Of idols fair with charms like silver fine: A lip-repentance and a lustful heart— O God, forgive this penitence of mine!"

"O happy, happy Wisa, who dost lie At Rāmin's feet, and with bewitched eye Gazest on him, as partridge doomed to die Its gaze upon the hawk doth concentrate! O happy, happy Wisa, who dost hold Clasped in thy hand the jewelled cup of gold, Filled to the brim with nectar rare and old, Which like thy beauty doth intoxicate! O happy Wisa, whose red lips confess With smiles their love, ere Rāmin's lips they press, Whom with desire's fulfilment Heaven doth bless, And Mubad's fruitless passion doth frustrate!"

"The ostentatious man purposely acts in such a way as to win popularity, while the Malàmatí purposely acts in such a way that the people reject him. Both have their thoughts fixed on mankind and do not pass beyond that sphere."

"Knowledge is immense and life is short: therefore it is not obligatory to learn all the sciences, such as Astronomy and Medicine, and Arithmetic, etc., but only so much of each as bears upon the religious law: enough astronomy to know the times (of prayer) in the night, enough medicine to abstain from what is injurious, enough arithmetic to understand the division of inheritances and to calculate the duration of the Iddat."

"Every good and evil that happens to man is decreed by God."

"Implore God to deliver you from the wickedness of your soul."

"Whosoever refrains his soul from lust, verily Paradise shall be his abode."

"The spiritual path is hard to travel except for those who were created for the purpose."

"God alone can help a man to do good deeds."

"All humans action and inaction is the act and creation of God."

"In our time the science of Sufism is desolate."

"The people are occupied with following their lusts and have turned their back on the path of spiritualism."

"Blind conformity had taken the place of spiritual enthusiasm."

"The universe is an abode of Divine mysteries, which are deposited in created things."

"Daqiqi has chosen four qualities of all good and evil things in the world: Ruby-colored lips and the sound of the lute. Old red wine and the Zoroastrian religion!"

"Choice wine, whose bitter strength can sweeten best The embittered mind, and flood The air with colour, as when goshawk's breast Is dyed with pheasant's blood"

"A composite whose body is of light, But all its soul and spirit of fiery strain; A star that hath its setting in the mouth, But ever rises on the cheeks again"

"O would that in the world there were no night, That I might ne'er be parted from her lips! No scorpion-sting would sink deep in my heart But for her scorpion coils of darkest hair. If' neath her lip no starry dimple shone, I would not linger with the stars till day; And if she were not cast in beauty's mould, My soul would not be moulded of her love. If I must live without my Well-beloved, O God! I would there were no life for me."

"To ward the kingdom, Fortune took thy sword, And beauty chose thy hand, herself to word. In Heaven for thy decree Fate listening stands, The dinar from its ore sets out to win thy hands."

"A scene like Paradise! 'Tis not Farkhar Yet all the splendour of Farkhar is there. Kisses of loyal kings imprint the earth, Faces of fair youths fill with light the air. Then look how gold and silver pleiades Bestud the rolling sky of scimitars, And how, like dagger's peral-encrusted haft, Each baldrick shows its blazonry of stars!"

"A dialogue occurred, I happen to know, Betwixt the white eagle and the crow. Birds we are, said the crow, in the main, Friends we are, and thus we shall remain. Birds we are, agreed the eagle, only in name, Our temperaments, alas, are not the same. My leftovers are a king's feast, Carrion you devour, to say the least. My perch's the king's arm, his palace my bed, You haunt the ruins, mingle with the dead. My color is heavenly, as everyone can tell, Your color inflicts pain, like news from hell. Kings tend to choose me rather than you, Good attracts good, that goes for evil too"

"Before my lay the riches Of lordly Samarkand, I looked o'er grove and garden, O'er vale and meadow-land. But since my purse was empty, My pocket bare as thread, The rug of joy I folded, From the hall of hope I fled. I had heard in every city Famed scholars oft declare, "Eight are the Paradises, And but one Kawthar there." Here bloom a thousand Edens, A thousand Kawthars foam, But ah me! what avail they, Since I go thirsty home? When hand a dirham lacketh Whilst eye sees all its wish, 'Tis like a head dissevered Within a golden dish."

"Great shame it is to deem of high degree Thyself, or over others rackon thee. Strive to be like the pupil of thine eye— To see all else, but not thyself to see."

"The heart in which love and compassion for all living beings resides, can have no room for seeking after personal pleasures. O friend, take care to do no harm to any living creature; to hurt his creation is to forget the Creator."

"The heart enquired of the soul What is the beginning of this business? What its end, and what its fruit? The soul answered: The beginning of it is the annihilation of self, Its end faithfulness, And its fruit immortality."