Chapter Two: rare sayings that pass current as proverbs

and such anguish as is many times over your first vexation. But when your soul calls you to cast off this world while the world is turning toward you, then be quick to answer it in that, for that is renunciation (zahādah). And hold fast in all matters to the rope of resolve and strenuous effort, and ask God for the enabling grace of steadfastness and right direction.

Chapter Two

On what passes current as proverbs, from among the rare sayings. The excellences of character are the treasuries of provision. Purity of character comes of the endurance of noble stock. Honour is by lofty aspirations, not by mouldering bones. Excellence is by mettle and work, not by pomp and ruined monuments. There is no companion like knowledge and no backer like forbearance. He whose gifts are abundant, his acquaintances are many. Safety keeps company with uprightness. Ignorance is a mount: whoever rides it falls, and whoever keeps its company comes to nothing. Whoever turns aside from the road of safety gains a long regret. Doing favours to the vile is a brand upon the faces of the excellent. Ingratitude for blessings is the title-page of punishments. The freeborn man, when he slips, draws himself up again; and when he gains mastery, he lets men off. The noble man is he who honours the freeborn, and the great man is he who makes the dinar small. Lordship is by many followers, and many followers by many favours conferred. The fruit of good breeding (adab) is weighty intellect, and the fruit of knowledge is righteous work. None falls into the well but the man who dug it, and evil scheming recoils upon none but the schemer. Whoever trusts the age, it betrays him; and whoever bears himself greatly against it, it humbles him. Whoever is moderate in wealth and in poverty has made himself ready for the calamities of the age. Part of taking care is to leave off excess of care. The swift horse must have its stumble, the sword its glancing blow, and the forbearing man his slip. Vengeance is justice, and passing over is excellence. The best of jesting is not attained, and the worst of it is not to be uttered. Hasten to work, give the lie to hope, and keep the appointed term in view. Delicacy in contrivance is better than an intermediary. The taking of heed clears from the sight the darkness of delusion. Riches are the leaving of wishes. Whoever wrestles with the truth is brought low, and whoever is pleased with his own opinion goes astray. Haste in censure is no part of justice. The freeman is a slave when he covets, and the slave is free when he is content. Whose gluttony grows fierce, his folly shows. The worst of men is he who works grudgingly and eats sumptuously. A goodly backing is the taking of counsel. An evil provision is going by one's own will alone. The ignorant man's turn of fortune is the intelligent man's lesson. The intelligent man looks with his intellect and his thought, and the ignorant man looks with his eye and his eyeball. Whoever remembers death forgets his wish. Whoever makes a bare sufficiency enough is clothed in chastity. Hint to the noble and speak plainly to the base. He whom a slight sign does not stir, much explaining will not profit. Some forbearance is abasement, and some uprightness is presumption. Whoever holds his penny cheap keeps his own self safe. When intellects come forward, superfluities multiply. Dominions pass away through the conferring of favours on the low. Many an opportunity leads to a choking grief. Many an argument comes at the cost of a life. Many a blood — a mouth it was that shed it. Him whom fate seeks out, caution does not save. Let not the world deceive you with its deceits, nor beguile you with the things it leaves in your keeping. Sleeping through the terror of the return cuts off the traveller's provision. Excuse-making comes of littleness of worth. Every star has its setting and every blossom its withering. When the inward parts are set right, the grave sins are forgiven. Gentleness unbinds the edge of opposition. Look upon the world to take heed, not to be deluded. And do good in haste, not in waiting. Do not store up today's work for tomorrow, for every day comes with its own occupations. Truthfulness is a trust and lying is a betrayal. Health is merchandise and slackness is squandering. The meeting of brethren is the burnishing away of sorrows. Night and day work upon you, so work in them. Do not seek requital from your brother, even if he has flung the dust in your mouth. The end of patience is the beginning of relief. Leavened judgment is better than unleavened. Whoever is heavy upon his friend is light in his enemy's eyes. Whoever is content with himself multiplies those who are displeased with him. Gentleness is the nearest cause of provision. How welcome is solitude for a companion, when you fear the bane of the man who sits with you. A goodly trade is gratitude. There is no excuse where there is persistence. No health with voracity. No friendship with envy. No rest with greed. No excuse with pride. Your own breast is the roomier place for your secret. Many a brother your mother never bore. Take your time and you will be resolute; and when the thing has become clear to you, then be determined. Seize the opportunity before it turns into a choking grief. The striving to overcome the truth comes of the mastery of folly. The world is a succession of turns, built up by the decrees of fate and pulled down by night and day. Books are the shells of wisdom (ḥikmah). A crushing lion is better than a tyrannous ruler, and a tyrannous ruler is better than a strife that lasts. When power grows great, appetite grows small. He who warms himself at the fire knows its heat best. Many a small thing was stirred up by a great one. Many a grief creeps beneath a gladness. You will be driven to what you are to meet. The miser tills his own blessing and is treasurer for his heirs. Every man has of his world only what he spends for his hereafter. Swallow the choking draught from your enemy until you find your opportunity. There is no good in one whom the trials of experience do not admonish. The fool is he who eats what he finds and then asks for what he cannot find. Whoever goes to excess in a quarrel does wrong, and whoever falls short in it is wronged. The envious man attains no honour and never parts from sorrow. A man's little knowledge of his own faults is the greatest of his sins. The readiest of men with an answer is he who does not grow angry. The lowest of men is he who acts out of dread. A man's boast is in his excellence, not in his descent. Nothing raises a man up out of anger like the offering of an excuse. Evil puts out the fire of enmity. Not every familiarity is affection, nor every drawing back estrangement. Do not say what you do not know, and do not dispute over what you do not know. The rank of knowledge is the highest of ranks. An intelligent boy is better than an ignorant old man. A man's cares are in the measure of his aspirations. A man's worth is his aspiration. In the turning of circumstances the true substance of men is known. A man's breeding is better than his gold. Falsehood's round is an hour, and the truth's round runs to the Day of the Hour. The ignorant man's anger is in his word, and the intelligent man's anger is in his deed. The lame man's shadow is crooked. A thing's branch tells of its root. The most wretched of men is he who has an intelligent enemy. Part of a man's manliness is the cleanness of his garment. The fool's authority is quick to pass. There is no poverty for the intelligent man and no dignity for the liar. No praise where there is pride, no honour where there is bad character, no disease more baffling than ignorance, and no nobility mightier than the fear of God. When the intellect is complete, speech grows less. The poorest poverty is folly, and the richest riches is the intellect. The loneliest loneliness is self-conceit. A man's faith is known by his oaths. Your brother is he who shares with you in hardship. The hiding of one's hardships is part of manliness. The blessing of a lifetime is in good work. Give freely of what you find. Faithfulness is forbidden to one who has no root. Fear God and you are safe from all else. The stranger is he who has no beloved. A helping friend is an upper arm and a forearm. And of what has come by way of admonition: poverty is better than a wealth that profits nothing; when a sea offers itself, cleansing with dust is not lawful for me — and upon the clearness of the nights turbidity comes to pass, and the beasts have learned the scent of lions — with the brow of the ass the hoof of the horse goes forth. Slaves have no turning away from their masters — the true excellence is that to which enemies bear witness — the flow of milk is cut off by the milker's roughness; success disdains to lie between incapacity and vexation — threatening is the weapon of the incapable; the folly of a man is set right by a righteous companion — the lion does not mend the outcome once it has sprung; for all that I am worn down by, I am envied — of lions, even the mild one is wrathful — and whoever deals easily with the days, his tenderness is sweet — and whoever presses his brethren hard, his friends grow few — and the corruption of judgment is that it waver — men are at variance when there is no pardoning; if you are not open-handed with your money, the age will settle accounts with you — death is in haste and comes at leisure; hold to the keeping in memory rather than to the amassing of what is written — every man has of his age what he has grown used to; when the thing sought is great, the helpers are few — the feigned darkening of the eyes is not like the kohl itself. Let us boast of nothing but an intelligent friend — and whoever has found kindness a fetter is fettered by it — and I have seen nothing like humility for height — and it was as though it, and as though they, were dreams — God is One and loves the one alone, so be alone. Life runs out and the age is treacherous — and every day gone by is a part of the appointed term — how shall the shadow stand straight when the stick is bent — in times of hardship