{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_33109/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_33109","id":"gutenberg_33109","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33109","summary":null,"tags":["Aphorisms and apothegms","Arabic literature -- Translations into English","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"Produced by Al Haines\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n======================================================================\n\nThe Wisdom of the East Series\n\nEDITED BY\n\n  L. CRANMER-BYNG\n  Dr. S. A. KAPADIA\n\n\nARABIAN WISDOM\n\n======================================================================\n\n\n\n\nWISDOM OF THE EAST\n\nARABIAN WISDOM\n\n\n\nSELECTIONS AND TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ARABIC\n\n\nBY JOHN WORTABET, M.D.\n\n\n\nTHIRD IMPRESSION\n\n\n\nLONDON\n\nJOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET\n\n1916\n\n\n\n\nALL RIGHTS RESERVED\n\n\n\n\nTO\n\nMY CHILDREN\n\n\n  \"What doth the Lord require of thee, but to\n  do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly\n  with thy God!\"--MICAH vi. 8.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n  INTRODUCTION\n  THE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE KORAN\n  REPENTANCE\n  A SINNER'S CRY UNTO GOD\n  FORGIVING OTHERS\n  FORBEARANCE\n  HUMILITY\n  TRUE NOBILITY\n  SELF-RESPECT\n  CHARACTER\n  BENEVOLENCE\n  GENEROSITY\n  GRATITUDE\n  RECOMPENSE\n  FLAUNTING KINDNESS\n  KNOWLEDGE\n  SPECULATIVE STUDIES\n  THOUGHTS, DOUBTS\n  WISDOM\n  IGNORANCE, FOLLY\n  CONSULTATION\n  SPEAKING, WRITING, BOOKS\n  SILENCE\n  TRUTHFULNESS\n  TRUTHFULNESS TO PROMISES\n  TRUTHFULNESS TO SECRETS\n  DECEIT\n  EXERTION\n  OPPORTUNITIES\n  ECONOMY\n  VICISSITUDES OF FORTUNE\n  PATIENCE\n  CONTENTMENT\n  CHEERFULNESS\n  WAR\n  ANGER\n  HATRED, MALICE\n  MURDER\n  ENVY\n  RASHNESS\n  LAZINESS\n  AVARICE\n  COMPLAINT, BLAME\n  MARRIAGE\n  CHILDREN\n  FILIAL DUTY\n  BROTHERS\n  FRIENDS\n  NEIGHBOURS\n  SALUTATION\n  LOVE OF COUNTRY AND HOME\n  TRAVELLING\n  HEALTH\n  YOUTH AND OLD AGE\n  DEATH\n  APPENDIX\n\n\n\n\nEDITORIAL NOTE\n\nThe object of the editors of this series is a\nvery definite one.  They desire above all\nthings that, in their humble way, these books\nshall be the ambassadors of good-will and\nunderstanding between East and West, the old world\nof Thought, and the new of Action.  In this\nendeavour, and in their own sphere, they are but\nfollowers of the highest example in the land.\nThey are confident that a deeper knowledge of\nthe great ideals and lofty philosophy of Oriental\nthought may help to a revival of that true spirit\nof Charity which neither despises nor fears the\nnations of another creed and colour.\n\n  L. CRANMER-BYNG.\n  S. A. KAPADIA.\n\n  NORTHBROOK SOCIETY,\n  21, CROMWELL ROAD,\n  KENSINGTON, S.W.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\nThe wise sayings and proverbs of ancient and modern times, and in all\nthe languages I know or to which I had access in translations, have\nalways had a great attraction for me.  Drawn from the experiences and\nstudy of human life, they have been reduced by wise men to short, pithy\nsentences, generally expressed in some quaint or striking form, for\nconveying sound moral truths.  They are intended to be maxims of life,\nor rules of conduct, chiefly for the young, but may be read with\npleasure and profit by both young and old.  It was with such an object\nin view that the Editors of the _Wisdom of the East_ series have lately\nissued a number of small books on this subject carefully translated by\ncompetent specialists, and which have been highly appreciated by the\nEnglish press and public.  Their chief desire, however, appears to be\n\"that these books shall be the ambassadors of good-will and\nunderstanding between East and West,\" and also that \"the great ideals\nand lofty philosophy of Oriental thought may help to a revival of that\ntrue spirit of Charity which neither despises nor fears the nations of\nanother creed and colour.\"  (See Editorial Note.)\n\nIt was also from such motives, but long before I had seen these books,\nthat I have employed a part of my leisure hours in translating into\nArabic some of the best sayings of M. Aurelius, Shakespeare, Tennyson,\nEnglish and other proverbs, and, quite lately, selections from _The\nInstruction of Ptah-Hotep_ and _Sadi's Scroll of Wisdom_.  They were\npublished in the best Arabic magazines, and have been read by many\nChristians, Moslems, and Jews in Egypt, Syria, and other countries; and\nI have been told by some of these Oriental readers that they found in\nthem much matter for thought and instruction, while their views of the\ncommunity and bonds of human nature among all nations, and in all parts\nof the world, have been broadened and enlarged.\n\nThe Arabic language is particularly rich in this kind of literature,\nand its proverbs are often appropriately introduced in conversation,\nletters, and books, and add much force to what is said or written.\nMany are light and colloquial, and bring a smile or laughter to both\nspeaker and hearer; but many also are distinguished by their classical\nform and the serious weighty ideas which they convey or inculcate.  It\nwas easy, therefore, to find abundant material for this little book,\nbut it was somewhat difficult to make a wise selection, to classify the\ndifferent subjects under proper heads, and to translate Arabic idioms\ninto good English.  Other difficulties were when the proverb in Arabic\nis formed of two parts which assonate or rhyme, when the piquancy of a\nshort sentence depends so much on the quaintness of its expression,\nwhen an untranslatable pun or play upon words is used, or when the\nphrase is too elliptical or too Oriental in its reference to be easily\nunderstood by English readers.  The translation I have made is\ngenerally literal, sometimes free, but always true to the original.\nSome I have left in their Oriental form to show the Arabian bent of\nthought and mode of life.  The renderings from the Koran are all mine,\nand I alone am responsible for them.  All that I have tried to do was\nfor ordinary readers--and for them alone.\n\nMany proverbs are common to all languages, and in them all--notably\namong Semitic nations--there is often an exaggeration,[1] or a\none-sided view,[2] or a paradox,[3] which must be taken with some\nlatitude and with the natural limitations required by common sense.  It\nwill also be observed that many Arabic proverbs have a close\nresemblance to the Proverbs of Solomon, and often assume that\nrhetorical form or parallelism in which Hebrew poetry abounds when the\nsame idea is repeated in other words, or where its positive and\nnegative sides are put into contrast.  The following quotation, taken\nfrom the eighth chapter of that book, may serve as an example of what\nhas just been said, and as an appropriate introduction to this little\nbook:\n\n  \"Doth not wisdom cry,\n  And understanding put forth her voice?\n  Unto you, O men, I call;\n  And my voice is to the sons of men.\n  For my mouth shall utter truth;\n  And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.\n  For whoso findeth me findeth life,\n  And shall obtain favour of the Lord.\n  But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul:\n  All they that hate me love death.\"\n\n\n\n[1] \"A fool throws a stone into a well, and a thousand wise men cannot\nget it out.\"\n\n[2] \"A man is safe when alone.\"  \"Paradise without human companions is\nnot worth living in.\"\n\n[3] \"Do no good, and you will meet with no evil.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE KORAN\n\nIn the name of God, who is abundant in mercy and compassion!  Praise be\nto God, the Lord of the universe, the most merciful and compassionate,\nthe Sovereign of the day of judgment.  Thee alone we worship, and from\nThee alone we seek help.  Guide us to the right path--the path of them\nto whom Thou hast been gracious--not of them with whom Thou art angry,\nnor of them who have gone astray.  Amen.[1]\n\n\n[1] This opening chapter of the Koran--very short as it is--contains\nthe fundamental principles of the whole book--the doctrine of God, His\ninfinite mercy, the immortality of the soul, the rewards and\npunishments of the world to come, and the duty of prayer, and\nthanksgiving, and adoration, and obedience.  It is a fair specimen of\nall that is best in the \"Revealed Book\" of the Moslems, and is as\nfrequently repeated by them as the Lord's Prayer is by Christians.\n\n\nREPENTANCE, AND GOD'S FORGIVING MERCY\n\n_Koran_.  O ye who believe, repent unto God, for He loveth them who are\npenitent.  O ye who believe in me, who by much sin have done a great\nwrong to themselves, despair not of the mercy of God, for He forgiveth\nall sins.  Verily He forgiveth and is merciful.\n\n_Traditions_.  Sorrow for sin is repentance.  He who repents is like\nhim who has not sinned.\n\n_Wise Sayings and Proverbs_.  No intercession succeeds so effectually\nas repentance.\n\nThe most truthful man is he who is true to his repentance.\n\nTwo sins only God does not forgive--worship of false gods and injury to\nmen.\n\n\nA SINNER'S CRY UNTO GOD[2]\n\n[2] The original Arabic is in verse.\n\n  O Thou who knowest every thought, and hearest every cry,\n  Who art the source of all that is, or ever shall be,\n  Who art the only hope in every trouble,\n  The only help in every plaint and every woe,\n  Whose treasures of bounty and word creative are one,\n  God of all good, hear my prayer!\n\n  One sole plea I have--my need of Thee;\n  But needing Thee my need is filled.\n  One only resource I have--to stand and knock;\n  And if unheard at Thy mercy-gate, to whom shall I go?\n\n  Whom shall I call, what Name shall I invoke,\n  If Thy needy servant shall in vain Thy bounty seek?\n  But far be it from Thee, God of grace, to refuse a sinner's cry.\n  Too good and gracious art Thou to send me thus away.\n\n  Contrite, I stand at Thy door,\n  Believing that contrite prayer availeth much with Thee.\n  Suppliant, I stretch forth my hands,\n  And with all my soul look up to Thee.\n  Save me, God, from every ill, and be Thy favour ever mine!\n\n\nFORGIVING OTHERS\n\n_Koran_.  God forgiveth past sins; let men forgive and pardon.  Forgive\nfreely.  Forgiving others is the nearest thing to piety.\n\n_Traditions_.  He who forgiveth others, God forgiveth him.\n\nBe merciful, and you will have mercy; forgive and you will be forgiven.\n\n_Sayings and Proverbs_.  Of all things God loveth best forgiveness when\none is able to inflict harm, and forbearance when one is angry.\n\nThe pleasure of forgiving is sweeter than the pleasure of revenge.\n\nForgiveness is perfect when the sin is not remembered.\n\nThe most wicked of men is he who accepts no apology, covers no sin, and\nforgives no fault.\n\nSmall men transgress, great men forgive.\n\nA noble man condones and pardons, and when by chance he finds out a\nsin, he conceals it.\n\nA man said to another who had spoken evil of him: \"If what you have\nsaid be true, may God forgive me; and if false, may He forgive you.\"\n\n\nCLEMENCY, FORBEARANCE, AND GENTLENESS\n\n_Koran_.  Those who worship the Merciful One are they who walk on the\nearth gently, and who, when fools speak to them, say \"Peace.\"  (25, 64.)\n\n_Traditions_.  Be friendly to him who would be unfriendly to you, give\nhim who will not give you, and forbear with him who would do you harm.\n\nNext to faith in God, the chief duty of man is to treat his fellow men\nwith gentleness and courtesy.\n\n_Sayings and Proverbs_.  Gentleness is one of the noblest traits in a\nman's character.\n\nA gentle man is a man of great beauty.\n\nOne of the surest evidences of gentleness is tenderness to fools.\n\nThe fierce anger of a foolish man is checked by gentleness as a fierce\nfire is extinguished by water.\n\nGentleness is sometimes an humiliation, and he who is always forbearing\nand patient may be trodden down by fools.\n\nIf you honour a vile man, you disgrace the code of honour.\n\n\nHUMILITY\n\nHumility is that line of conduct which is a mean between overbearing\npride on the one hand and abject servility on the other, as economy is\nthe middle term between extravagance and avarice.\n\nHumility is the crown of nobility, a ladder to honour, and a means of\nprocuring love and esteem.\n\nHe who humbleth himself, God lifteth him up.\n\nWhen Abu-Bekr, \"the righteous\" (the first Khalif), was praised, he used\nto say: \"O God, Thou knowest me better than I know myself, and I know\nmyself better than they know me.  Make me, I pray Thee, better than\nthey suppose; forgive me what they know not, and lay not to my account\nwhat they say.\"\n\nA wise man was once asked whether he knew of any good which is not\ncoveted, or any evil which deserves no mercy, and he said: \"Yes, they\nare humility and pride.\"\n\nTo despise a proud man is true humility.\n\n\nTRUE NOBILITY\n\nTrue nobility lies in high character and refined manners, not in noble\nbirth or ancient pedigree.\n\nA noble man is he who aims at noble ends--not he who glories in an\nancestry mouldering in the dust.\n\nA noble man is noble though he come to want, and a base man is base\nthough he walks on pearls.\n\nA lion is a lion though his claws be clipped, and a dog is a dog though\nhe wear a collar of gold.\n\nHe who disregards his own honour gets no good from an honourable\nlineage.\n\nLearning and high principles take the place of noble birth, and cover\nthe shame of a low origin.\n\nA branch tells of what stock it comes.\n\n\nSELF-RESPECT, AND THE SENSE OF SHAME\n\nSon of man, if you have no self-respect, do what you will.\n\nMen see no fault in one who respects himself.\n\nIf you fear not the consequences of an evil life, and have no sense of\nshame, you are free to do what you will.\n\nNo, by God, life has no worth, and this world has no happiness to a man\nwho has lost his self-respect and abandons himself to shamelessness.\n\nThere is no good in a man who is not ashamed of men.\n\nHe who has a brazen face has a craven heart.\n\nTo be ashamed before God is to obey His commandments and to avoid what\nHe has forbidden; to be ashamed before men is to avoid all harm to\nthem; and to be ashamed before one's self is to be chaste and clean\nwhen one is alone.\n\nBe ashamed in your own sight more than in the sight of men.\n\nHe who does a thing in secret of which he would be ashamed if done\nopenly, has no respect for himself.\n\nHe who respects not himself can have no respect for others.\n\nI shall not kiss a hand which deserves to be cut off.\n\n\nCHARACTER\n\nA man is truly religious when he is truly good.\n\nA good character is a great boon.\n\nKind words are the bonds of love.\n\nA kind word is like an act of charity.\n\nIf you cannot help men with money, help them with a cheerful face and a\nkindly bearing.\n\nNo man is entitled to consideration unless he has these three things,\nor at least one of them: the fear of God to restrain him from evil,\nforbearance with wicked men, and a good nature towards all.\n\nThere are cases where not kindness but severity is necessary.\n\nKindness increases the love of friends, and diminishes the hatred of\nenemies.\n\nBe firm after you have been kind.\n\nGod loves the man who is tender-hearted.\n\nAn evil nature is a calamity from which there is no escape.\n\nIf you hear that a mountain has moved from its place believe it, but if\nyou hear that a man has changed his character do not believe it, for he\nwill act only according to his nature.\n\nAn inherited quality may be traced back to the seventh grandfather.\n\nThere are four points in a good character from which all other good\ntraits take their origin--prudence, courage, continence, and justice.\n\nWhen a woman has had more than one husband in this life, she will, in\nthe future state, be free to be the wife of him whose character she\nesteemed the most.\n\n\nBENEVOLENCE\n\n_Koran_.  Do good unto others as God has done unto you.\n\nIs the reward of kindness anything but kindness?\n\nHe who does a kindly act shall be recompensed tenfold.\n\nYe can never be righteous unless ye give away from that which ye love.\n\n_Traditions_.  The upper hand [which giveth] is better than the lower\nhand [which taketh].\n\nGod's creatures are the objects of His care, and He loveth best that\nman who is most helpful to them.\n\n_Proverbs_.  Do not be ashamed to give little, for it is less than\nthat, if you give nothing.\n\nIf you give, give freely, and if you strike, strike boldly.\n\nHe who soweth kindness shall reap thanks.\n\nWhat a man does for God is never lost.\n\nBe merciful to him who is beneath you, and you will have mercy from Him\nwho is above you.\n\nThe best kind of good is that which is done most speedily.\n\nInopportune kindness is injustice.\n\nNo true joy but in doing good and no true sorrow but in doing evil.\n\nCruelty to animals is forbidden by God.\n\nA peacemaker gets two-thirds of the blows.\n\n\nGENEROSITY\n\nGenerosity is to do a kindness before it is asked, and to pity and give\na man who asks.\n\nA generous man is nigh unto God, nigh unto men, nigh unto paradise, far\nfrom hell.\n\nOverlook the faults of a generous man, for God helps him when he falls\nand gives him when he is needy.\n\nA man who doeth good does not fall, and if he fall he will find a\nsupport.\n\nBe not ashamed to give little--to refuse is less.\n\n\nGRATITUDE\n\nHe is unthankful to God who is unthankful to man.\n\nHe who is unthankful for little is unthankful for much.\n\nGod continues His favours to him who is grateful.\n\nHe who is ungrateful for the good he receives deserves that it should\nbe withdrawn from him.\n\nMan can be thankful to God only so far as he does good to his fellow\nmen.\n\nIf a man professes to thank God and his wealth decreases, his\nthanksgiving must be vitiated by his neglect of the hungry and naked.\n\nBe grateful to him who has done you good, and do good to him who is\ngrateful to you.\n\nGratitude takes three forms--a feeling in the heart, an expression in\nwords, and a giving in return.\n\nThe most worthless things on earth are these four--rain on a barren\nsoil, a lamp in sunshine, a beautiful woman given in marriage to a\nblind man, and a good deed to one who is ungrateful.\n\n\nRECOMPENSE\n\nTo recompense good for good is a duty.\n\nNeglect of recompense is contemptible.\n\nIf a man do you a favour recompense him, and if you are unable to do\nso, pray for him.\n\nThe worst kind of recompense is to requite evil for good.\n\nReproach faults by kindness, and requite evil by good.\n\nThere is no glory in revenge.\n\nMeet insult by insult, and honour by honour.  Evil can be repelled only\nby evil.\n\nWhat you put into the pot you will take out in the ladle.\n\nHe who plays with a cat must bear its scratches.\n\nHe who lives in a house of glass should not throw stones at people.\n\nSins may lurk, but God deals heavy blows.\n\n\nFLAUNTING KINDNESS\n\nTo carry a heavy rock to the summit of a mountain is easier than to\nreceive a kindness which is flaunted.\n\nThe bane of a generous action is to mention it.\n\nIt is better to refuse a kindness than to be reminded of it.\n\nI would not accept the whole world if I were to suffer the humiliation\nof being constantly reminded of the gift.\n\nTo bestow and flaunt a kindness, and to be stingy and refuse to do an\nact of kindness, are equally bad.\n\nWhen you do a kindness hide it, and when a kindness is done to you\nproclaim it.\n\nDo good, and throw it into the sea.\n\n\nKNOWLEDGE\n\n_Koran_.  O God, increase my knowledge.  Are they who know and they who\nknow not equal?\n\nHe who has been given wisdom has been given a great good.\n\nWhat ye have been given of knowledge is only a small part.\n\nAbove a learned man there is one more learned.\n\n_Traditions_.  Learned men are trustees to whom God has confided\nmankind.\n\nStars are the beauty of the heavens, and learned men are the ornament\nof a people.\n\nAngels bend down their wings to a seeker of knowledge.\n\n_Proverbs_.  The rank of the learned is the highest of all ranks.\n\nIf learning does not give wealth it will give esteem.\n\nKnowledge increaseth the honour of a nobleman, and bringeth men of low\ndegree into the houses of kings.\n\nA seat of learning is a garden of heaven.\n\nForgetfulness is the bane of knowledge.\n\nIt is difficult for a man to know himself.\n\nKnowledge is a lamp from which men light their candles.\n\nA mind without education is like a brave man without arms.\n\nKings govern men, and learned men govern kings.\n\nThat day in which I have learned nothing, and in which I have added\nnothing to my knowledge, is no part of my life.\n\nHe who seeks learning without study will attain his end when the raven\nbecomes grey with age.\n\nTo every noble horse a stumble, and to every learned man an error.\n\nKnowledge does not save from error, nor wealth from trouble.\n\nThe owner of the house knows best what is in it.\n\n\nSPECULATIVE STUDIES\n\nAll speculative research ends in perplexing uncertainty.\n\nI sought in the great sea of theoretical learning a bottom on which to\nstand--and found nothing but one wave dashing me against another.\n\nAfter a lifetime of research and learning, I amassed nothing but such\nphrases as: \"It is said,\" or \"They say.\"\n\nO erring reason, I am sick of thee!  I take a single step and thou\nmovest a whole mile away from me.\n\nThe object sought in abstruse study is either a truth which cannot be\nknown, or a vain thing which it is useless to know.\n\n\nTHOUGHTS, DOUBTS\n\nMost thoughts are wishes.\n\nThe thoughts of the wise are more trustworthy than the convictions of\nfools.\n\nDo not confuse opinions with certainties.\n\nIf you are doubtful of a thing let it alone.\n\nRemove doubts by enquiry.\n\nA thing that is heard is not like a thing that is seen.\n\nDo not believe all that you hear.\n\nIt is not wise to be sure of a thing only because you think so.\n\nWhere there is much difference of opinion it is difficult to know the\ntruth.\n\nTo think well of others is a religious duty.\n\nHe who thinks well of others is a happy man.\n\nHe who has an evil thing in him thinks all men are like him.\n\nIf a man think well of you, make his thought true.\n\nA poet says: \"It was my habit to think well of others until experience\ntaught me otherwise.\"\n\nBe well with God and fear nothing.\n\nMost men think well of themselves, and this is self-delusion.\n\n\nWISDOM, PRUDENCE, EXPERIENCE\n\nReason is a light in the heart which distinguishes between truth and\nerror.\n\nA wise man sees with his heart what a fool does not see with his eyes.\n\nMen should be judged according to their lights (reason).\n\nA wise man is not he who considers how he may get out of an evil, but\nhe who sees that he does not fall into it.\n\nActions are judged by their endings.  If you desire a thing, consider\nits end.\n\nA man cannot be wise without experience.\n\nNo wise man will be bitten twice from the same den.\n\nNo boon is so remunerative as reason.\n\nLong experience is an addition to mind.\n\nConsideration may take the place of experience.\n\nA wise man is he who has been taught by experience.\n\nOne word is sufficient to the wise man.\n\nA cheap offer makes a wise purchaser wary.\n\nHe who considers consequences will attain his object, and he who does\nnot carefully think on them, evil will be sure to overtake him.\n\nEverything has need of reason, and reason has need of experience.\n\nMind and experience are like water and earth co-operating--neither of\nwhich alone can bring forth a flower.\n\nReason and anxious thought are inseparable.\n\nA wise man is never happy.  (For in much wisdom is much grief, and he\nthat increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow.--ECCLES. i. 18.)\n\n\nIGNORANCE, FOLLY\n\nIgnorance is the greatest poverty.\n\nIgnorance is death in life.\n\nThere is no evil so great as ignorance.\n\nFolly is an incurable disease.\n\nA foolish man is like an old garment, which if you patch it in one\nplace becomes rent in many other places.\n\nIt is just as allowable to blame a blind man for want of sight as to\nblame a fool for his folly.\n\nTo bear the folly of a fool is indeed a great hardship.\n\nThe best way to treat a fool is to shun him.\n\nThe fool is an enemy to himself--how can he then be a friend to others?\n\nAn ignorant man is highly favoured, for he casts away the burden of\nlife, and does not vex his soul with thoughts of time and eternity.\n\nThe most effectual preacher to a man is himself.  A man never turns\naway from his passions unless the rebuke comes from himself to himself.\n\n\nCONSULTATION\n\nIf you consult a wise man, his wisdom becomes yours.\n\nConfide your secret to one only, and hear the counsel of a thousand.\n(In the multitude of counsellors there is safety.  PROV. xi. 14.)\n\nA counsellor is a trusted man.\n\nWhen men consult together, they are led by the wisest among them.\n\nThe knowledge of two is better than the knowledge of one.  Two heads\nare better than one.\n\nLet your counsellor be one who fears God.\n\nConsult a man of experience, for he gives you what has cost him much,\nand for which you give nothing.\n\nA man who is older than yourself by a day is more experienced than you\nby a year.\n\nConsult an older man and a younger, then decide for yourself.\n\nThe wisest may need the advice of others.\n\nHe who is wise, and consults others, is a whole man; he who has a wise\nopinion of his own, and seeks no counsel from others, is half a man;\nand he who has no opinion of his own, and seeks no advice, is no man at\nall.\n\nNo man can be sorry for seeking advice, or happy if he blindly follows\nout his own thoughts.\n\n\nSPEAKING, WRITING, BOOKS\n\nIf it were not for the faculty of speech, man would be nothing more\nthan a silent picture or a contemptible animal.\n\nThe tongue is the best part of man.\n\nMan is hidden behind his tongue.\n\nA man's talk shows what kind of mind he has.\n\nWhat you write is the truest thing that can be said of you.\n\nThe words of eloquent men are like a mighty army, and their writings\nlike glittering swords.\n\nNote down in writing what you learn.  All knowledge which is not\ncommitted to writing is lost.\n\nThe best handwriting is that which is most easily read.\n\nA bad pen is like an unruly, undutiful child.\n\nIf you value a book you will read it through.\n\nIf you write a book, be ready to encounter criticism.\n\nA book is like a garden carried in the pocket.\n\nA book is an eloquent, silent companion, or a speaking friend answering\nand questioning you.\n\nBooks are the food of minds.\n\nThere is something wise in every proverb.\n\nThe tongues of men are the pens of truth.\n\nPoets, love-stricken, ramble up and down in every valley.\n\nPoetry is one of the musical instruments of Satan.\n\n\nSILENCE, GUARDED SPEECH\n\nWise men are silent.\n\nSilence is often more eloquent than words.\n\nBe not hasty with your tongue.  If words are silver, silence is gold.\n\nNot all that is known should be said.\n\nSilence is a wise thing, but they who observe it are few.\n\nWhen the mind becomes large speech becomes little.\n\nRestrain your tongue from saying anything but what is good.\n\nAn unguarded word may do you great harm.\n\nA man who talks much is open to much blame.\n\nThe most faulty of men are they that are most loquacious in matters\nwhich do not concern them.\n\nTo guard his tongue is one of the best traits in a man's character.\n\nMan is saved from much evil if he guard his tongue.\n\nThe tongue is a lion which must be chained, and a sharp sword which\nmust be sheathed.\n\nNothing on earth is so deserving of a long imprisonment as the tongue.\n\nBeware of saying anything of which you may be ashamed.\n\nIt is better to regret a thing which you did not say than a thing which\nyou did say.\n\nA slip of the foot is safer than a slip of the tongue.  A false step\nmay break a bone which can be set, but a slip of the tongue cannot be\nundone.\n\nA thrust of the tongue is sharper than the thrust of a lance.\n\nA word may cause much trouble, destroy a home, or open a grave.\n\nA great tree grows out of a small seed.\n\nThe difference between loquacity and silence is like the difference\nbetween the noisy frog and the silent whale.\n\nWisdom is made up of ten parts--nine of which are silence, and the\ntenth is brevity of language.\n\nA man conceals his ignorance by his silence.\n\nHe who says what he should not say, will have to hear what he would not\nlike to hear.\n\nHe who talks much does little.\n\nWhat is said at night the day blots out.\n\n\nTRUTHFULNESS\n\n_Koran_.  O ye that believe, fear God and be truthful!  Verily God\nrecompenseth the truthfulness of the truthful.\n\n_Traditions_.  Be ever truthful, for truthfulness leads to\nrighteousness, and righteousness leads to heaven.\n\nVeracity brings peace to the heart.\n\nNo man's religion can be right until his heart become right, nor can\nhis heart become right until his tongue is right.\n\nKeep to the truth though it may harm thee, and keep away from falsehood\nthough it may profit thee.\n\nA man can be perfect only when he speaks the truth and acts according\nto the truth.\n\n_Proverbs_.  Truth is the sword of God, which always cleaves when it\nsmites.\n\nTruth is armed with horns.\n\nBy truth man is saved from evil.\n\nIf falsehood saves from trouble truth saves much more.\n\nWhen thou speakest be truthful, and when thou actest be gentle.\n\nAn ignorant man who is true is better than a clever man who is false.\n\nThere are two kinds of truthfulness, and the greatest of them is that\nwhich may do thee harm.\n\nIf truth and falsehood were pictured they would be represented by a\nterrible lion and a cunning fox.\n\nIt is better to die a truthful man than to live the life of a liar.\n\n\nTRUTHFULNESS TO PROMISES\n\n_Koran_.  Be true to a covenant, for a covenant holds a man\nresponsible.  Be faithful to your pledged covenants and keep your oaths.\n\n_Traditions_.  A man who keeps not his word has no religion.\n\nA true man's word is like an oath.\n\nBe truthful in what you say, faithful to your promise, and careful of\nwhat is entrusted to you.\n\nA pledged word is as if you had made the gift.\n\n_Proverbs_.  A true man keeps his promise.\n\nA pledged word has the same value as a debt.\n\nThe promise of a true man is a greater obligation than a debt.\n\nThat man is a hypocrite who prays and fasts, but is untruthful in what\nhe says, false to his word, and unfaithful in discharging a trust.\n\nTRUTHFULNESS TO SECRETS\n\nTo keep a secret is a divine law.\n\nA secret is a trust, and to betray it is perfidy.\n\nThe least of all noble traits is to keep a secret, and the greatest is\nto forget it.\n\nHe controls himself most who hides a secret from his friends.\n\nWhen a secret is known to more than two, it becomes public.\n\nHe who seeks a place to hide his secret reveals it.\n\nWalls have ears.\n\nIt is unwise to confide a secret to two tongues and four ears.\n\nYour secret is your captive, betray it and you become its captive.\n\nA man should be a tomb in which a secret is deposited.\n\nIf you keep your secret you are safe, and it will be to your sorrow if\nyou reveal it.\n\nHearts are the depositaries of secrets, lips their locks, and tongues\ntheir keys.\n\nThe hearts of the wise are the fortresses of secrets.\n\n\nDECEIT\n\nDeceit does more harm to the deceitful than to the deceived.\n\nIf a man commit these three things they will rise against him in\njudgment and punishment--aggression, perfidy, and deceit.\n\nTo be true to the perfidious is perfidy, and to deceive the deceitful\nis lawful.\n\nIn deceiving your neighbour be more wary than when he is trying to\ndeceive you.\n\nWhen one would deceive you, and you feign to be deceived, you have\ndeceived him.\n\nHe who would deceive one who cannot be deceived is only deceiving\nhimself.\n\nHe who allows himself to be deceived by what his enemy says is the\ngreatest enemy to himself.\n\nA wise man neither deceives nor is deceived.\n\nIf a man believe in a stone it will do him good.\n\nSelf-deception is one of the forms of folly.\n\nMost men think well of themselves, and this is self-delusion.\n\nVain desires are rarely realised, but they may give comfort in sorrow\nor pleasure in empty hope.\n\n\nEXERTION, PERSEVERANCE, SUCCESS\n\nA man obtains only what he strives for.\n\nHe who seeks and struggles shall find.\n\nStruggles bring the most unlikely things within reach.\n\nWhen a man makes up his mind to do a thing it becomes easy for him to\ndo it.\n\nIf you have a clear thought, be decided, and hesitate not--if you\ndecide, hesitate not, but carry it out speedily.\n\nYou must be ready to confront difficulties if you would realise your\nhopes.\n\nIt is the part of man to strive, and not to rely on the favours of\nFortune.\n\nNot every one who seeks shall find, nor every one who is indifferent be\ndenied.\n\nBeware of giving up hope in what you earnestly seek.\n\nA wise man perseveres, and is not easily turned away.\n\nNot by fitful efforts, but by constancy, is an end secured.\n\nThe most profitable labour is that which is most persevering--though it\nmay not be strenuous.\n\nA moderate success is better than overwhelming work.\n\nSuccess comes to him who abjures procrastination.\n\nThe world is the booty of the skilful.\n\nThe most wonderful thing in the world is the success of a fool and the\nfailure of a wise man.\n\nA pleasing manner is a great aid to success.\n\nIt is the duty of man to do his utmost, but he is not responsible for\nsuccess.\n\nDo not undertake a work for which you are not competent.\n\nWhat can a tirewoman do with an ugly face?\n\n\nOPPORTUNITIES\n\nOpportunities move like clouds, or pass rapidly like meteors.\n\nSeize a thief before he seizes you.\n\nTake advantage of the light of day before the night sets in.\n\nSeize on opportunities, for they are either a spoil if improved, or a\ngrief if neglected.\n\nGood judgment means a seizure of opportunities.\n\nKeep quiet until the occasion presents itself.\n\nAn action may be good if done at a fitting season, or evil if done at\nan improper time.\n\nProcrastination means evil.\n\nPut your bread into the oven while it is hot.\n\nIf you undertake a work do it speedily.\n\nProfit by occasions when they turn up, and do not worry about an evil\nwhich has not yet come.\n\nTime is a sharp sword--strike with it before you are struck by it.\n\nIf you have not sown, and see a reaper in the field, you will regret a\nlost opportunity.\n\n\nECONOMY\n\nEconomy saves half the cost of living.\n\nThe value of economy is equal to half of your profits.\n\nFrugality saves a man from poverty.\n\nLittle with economy is better than much with waste.\n\nPoverty with freedom from debt is great wealth.\n\nIf you count beforehand you will thrive.\n\nThe sea is made up of drops and the mountain of grains.\n\nMy son, take a middle course between stinginess and extravagance,\nparsimony and prodigality.\n\nExtravagance dissipates great riches, and economy increases them when\nthey are small.\n\nExtravagance ever leads to misery and ruin.\n\nExtravagance does as much harm to life as it adds to the pleasures of\nliving.\n\nIn all things take a middle course.\n\nCharity lies between two charities--one to yourself, the other to your\nneedy fellow man.\n\nIf you are too soft you will be squeezed, and if you are too dry you\nwill be broken.\n\nHe who spends and reckons not, ends in ruin and knows not.\n\nHe who buys cheap meat will regret his purchase when it is served up.\n\n\nVICISSITUDES OF FORTUNE\n\nMan is like an ear of wheat shaken by the wind--sometimes up and\nsometimes down.\n\nMan is a target to the accidents of time.\n\nOne day for us, and one day against us.\n\nWith to-day there is to-morrow.\n\nTo every Moses there is a Pharaoh.\n\nThere is no day which has not its opposite.\n\nThe changes of fortune show what a man is made of.\n\nThere is no joy which is not followed by sorrow.\n\nWhen Fortune brings a great good, she follows it by a great evil.\n\nFortune gives lavishly, and then turns round and takes away.\n\nWhen a man has attained his highest hope, let him expect that its\ndownfall is near by.\n\nWhen a thing waxes to perfection it begins rapidly to wane.\n\nWhen distress reaches its utmost, relief is close at hand.\n\nWhat is past is dead.\n\nEvery ascent has a descent, and every trouble has an end.\n\nDo not worry--between one twinkle of the eye and that which follows it\nthings may change.\n\nI have looked far and wide, and saw nothing on the faces of men but\nlooks of perplexity or regret.\n\nTo complain of one's grief, except to God, is an humiliation.\n\nHe who thinks that Fortune will always favour him is a fool.\n\nFollow the tracks of the fortunate man and you will come to fortune.\n\n\nPATIENCE\n\nGod is with them that are patient.  God loveth them that are patient\n(_Koran_).\n\nPatience is one-half of religious duty.\n\nThere are two kinds of patience--one is for something which you desire,\nthe other in something which you hate; and he is a strong man who can\ncombine them both.\n\nPatience is mostly needed at the first shock.\n\nGrief is dispelled by patience.\n\nThe device of a man who hath no device is patience.\n\nSo long as there is a claimant, no just case is ever lost.\n\nPatience is a bitter cup, which the strong alone can drink.\n\nA misfortune is one, but it becomes two to the impatient.\n\nPatience is one of the gifts of heaven.\n\nHe who is impatient to hear one word will have to listen to many words.\n\nDifficulties can be overcome only by patience.\n\nIt is a good omen when your messenger is delayed.\n\nRarely does a patient man fail in obtaining that which he seeks.\n\nBe patient--every cloud dissipates, and every evil which does not\ncontinue is a small thing.\n\nHe who receives the strokes is not like him who counts them.\n\n\nCONTENTMENT\n\nContentment is to refrain from coveting what others have.\n\nContentment is a treasure which is inexhaustible.\n\nThe most thankful of men is he who is contented.\n\nHe who seeks riches must seek them in contentment.\n\nGive freely, and be content with little.\n\nA contented man is happy in life.\n\nLife is a vanishing space of time, and he alone vanquishes its changing\nfortunes who lives in contentment.\n\nBe content with what God has given you, and you will be the richest of\nmen.\n\nIf you cannot have what you want, be content with what you have.\n\nIf all cannot be obtained, a part may be attained.\n\nThere is relief in despair.\n\n\nCHEERFULNESS\n\nGod loves a cheerful man.\n\nA main part of friendship is cheerfulness.\n\nCheerfulness denotes a generous nature, as a flower denotes fruit.\n\nThe first duty of a host is cheerfulness.\n\nHe who is sparing in cheerfulness is more sparing in doing a kindness.\n\nA cheerful countenance is a presage of good.\n\nA bright face and bright eyes are a greater boon than a rich\ninheritance.\n\nThe expression of the eyes shows what is in the heart.\n\nAn expression of the face may be more eloquent than that of the tongue.\n\nThe face of an enemy betrays his secret thoughts.\n\nNo one has ever harboured a secret which may not be discovered by a\nslip of the tongue or an expression of the face.\n\nHope for good from one who has a beautiful face.\n\nA gloomy look is an omen of ill, and a bright face is good news.\n\nLife has no cloud to an ignorant man, to one who heeds not past or\nfuture events, and to him who deceives himself and constrains his soul\nto seek and hope for what is impossible.\n\n\nWAR\n\nWar is an evil thing to both victor and vanquished.\n\nIt is better to avoid than to make war.\n\nThe most honourable death is on the battlefield.\n\nTo die in battle from a thousand cuts of the sword is easier than to\ndie in bed.\n\nHe who incites soldiers to courage in action is of more value than a\nthousand fighting men.\n\nAn army to a king is like wings to a bird.\n\nTo carry out a well-devised plan in war is more effectual than strokes\nand thrusts.\n\nA battle is fought by feints and stratagems.\n\nWhat an easy thing is a battle to one who looks on at a distance!\n\nPatient constancy is the key to victory.\n\nTwo wolves kill a lion.  Two weak men vanquish one that is strong.\n\nBeware of aggression in war--for it can lead to no glory in victory.\n\nTo overcome the weak has all the shame of a defeat.\n\nA butcher is not frightened at the sight of a multitude of sheep.\n\nTo retire from an unsuccessful battle is defeat.\n\nMagnanimity to captives, and mercy to the fallen, are a hymn of praise\nto God for victory.\n\n\nANGER\n\nThe first part of anger is madness and the second is regret.\n\nPassion and blindness are inseparable mates.\n\nBeware of anger, for it ends in the humiliation of apology.\n\nAnger leads to all kinds of evil.\n\nWhen you are angry be silent.\n\nIt is not a trait of noble character to be hasty either in anger or in\nrevenge.\n\nThe anger of a fool reveals itself in what he says, and the anger of a\nwise man in what he does.\n\nQuarrelsomeness is a contemptible habit.\n\nCall not yourself a man so long as you are angry.\n\n\nHATRED, MALICE\n\nOf all men God abhors most an implacable enemy.\n\nOf all things nothing is so bad as the making of enemies.\n\nOf all evils nothing is so hard to be borne as the triumph of an enemy.\n\nRejoice not over a fallen man--he may rise and you may fall.\n\nDespise no enemy, however insignificant he may be--see how the shadow\nof the earth causes an eclipse of the moon, or how a midge brings a\ntear to the eye of a lion.\n\nHe who makes enemies shall have many a restless night.\n\nHe who has many enemies, let him expect a downfall.\n\nWhen anger is repressed by reason of inability to do immediate harm, it\nretires into the heart in the form of malice and breeds these\nvices--envy, triumph over the enemy's ill, repulsion of friendly\napproaches, contempt, slander, derision, personal violence, and\ninjustice.\n\n\nMURDER\n\nThe first thing which shall be taken up in the Day of Judgment is\nmurder.\n\nMan is a building made by God, and he who destroys the building of God\nshall be demolished.\n\nPut no man to undeserved death, for God forbids murder.\n\nAnnounce violent death to the murderer, and poverty to the adulterer,\nthough after a season.\n\n\nENVY\n\nThe difference between envy and emulation is, that in the first the\ndesire is for the cessation of a good enjoyed by another, and in the\nsecond the desire is for the possession of a similar good.\n\nAn envious man is angry with God for His favours to other men.\n\nEvery favoured man is envied.\n\nA lordly man is always an object of admiration or of envy.\n\nBeware of envy, for it shows itself in you, not in him whom you envy.\n\nEnvy is a disease for which there is no cure.\n\nEnvy is a disease which does more harm to the envious than to the\nenvied.\n\nAll enmity may be overcome except that which comes from envy.\n\nThere can be no peace in the heart of an envious man.\n\nA man cannot be happy if he be malicious, envious, or ill-tempered.\n\nKeep your affairs to yourself, for every favoured man is an object of\nenvy.\n\nEnvy may be cured only by a sure knowledge that it is a cause of much\npain to you and no evil to him whom you envy--so you must shun it if\nyou would not be an enemy to yourself and a friend to your enemy.\n\nEnvy consumes man, as rust corrodes iron.\n\nHe who strains his neck to look at one above him gets nothing but pain.\n\nEnvy no man except him who is good.\n\n\nRASHNESS\n\nBeware of rashness, for it has well been called the Mother of Regrets.\n\nHe who acts hastily either makes a blunder, or comes very near it.\n\nHe who is deliberate is either right, or very nearly so.\n\nA hasty act comes from the Evil One, and a deliberate act from God.\n\nHaste is the resort of the weak.\n\n\nLAZINESS\n\nHopes are never realised by sloth.\n\nA lazy man can never succeed in life.\n\nIt is one of the signs of weakness to leave things to fate.\n\nA lazy man loses what is due to him.\n\nWeakness and sloth lead to ruin.\n\nA man gets tired of having nothing to do, as he gets tired of work.\n\nIf work is hard, want of work is a great evil.\n\nYouth, riches, and leisure are the great corrupters of life.\n\nThe head of an idle man is the workshop of Satan.\n\n\nAVARICE, STINGINESS, GREED\n\nAvarice and faith in God can never live together in the heart of man.\n\nAvarice and ill-nature have no place in the heart of a good man.\n\nAvarice is the parent of all evil dispositions.\n\nThe riches of an avaricious man go either to naught or to an heir.\n\nHe who is close-fisted shall be treated in a like manner.\n\nA man who is miserly to himself cannot be generous to others.\n\nAn avaricious man is more lavish of his life than of his money.\n\nA liberal man lives on his riches, a miser is eaten up by them.\n\nA miser lives the life of a poor man in this world, and will be judged\nas a rich man in the world to come.\n\nHe who makes his morsel large will be choked.\n\nAvarice is the murderer of the miser.\n\nGreed is the mate of sorrow.\n\nStrong wine is not more destructive to reason than greed.\n\nAn old man continues to be young in two things--love of money and love\nof life.\n\n\nCOMPLAINT, BLAME\n\nTo God alone I make my plaint of sorrow and grief (_Koran_ 12, 86).\n\nTo bewail grief, except to God, is an humiliation.\n\nLamentation is the weapon of the weak.\n\nA good man sees his own faults and is blind to the faults of others.\n\nCensure your friend by kindness, and return the evil which he may have\ndone to you by acts of favour.\n\nTo blame a friend is better than to lose him.\n\nNo man is free from faults.\n\nIf you count your friend's faults you will have no friend left.\n\nAn absent man has his apology with him.\n\nHe who compels you to blame him has made up his mind to forsake you.\n\nOpen blame is better than secret malice.\n\nBlame not, nor boast, until a year and a half shall have passed away.\n\nHe who has a needle under his arm it will prick him.\n\nThere is no wood which has no smoke in it.\n\nAmong all snakes there is not one that is good.\n\nYou are your own enemy.\n\n\nMARRIAGE\n\nThe advantages of marriage are purity of life, children, pleasures of\nhome, and the happiness of exertion for the comfort of wife and\nchildren.\n\nThis life is a joy, and its greatest delight is a good wife.\n\nAn honourable marriage is a stepping-stone to honour.\n\nTake a wife not for her beauty, but for her virtues.\n\nChastity united to beauty makes a wife perfect.\n\nThree things contribute to long life--a large house, an obedient wife,\nand a swift horse.\n\nThe violence of love vanishes soon after marriage.  If the love of\nbride and bridegroom were to endure, the Resurrection Day would be at\nhand.\n\nA man has no portion in the love of women when he becomes grey, or when\nhe loses his fortune.\n\nThe lover's eye is blind.\n\nThe disgrace of a woman is abiding.\n\nTake the high-road, though it turn; and marry a woman of good birth,\nthough she may have been passed by.\n\nWomen are the snares of Satan.\n\nHappy is the woman who dies before her husband.\n\nIt is better to have a thousand enemies out of the house than one in it.\n\nThe girl who has many suitors, and makes no choice of one of them, is\ndoomed to become an old maid.\n\n\nCHILDREN\n\nChildren are a gift from God.\n\nA child is a flower which has come down from Paradise.\n\nNothing is dearer than a child, except a grandchild.\n\nWhen your son is young, train him; when he is grown, make a brother of\nhim.\n\nThat child is loved most who is young until he is grown up, or sick\nuntil he recovers, or absent until he returns home.\n\nYour riches and your children are a temptation to you (_Koran_).\n\nHappy is the woman who has first daughters, then sons.\n\nIf you do not train up your child, time will do it.\n\nThe training of children is like chewing stones.\n\nYour riches and children are your enemies--beware of them (_Koran_).\n\nThe joy of parents in their children prolongs life.\n\nSorrow for a child is a burning fire in the heart.\n\nHe who is not tender to his child shall find no tenderness in God to\nhim.\n\nYour children are not too many for Death, nor is your money too much\nfor a rapacious governor.\n\n\nFILIAL DUTY\n\nWhen your father and mother become old, and you take them into your\nhouse, say not a word of impatience to them, nor rebuke them, but speak\ngraciously, and be humble to them, and say: \"O my God, be merciful to\nthem, even as they tended me when I was young\" (_Koran_).\n\nBe dutiful to your father, and your son shall be dutiful to you.\n\nHe who is ill-mannered to his father will be ill-treated by his son.\n\nThe good-will of parents procures the good-will of God.\n\nThe central gate of heaven is open to the man who has been dutiful to\nhis parents.\n\nParadise is open at the command of mothers.\n\nYou, and all that you have, belong to your father.\n\nA daughter is always proud of her father.\n\nAn unmarried daughter has a broken wing.\n\n\nBROTHERS, RELATIONS\n\nA man who has no brother is like one who has a left arm and no right.\nA brother is a wing.\n\nWhen evil befalls you, you will know the value of a brother.\n\nYour brother is he who shares your distress.\n\nThe same regard is due to the eldest brother from the youngest as that\nwhich is due to a parent from his child.\n\nGod helps him who helps his brother.  Who forsakes his brother will be\nforsaken by God.\n\nA man is a mirror in which his brother's likeness is seen.\n\nThe best man among you is he who is best to his relations.\n\nBlood does not become water.\n\nHonour your tribe, for they are the wing with which you fly.\n\nThe measure of a man's greatness is that of his tribe (clan, party).\n\nBe friendly to your relations, but do not depend on your relationship.\n\nIf it were not for my own arm, my mouth would have nothing to eat.\n\n\nFRIENDS, COMPANIONS\n\nA friend is a second self and a third eye.\n\nA true man is he who remembers his friend when he is absent, when he is\nin distress, and when he dies.\n\nA friend is known only in adversity.\n\nIf your friend is sweet, do not eat him up.\n\nIf you would keep a friend, do not lend him money nor borrow from him.\n\nKeep to your old friends--your new friends will not be so constant.\n\nYou may find in a friend a brother who was not born of your mother.\n\nThe noblest man is he whose friendship may be easily obtained, and\nwhose enmity can be incurred only with difficulty.\n\nHe is a weak man who can make no friends, and still weaker is he who\nloses them.\n\nWhen my vine was laden with grapes, my friends were many; when the\ngrapes were finished, my friends disappeared.\n\nFriendship may come down by inheritance from ancestors, and so may\nhatred.\n\nNothing makes us feel so lonely as solitude, and nothing makes us so\ncheerful as freedom from evil companions.\n\nWithout human companions, Paradise itself would be an undesirable place\nto live in.\n\nA man's character is judged by the character of his companions.\n\nSmoke is no less an evidence of fire than that a man's character is\nthat of the character of his associates.\n\nHe who associates with a suspected person will himself be suspected.\n\n\nNEIGHBOURS\n\nHe is a good man who is a good neighbour.\n\nNo man enters heaven who is a bad neighbour.\n\nA good neighbour is he who is not only harmless, but bears harm with\npatience.\n\nBe friends, but do not become neighbours.\n\nIn social life be as friends, in business as strangers.\n\nPrefer a near neighbour to a distant brother.\n\n\nSALUTATION, VISITING\n\nReturn a salutation by something better, or at least by something as\ngood (_Koran_).\n\nA warm greeting renews friendship.\n\nRespect is due to a visitor.\n\nThe best of men is a rich man who visits the poor, and the worst is a\npoor man who visits the rich.\n\nGo a mile to see a sick man, go two miles to make peace between two\nmen, and go three miles to call on a friend.\n\nMake your visits short, especially to the sick.\n\nTo visit too often is tiresome to your friends, and to visit too rarely\nis less than what is due to friendship.\n\nYour calls will be best appreciated when they are seasonable and not\ntoo frequent.\n\nToo much familiarity is a cause of coolness among friends.\n\nDo not associate much with men; if you do, shut your eyes to their\nfaults, and bear consequent trouble.\n\n\nLOVE OF COUNTRY AND HOME\n\nLove of one's own country is a religious duty.\n\nA true man yearns towards his native country, and longs for his home as\na lion longs for his lair.\n\nIt is a sign of sound judgment when the heart craves for country and\nhome.\n\nHe is better to suffer hardship in one's own country than to enjoy ease\nin a foreign land.\n\nGod blesses the land which is loved by its people.\n\nAs a nurse who has brought you up, has a special claim on you, so has\nyour country.\n\nHe is an unwise man who alienates himself from his country and home.\n\nIf it were not for love of country, unhappy lands would be desolate.\n\nIt is an honour to you to love the land and house where you were born.\n\nAn old man is most comfortable in his own house.\n\n\nTRAVELLING\n\nIn travelling you will find health and profit.\n\nIf water stagnates long it becomes foul.\n\nA roaming dog is better than a couching lion.\n\nDuring a journey a man's character is weighed and revealed.\n\nThe day on which a journey is begun is half the journey done.\n\n\nHEALTH\n\nHealth is a crown on the head of the hale, invisible except to the sick.\n\nSound health is beyond all price.\n\nThe greatest gift to man is a long healthy life.\n\nIf there be anything more valuable than life, it is sound health.\n\nIt is wonderful that the envious see not the blessing of good health.\n\nNo man appreciates the worth of health until he is afflicted with\ndisease.\n\nIf your dinner is light, your dreams will be pleasant.\n\nSo long as the head is free from trouble, the body will be sound.\n\n\nYOUTH AND OLD AGE\n\nAn old man among his people is like a prophet sent from God.\n\nTo venerate old age is to revere God.\n\nYouth is a kind of madness.\n\nThe wisest young men are they who follow the good example of the old,\nand the most foolish old men are they who follow the bad example of the\nyoung.\n\nIt is the duty of every one to be tender to the young and respectful to\nthe old.\n\nAn old man should not give up his old habits, nor take to new ones.\n\nAn old man speaks of what he has seen, and a young man speaks of what\nhe has heard.\n\nGrey hairs are a sign of wisdom, and are beautified by reverence.\n\nA hoary head is a rich cream churned by long years.\n\nGrey hairs are a message from the other world.\n\nAfter old age there is nothing but infirmity or death.\n\nAn old man cries out, \"O that youth would return for a day, that I\nmight relate to it what the roll of years has done to me!\"\n\nThe hair often becomes white, not from the succession of years, but\nfrom a succession of evils.\n\nLife is a parting shadow and youth a departing guest.\n\nWhen a young man says he is hungry, believe him; but when he says he is\ntired, do not believe him.\n\n\nDEATH\n\nAll life ends in death.\n\nWhen I see all paths leading men unto death, and no paths leading from\ndeath unto us--no traveller there ever returning--not one of ages past\never remaining--I see that I also shall assuredly go where they have\ngone.\n\nIf death be surely inevitable, be not a fool and die a coward's death.\n\nDeath is a cup which every man must drink, and the grave a door which\nevery man must enter.\n\nIf we are hastening to death, why all this impatience with the ills of\nlife?\n\nThis life is a sleep, the life to come is a wakening; the intermediate\nstep between them is death, and our life here is a disturbed dream.\n\nHe who dreads the causes of death, they will surely seize him--do what\nhe will to evade them.\n\nDeath, so far as one can see, strikes at random, killing the man whom\nhe hits, and leaving the man whom he misses to old age and decrepitude.\n\nDeath covers all faults.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX\n\n\nWHAT IS RIGHTEOUSNESS?\n\n\"Righteousness is not that ye turn your faces [in prayer] to the east\nor west; but righteousness is to him who believeth in God and the Last\nDay, and Angels, and Revealed Books, and Prophets; who giveth\ncheerfully from his substance to kinsmen, orphans, the needy, the\nwayfarer, and to them that ask; who freeth the prisoner and the slave;\nwho offereth prayers at their appointed times, and giveth the ordained\nalms; to them who fulfil the covenants to which they have bound\nthemselves, and who are patient in times of distress, and pain, and\nstruggle: these are they who are sincere [in religion], and who fear to\ndo evil (_Koran_ 2, 172).\"\n\nThis fine passage from the Koran is considered by Moslem commentators\nas the most comprehensive statement of the duties of man: \"Sound faith,\na good social life, and right culture of the soul\" (El-Beidaway).\n\n_Instructions of Ali Ibn-abi Talib, the first Khalif to his son_--\"My\nson, fear God both secretly and openly; speak the truth, whether you be\ncalm or angry; be economical, whether you be poor or rich; be just to\nfriend and foe; be resigned alike in times of adversity and prosperity.\nMy son, he who sees his own faults has no time to see the faults of\nothers; he who is satisfied with the allotments of Providence does not\nregret the past; he who unsheaths the sword of aggression will be\nkilled by it; he who digs a pit for his brother will fall into it; he\nwho forgets his own sin makes much of the sin of another; he who takes\nto evil ways will be despised; he who commits excesses will be known to\ndo them; he who associates with the base will be subject to constant\nsuspicion; he who remembers death will be content with little in this\nworld; he who boasts of his sins before men, God will bring him to\nshame.\"\n\n\nTHE EXPERIENCES OF AN OLD MAN\n\n\"I have heard many sermons and had many counsels, but I have heard no\npreacher so effective as my grey hairs, and no counsellor so effectual\nas the voice of my own conscience.  I have eaten the most choice food,\nand drunk the best kinds of wine, and enjoyed the love of the most\nbeautiful women; but I found no pleasure so great as that of sound\nhealth.  I have swallowed the bitterest food and drink, but I found\nnothing so bitter as poverty.  I have worked at iron and carried heavy\nweights, but I found no burden so heavy as that of debt.  I have sought\nwealth in all its forms, but found no riches so great as those of\ncontentment.\"\n\n\nEIGHT MEN WHO DESERVE TO BE SLAPPED ON THE FACE\n\nHe who despises a man of power; he who enters a house uninvited and\nunwelcomed; he who gives orders in a house not his own; he who takes a\nseat above his position; he who speaks to one who does not listen to\nhim; he who intrudes on the conversation of others; he who seeks\nfavours from the ungenerous; and he who expects love from his enemies.\n\n\nFORBEARANCE\n\nThe following story is related by Arabian authors of Ma'an Ibn-Zaidah,\nwho, from a humble origin, rose to be Governor of Irak.  The story is\nprobably not altogether historical, but it shows the high ideal of Arab\nmoralists as regards forbearance and gentleness.\n\nAn Arab of the desert, who had heard much of the great gentleness of\nIbn-Zaidah, came one day to try him.  Entering abruptly into his\npresence he addressed him thus (in verse):\n\n\"Rememberest thou when thy bed-covering was a sheepskin and thy sandals\nmade of camel-skin?\"\n\n_Ma'an_ answers (in prose): Yes, I remember, and I have not forgotten\nit.\n\n_The Arab_.  Praise be to God, who hath given thee a great rule, and\ntaught thee how to sit on a throne!\n\n_Ma'an_.  Yes, praise to Him in every condition of life!\n\n_Arab_.  Never shall I greet Ma'an as an emir should be greeted!\n\n_Ma'an_.  Greeting is an ordinance among Arabs in which you are free to\ntake what form you like.\n\n_Arab_.  An Emir who eats sweet pastry in secret, and entertains his\nguest with barley bread!\n\n_Ma'an_.  The food is our own: we eat what we like and give others what\nwe like.\n\n_Arab_.  I shall leave a land in which thou dwellest, and depart,\nthough the hand of Fortune is hard upon me.\n\n_Ma'an_.  Brother Arab, if thou stay, thou art welcome; and if thou\ndepart, peace go with thee.\n\n_Arab_.  Son of shame, give me something for my journey, for I have\ndecided to go.\n\n_Ma'an_ (_to his treasurer_): Give him a thousand pieces of money.\n\n_Arab_.  Noble prince, I have heard much of thy great forbearance, and\ncame only to try thee.  Thy gentleness is indeed very great, and has no\nlike among men.  I pray God that thy life may be long, and thy\nforbearance be ever a noble example to which men may look up!\n\n\nTRUTHFULNESS TO TRUST\n\nThe following historical incident is related by Arab authors as the\nhighest example of faithfulness to trust.  Al-Samau'al (Samuel) was the\nemir of a Jewish tribe in Southern Arabia, shortly before the time of\nMohammed.  A friend of his, before setting out on a journey, left with\nhim some very fine mailed armour.  This friend was killed in a battle,\nand one of the kings of Syria demanded the arms.  Al-Samau'al refused\nto give them up except to the rightful heir, and the king laid siege to\nhim in one of his fortresses.  One day his son fell into the hands of\nthe enemy, and the king threatened to kill him if the arms were not\ngiven up.  Again he refused, and from the turrets of the castle saw his\nson put to death.  The siege was soon after raised, and the arms were\ndelivered to the heirs of his friend.\n\n\nTRUTHFULNESS TO PLEDGE\n\nThe terms of surrender at the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin, in 1187,\nwere that the Crusaders should retire with their goods from that city\nto one of the garrisoned ports which were held by the Franks, on the\npayment of ten pieces of gold for each man.  As they were filing out of\nthe city, and handing in their ransom-money, Saladin and his generals\nlooked on, watching the proceedings.  The patriarch's turn came, and he\nwas followed by a number of mules laden with much treasure.  Saladin\nmade no sign, but his generals said: \"Sire, the conditions of surrender\nwere for private property, not for such treasures of money, which we\nurgently need for carrying on the war.\"  To this appeal he replied:\n\"No, I have pledged my word, and for the ten pieces of gold agreed upon\nhe shall be free.\"\n\nBut just as he was so strictly truthful to his word, he was equally\nsevere in exacting the same truthfulness from his foes.  Thus after the\ngreat battle of Hittin, when the Crusading army was utterly crushed, a\nlarge number of prisoners fell into his hands, including the King of\nJerusalem and Count Raymond de Chatillon, Governor of Kerak, to the\neast of the Jordan.  The count was a bad, dishonourable man, and had\n(not long before) shamelessly violated an armistice, and fallen on a\ndefenceless Moslem caravan which was passing through his province,\nkilling the men and seizing their property.  When Saladin heard of this\nbase breach of the laws of war he was furious, and vowed that if this\nperfidious prince should ever fall into his power, he would kill him\nwith his own hand; and now the count was his prisoner.  The day of\nbattle, in the month of August, had been very hot, and the Crusaders,\nwith their heavy coats of mail, and without a drop of water to drink,\nhad suffered terribly from thirst.  The tents of Saladin were pitched\nnear the Lake of Tiberias, and when the king and the count were brought\nin, the king asked for a drink of water--which Saladin at once ordered.\nA large goblet of iced water was handed to him, and after quenching his\nthirst he passed the cup to the count.  Saladin looked on, but said\nnothing until the count had finished drinking, and he then said to him:\n\"I gave no orders for drink for you; if I had, your life would have\nbeen safe by our laws of hospitality.  But you are a bad, faithless\nman, who broke the terms of our truce, and you shall now suffer the\ndeath which you deserve,\" and with one stroke of his scimitar he cut\noff his head.  He then sent for the Knights of St. John, of whom there\nwere about a thousand prisoners, and said to them: \"So far as you have\nbeen brave warriors, and cost the Moslems many a man, I have nothing to\nsay; but you have not been fair and honourable in our wars, nor true to\nyour engagements, and I now offer you the option of Islam or death.\"\nTo a man they all chose death in preference to adopting a faith which\nthey hated; and so they were led to the shores of the lake and there\nbeheaded.\n\nMore than seven hundred years after these tragic events, William II.,\nthe present Emperor of Germany, who is a descendant of the Crusading\nPrinces, and a Knight of the Brandenburg branch of the order of St.\nJohn, came to Damascus in 1898; and one of the first things he did\nthere was to visit the tomb of Saladin, and lay on it a wreath of\nflowers.  It was a generous and beautiful and well-deserved tribute to\nthe memory of a truly great man, from whom the Christian nations of his\ntimes learned much of their chivalry and truthfulness to their pledged\nword.\n\n\nA THANKFUL OLD MAN\n\nTwo old men, who had been friends in early youth, met after an interval\nof many years.  A cordial greeting ensued, and then one of them asked\nthe other: \"How old are you now?\" He said: \"Thank God, I am in good\nhealth.\"  \"Are you well-off in worldly goods?\"  \"Thank God, I am in\ndebt to no man.\"  \"Have you any special trouble of mind?\"  \"Thank God,\nI have no young children.\"  \"Have you any enemies?\"  \"Thank God, I have\nno near relations.\"\n\n\nTHE THREE SORTS OF HAPPY MEN\n\nIn two verses of poetry, Al-Mutanabbi, one of the greatest Arabian\npoets and philosophers, reduces the number of happy men to three\nclasses.  They have been paraphrased and put into English verse by a\nfriend, as follows:\n\n  To three life seems a summer sky:\n  The first who has no mind to know\n  The heights and depths of life below,\n  Nor ever asks the reason why.\n\n  The second he to whom life's sum\n  Is self at ease; who never lets\n  The past disturb with dark regrets,\n  Nor hopes and fears from days to come.\n\n  The third who, led by fancies crude,\n  In scorn of truth, deceived at heart,\n  Makes fruitless dreams his better part,\n  And hollow hopes the highest good.\n\n\nCYNICAL VIEWS OF LIFE\n\nAbu'l-Ala was another great poet-philosopher.  He lost his sight from\nsmall-pox early in life, was a cynic and pessimist, and may have often\nbeen copied by Omar Khayyam.  He refers to his affliction and to the\nfact that he lived and died an unmarried man (so as to have no\nchildren) in a well-known verse:\n\n  \"Here am I--wronged by my father\n  Who gave me birth--while I have done wrong to no one.\"\n\n\nSome of his poetry has been put into English quatrains by Ameen F.\nRihany, in imitation of Omar Khayyam's _Rubaiyat_, and the following,\nfrom the _Quatrains of Abu'l-Ala_, are a few striking examples:\n\n  \"What boots it, in my creed, that man should moan\n  In Sorrow's Night, or sing in Pleasure's Dawn?\n  In vain the doves all coo on yonder branch,\n  In vain one sings or sobs: lo! he is gone.\n\n  So solemnly the Funeral passes by!\n  The march of Triumph, under this same sky.\n  Trails in its course--both vanish into Night:\n  To me are one, the Sob, the Joyous Cry.\n\n  Many a grave embraces friend and foe,\n  And grins in scorn at this most sorry show;\n  A multitude of corses passed therein--\n  Alas!  Time almost reaps e'er he doth sow!\n\n  How oft around the Well my Soul would grope\n  Athirst; but lo! my Pail was without Rope:\n  I cried for Water, and the deep, dark Well\n  Echoed my wailing cry, but not my hope.\n\n  The door of What-May-Be none can unlock,\n  But we can knock and guess, and guess and knock:\n  Night sets her glittering sail, and glides along,\n  Ship-like; but where, O Night-ship, is thy dock?\n\n  Oh, when will Fate come forth with his decree,\n  That I might clasp the cool clay, and be free?\n  My Soul and Body, wedded for a while,\n  Are sick, and would that separation be.\n\n  If miracles were wrought in bygone years,\n  Why not to-day, why not to-day, O seers?\n  This Leprous Age most needs a healing hand,\n  Oh, why not heed his cries, and dry his tears?\"\n\n\nMISCELLANEOUS PROVERBS\n\nHe who treats you as he treats himself does you no injustice.\n\nHe who lives on expectations dies in poverty.\n\nThree things are no disgrace to man--to serve his guest, to serve his\nhorse, and to serve in his own house.\n\nExtremes are a mistake--a middle course is the best.\n\nWhen the cooks are many the food is spoiled.  When a ship has two\ncaptains it will sink.\n\nTie the ass where his owner wants.\n\nBe a slave to truth--the slave to truth is a freeman.\n\nNo bravery in war can withstand overwhelming numbers.\n\nIf God gives you, give you to others.\n\nA horseman has ever an open grave before him.\n\nConfide not in a friend until you have tried him, and fight no enemy\nuntil you have sufficient power.\n\nA prudent man is right though he perisheth, and a reckless man is wrong\nthough he cometh out safely.\n\nTrust not in present prosperity, for it is a departing guest.\n\nReserve the white coin for the black day.\n\nIf it be in your power to do harm to your enemy--do it not, but forgive\nhim and win his thanks.\n\nThe eye cannot contend with pointed steel.\n\nBe cautious even where you are most sure.\n\nPoverty is a chain which restrains men from doing much evil.\n\nIf you would know what a man hath, look not to what he gains but to\nwhat he spends.\n\nNothing can be concealed except that which is not.\n\nThe best friend is he who changeth not with the changes of time.\n\nEvery rule has exceptions.\n\nThe most unjust man to himself is he who humbles himself to one who\nhates him, and he who praises one whom he does not know.\n\nWhen you do a kindness, make a small thing of it, though it be a great;\nand when you receive a kindness, make much of it, though it be small.\n\nIdle hands are unclean.\n\nThis world is honey mixed with poison--a joy inseparable from sorrow.\n\nIf you are ignorant, inquire; if you stray, return; if you do wrong,\nrepent; and if you are angry, restrain yourself.\n\n\n\n\n_Printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury, England._","title":"Arabian Wisdom: Selections and Translations from the Arabic","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":12435}