Saadi
Thirteenth-century Persian poet, traveler, and Sufi master, born and buried in Shiraz, regarded throughout the Persian-speaking world as the greatest moral poet of the language. After more than thirty years of wandering — through Damascus, Aleppo, the Hejaz, North Africa, and as far as India — he returned to Shiraz and composed the Bostan (The Orchard, 1257) and the Gulistan (The Rose Garden, 1258), two of the most beloved books in Persian literature. The Gulistan in particular blends prose anecdote with verse epigram, and its couplet Bani Adam — "the children of Adam are limbs of one body" — adorns the entrance hall of the United Nations in New York.
106
quotes in library
Quotes by Saadi
106 quotes“When fortune wounds one limb, the other limbs cannot stay at peace.”
compassionGulistan
“You who are unmoved by the suffering of others — you do not deserve the name of human.”
humanityGulistan
“A traveler said: I have seen the inhabited world from end to end. I have known its blessings and its pains.”
travelBostan
“Whoever has no patience has no wisdom.”
patienceGulistan
“To give pleasure to a single heart by a single kind act is better than a thousand prostrations in prayer.”
kindnessGulistan
“He who learns and learns and yet does not what he knows is one who plows and plows and never sows.”
actionGulistan
“A wise enemy is better than a foolish friend.”
discernmentGulistan
“Every leaf of the tree becomes a page of the book once the heart is opened and it has learnt to read.”
perceptionBostan
“The garden is full of his footprints. The wind is full of his speech. The water is full of his face.”
presenceBostan
“Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy.”
patienceGulistan
“He who is born once dies once. He who is born twice never dies.”
rebirthBostan
“The world, my brother, will abide with no one.”
impermanenceGulistan
“Bind the heart to the One who never changes. The Friend who never abandons.”
devotionBostan
“He who reveals secrets is a fool. He who keeps them is a sage.”
discretionGulistan
“Whoever does no harm is on the path of righteousness.”
non-harmBostan
“The friend you make in childhood walks beside you to the grave.”
friendshipGulistan
“A learned man without works is like a tree without fruit.”
worksGulistan
“The fortunes of the just turn upon the prayers of the poor.”
justiceBostan
“Patience is bitter. Its fruit is sweet.”
patienceGulistan
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