Who has no mercy upon inferiors will suffer from the tyranny of superiors.
Not every arm which contains strength
Breaks the hand of the weak for showing bravery.
Injure not the heart of the helpless
For thou wilt succumb to the force of a strong man
Gold is obtained from a mine by digging it, but from a miser by digging the soul.
Vile men spend not, but preserve.
They say hope of spending is better than spending.
One day thou seest the wish of the foe fulfilled
The gold remaining and the vile man dead.
The Most High sees a fault and conceals it, and a neighbour sees it not, but shouts.
Let us take refuge with Allah.
If people knew our faults
No one could have rest from interference by others.
A mendicant with a good end is better than a padshah with a bad end.
The grief thou sufferest before the joy
Is better than the grief endured after joy.
The earth receives showers from heaven and gives to it only dust. Every vessel exudes what it contains.
If my humour appears to thee unbecoming
Lose not thy own good humour.
How can he hear whose organ of audition has been created dull, and how can he avoid progressing upon whom the noose of happiness has been flung?
To the friends of God a dark night
Shines like the brilliant day.
This felicity is not by strength of arm
Unless God the giver bestows it.
To whom shall I complain of thee? There is no other judge
And there is no other hand superior to thine.
Fortunate men are admonished by the adventures and similes of those who have preceded them, before those who follow them can use the event as a proverb, like thieves who shorten their hands, lest their hands be cut off.
The bird does not go to the grain displayed
When it beholds another fowl in the trap.
Take advice by the misfortunes of others
That others may not take advice from thee.
Whoever does not betake himself to the path of rectitude in consequence of the castigations of this world will fall under eternal punishment in the next. Allah the most high has said: And we will cause them to taste the nearer punishment of this world besides the more grievous punishment of the next.
Admonition is the address of superiors and then fetters.
If they give advice and thou listenest not, they put thee in fetters.
When God draws the sword of wrath, prophets and saints draw in their heads, but if he casts a look of grace, he converts wicked into virtuous men.
If at the resurrection he addresses us in anger
What chance of pardon will even prophets have?
Say: ‘Remove the veil from the face of mercy
Because sinners entertain hopes of pardon.’
The will of the Inscrutable brings down one from the royal throne, and protects the other in the belly of a fish.
Happy is the time of the man
Who spends it in adoring thee.
