Men of acute mind call me an ascetic, but they are wrong in their diagnosis. Although I disciplined my desires, I only abandoned worldly pleasures because the best of these withdrew themselves from me. Studies in Islamic Poetry (1921)
To let go from my hand a flea that I have caught is a kinder act than to bestow a dirhem on a man in need. There is no difference between the black earless creature which I release and the Black Prince of Kinda who bound the tiara (on his head). Both of them take precaution (against death); and life is dear to it (the flea), and it passionately desires the means of living. Studies in Islamic Poetry (1921)
Whenever I reflect, my reflecting upon what I suffer only rouses me to blame him that begot me.And I gave peace to my children, for they are in the bliss of non-existence which surpasses all the pleasures of this world.Had they come to life, they would have endured a misery casting them to destruction in trackless wildernesses. Studies in Islamic Poetry (1921)