62 quotes
A return of good for good is a slight reciprocity; but the true recompense is to confer benefits on him who has injured thee.
Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
When rust deep-seated has consumed the steel,
Its stain will never a new polish own.
Advice effects not those who cannot feel:
A nail of iron cannot pierce a stone.
A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain.
Gulistan (1258)
When the belly is empty, the body becomes spirit; when it is full, the spirit becomes body.
Though for a hundred years the Guebre feeds his flame
Did he once fall therein 'twould feed on him the same.
A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
Have patience! All things are difficult before they become easy.
When gnats act in concert they will bring down an elephant: when ants set to work, and move in a body, they can strip a fierce lion of its hide.
Gulistan (1258)
A little and a little, collected together, become a great deal; the heap in the barn consists of single grains, and drop and drop make the inundation.
A Dictionary of Thoughts (1891)
He who is intoxicated with wine will be sober again in the course of the night, but he who is intoxicated by the cup-bearer will not recover his senses until the day of judgment.
A Dictionary of Thoughts (1891)
Have we no worldly gear,—'tis grief and pain:
Have we it—then its charms our feet enchain.
Can we than this a plague more troublous find,
Which absent, present, still afflicts the mind.
A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
To pious minds, each verdant leaf displays
A volume teeming with the Almighty’s praise.
Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
Who eat their corn while yet 'tis green,
At the true harvest can but glean.
The wise man never heard a joke
But living wisdom from it broke;
The fool no wisdom ever learned
But it in him to folly turned.
Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
Deep in the sea are riches beyond compare.
But if you seek safety, it is on the shore.
Gulistan (1258)
He who learns, and makes no use of his learning, is a beast of burden with a load of books. — Does the ass comprehend whether he carries on his back a library or a bundle of faggots?
A Dictionary of Thoughts (1891)
O brothers, Mecca is in front, and robbers in the rear. By proceeding, we escape; and, if we sleep, we die.
Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
Our condition is like the darting lightning, one instant flashing and the next disappearing. Sometimes we are seated above the fourth heaven, and at other times we cannot see the back of our feet.
Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
What though life's water from the clouds descend
Thou'llt ne'er pluck fruit from off the willow-bough;
Not on the base thy precious moments spend
Thou'llt ne'er taste sugar from the reed I trow.
A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
"How hast thou so profound a lore attained?"
"To ask another, I was ne’er ashamed."
Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
All of the sons of Adam are part of one single body,
They are of the same essence.
When time afflicts us with pain
In one part of that body
All the other parts feel it too.
If you fail to feel the pain of others
You do not deserve the name of man.