C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Maxims
By Sa’dī (c. 1213–1291)
From the ‘Rose-Garden’: Translations of the Kama Shastra Society and John T. Platts
I SAW with my eyes in the desert,That a slow man overtook a fast one.A galloping horse, fleet like the wind, fell backWhilst the camel-man continued slowly his progress.
Nothing is better for an ignorant man than silence; and if he were to consider it to be suitable, he would not be ignorant.
If thou possess not the perfection of excellence,It is best to keep thy tongue within thy mouth.Disgrace is brought on a man by his tongue.A walnut having no kernel will be light.
A fool was trying to teach a donkey,Spending all his time and efforts in the task;A sage observed: “O ignorant man, what sayest thou?Fear blame from the censorious in this vain attempt.A brute cannot learn speech from thee,Learn thou silence from a brute.”
He who acquires knowledge and does not practice it, is like him who drives the plow and sows no seed.
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