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Sa'ib of Tabriz

Sa'ib of Tabriz (c. 1601-1677), full name Mirza Muhammad Ali Sa'ib of Tabriz, was a Persian poet in the court of Shah Jahan of India. He is considered last great Persian poet.

Wisdom & Quotes

  • The simple-minded quickly acquire the colour of their companions: The conversations of the parrot make the mirror seem to speak.
  • When poison becomes a habit, it ceases to injure: make your soul gradually acquainted with death.
  • In this market every head has a different fancy: everyone winds his turban in a different fashion.
  • The touchstone of false friends in the day of need: by way of proof, ask a loan from your friends.
  • Every tombstone is a hand stretched forth from the house of oblivion of the earth to search for thee.
  • The enjoyments of both worlds will not satisfy the greedy man: Burning fire always has an appetite.
  • Formerly, people used to grieve over the departed, but in our days they grieve over the survivors.
  • What does it profit you that all the liberties of the world should be yours? Not knowledge but what one does with knowledge is your profit.
  • Within his own house every beggar is an emperor: do not overstep your own limit and be a king.
  • If I am mad, then who on the face of the earth is sane? If you are sane, then there is no madman in the world.
  • When a man becomes old, his greed becomes young: sleep grows heavy at the time of morning.
  • Peace is in proportion to every pause: observe the difference between to run, to walk, to stand, to sit, to lie, to die.
  • When perfection is unduly increased, it becomes the destroyer of life: the tender branch breaks when it bears too much fruit.
  • Flowers are fruit are never combined in one place: it is impossible that teeth and delicacies should exist simultaneously.
  • The march of good fortune has backward slips: to retreat one or two paces gives wings to the jumper.
  • The cure for the unpleasant constitution of the world is to ignore it: Here he is awake who is plunged in heavy sleep.
  • All this talk of infidelity and religion finally leads to one place: The dream is the same dream, only the interpretations differ.
  • The weeping of the candle is not in mourning for the moth: the dawn is at hand, and it is thinking of its own dark night.
  • To the seeker after pearls, silence is a speaking argument, for no breath comes forth from the diver of the sea.
  • The rosary in the hand, repentance on the lips, and the heart full of sinful longings - sin itself laughs at our repentance!
  • Ten doors are opened if one door be shut: the finger is the interpreter of the dumb man's tongue.
  • Become placeless, for to change this place of water and clay is but to move from one prison to another.
  • The wave is ignorant of the true nature of the sea: how can the temporal comprehend the eternal?
  • Seek for the truth from the heart which is empty of thought.
- in a play on words from a pupil's absurd line: Seek for the bottleless wine from the wineless bottle

Friedrich von Logau

Page last modified on Tuesday December 21, 2021 13:36:45 GMT-0000