Saʿdī (c.1213–91,) also spelled Saadi, sobriquet of Musharrif al-Dīn ibn Muṣlih al-Dīn, was a Persian poet and prose writer. One of the greatest figures in classical Persian literature, he wrote Būstān and Gulistān, two moralistic works that contain teachings and stories on love, religion, and other facets of life.
Born in Shīrāz, Iran, Saʿdī undertook the traditional Islamic learning at the celebrated Neẓāmīyeh College in Baghdad. Following the Mongol invasion of Persia, he wandered through Anatolia, Syria, Egypt, and Iraq. According to some accounts, he even claimed that he was a prisoner of the Crusaders in Syria. He returned to his native Shīrāz as a middle-aged poet and spent the rest of his life in there.
Saʿdī’s best-known works are the Būstān (1257; The Orchard) and the Gulistān (1258; The Rose Garden.) The Būstān comprises of ten sections of verse in epic meter on moralistic topics, Islamic virtues, and the ecstatic practices of the dervishes. The Gulistān is a lighter prose work interspersed with verse, aphorisms, advice, and humorous reflections.
Additionally, Saʿdī wrote Ghazalīyāt (“Lyrics”) and Qaṣā‘ca’bfīd (“Odes,”) and several works in Arabic.
Saʿdī’s works are central to the literature of Iran and renewed the world over for their freshness and sharp wit. They are often used as early reading for those studying Persian and are the source of many popular proverbs in that culture.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
A little beauty is preferable to much wealth.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Wealth, Beauty
Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Patience
When the belly is empty, the body becomes spirit; and when it is full, the spirit becomes body.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Spirit, Spirituality, The Body
Deep in the sea are riches beyond compare. But if you seek safety, it is on the shore.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
A man is insensible to the relish of prosperity till he has tasted adversity.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Adversity, Difficulties
Let him who neglects to raise the fallen, fear lest, when he falls, no one will stretch out his hand to lift him up.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Charity
A traveler without observation is a bird without wings.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Travel
Obedience is not truly performed by the body, if the heart is dissatisfied.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Obedience
That which is not allotted the hand cannot reach; and what is allotted you will find wherever you may be.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Destiny
To give pleasure to a single heart by a single kind act is better than a thousand head-bowings in prayer.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Action, Prayer, Service
Whenever you argue with another wiser than yourself in order that others may admire your wisdom, they will discover your ignorance.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Argument
O wise man, wash your hands of that friend who associates with your enemies.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Enemies
The best loved by God are those that are rich, yet have the humility of the poor, and those that are poor and have the magnanimity of the rich.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Charity
I fear God, and next to God I chiefly fear him who fears him not.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: God
He who is a slave to his belly seldom worships God.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
A handsome woman is a jewel; a good woman is a treasure.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Woman
It is wrong to follow the advice of an adversary; nevertheless, it is right to hear it, that you may do the contrary, and this is the essence of good policy.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Advice
He places a seed in the dust for the reason That it may in the day of distress, give fruit.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
The bad fortune of the good turns their faces up to heaven; the good fortune of the bad bows their heads down to the earth.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Fortune
He who learns the rules of wisdom without conforming to them in his life is like a man who ploughs in his field but does not sow.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Wisdom
A little and a little, collected together, becomes a great deal; the heap in the barn consists of single grains, and drop and drop make the inundation.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Perseverance, Change, Trifles, Persistence
Independence is of more value than any gifts; and to receive gifts is to lose it.—Men most commonly seek to oblige thee only that they may engage thee to serve them.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Gifts
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.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Love
People are crying up the rich and variegated plumage of the peacock, and he is himself blushing at the sight of his ugly feet.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Confidence, Opportunities, Reality
He who is a slave to his stomach seldom worships God.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Eating, Food
I fear God and next to God I mostly fear them that fear him not.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: God
The rose and the thorn, and sorrow and gladness are linked together.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Observation
Nothing is so good for an ignorant man as silence; and if he was sensible of this he would not be ignorant.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Silence, Ignorance
Whoever acquires knowledge but does not practice it is as one who ploughs but does not sow.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Knowledge, Gardening
I never complained of the vicissitudes of fortune, nor suffered my face to be overcast at the revolution of the heavens, except once when my feet were bare, and I had not the means of obtaining shoes. I came to the chief of Kufah in a state of much dejection, and saw there a man who had no feet. I returned thanks to God and acknowledged his mercies, and endured my want of shoes with patience, and exclaimed,
“Roast fowl to him thats sated will seem less
Upon the board than leaves of garden cress.
While, in the sight of helpless poverty,
Boiled turnip will a roasted pullet be.”
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Gratitude
God gives sleep to the bad, in order that the good may be undisturbed.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Sleep
The greedy man is incontinent with a whole world set before him.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Blessings, Appreciation, Gratitude
Were the diver to think on the jaws of the shark, he would never lay hands on the precious pearl.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Anxiety, Fear
Pride thyself on what virtue thou hast, and not on thy parentage.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Pride
Were the king at noonday to say, “This day is night,” it would behoove us to reply, “Lo! there are the moon and seven stars!”
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
A wise man in the company of those who are ignorant, has been compared to a beautiful girl in the company of blind men.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Ignorance
The telling of a falsehood is like the cut of a sabre; for though the wound may heal, the scar of it will remain.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
If thou covetest riches, ask not but for contentment, which is an immense treasure.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Blessings, Gratitude, Appreciation
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?
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
Topics: Learning
An enemy to whom you show kindness becomes your friend, excepting lust, the indulgence of which increases its enmity.
—Sa’Di (Musharrif Od-Din Muslih Od-Din)
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