The Bustān of Sadi Translated from the Persian with an...

In the course of a dispute some one uttered improper words and was, in consequence, seized and nearly throttled.

“O thou conceited fellow!” said an experienced man, “if thy mouth had been closed like a bud, thou wouldst not have seen thy skirt torn like a flower.”

Dost thou not see that fire is nothing but a flame, which at any moment can be quenched with water?

If a man possess merit, the merit speaks for itself, not the owner of the merit.

If thou hast not the purest musk, claim not to possess it; if thou hast, it makes itself known by its perfume.