Ali-Shir Nava’i (Nizam-al-Din Ali-Shir Herawi). 1441 – 1501. Philosopher, poet, statesman.
The author of numerous philosophical and poetry works, among them the Treasure Trove of Thoughts, a collection of poetry diwans, and the Quintuple (Khamsa), a collection of five poems.
Quotes:
1. You wish to do without sorrow,
Learn sciences and crafts.
2. Waste and squandering are not generosity, but boasting.
3. Patience will overcome all things,
And the rush will only get you into trouble.
4. A real person must love a real person.
5. A humble man doesn’t like to say much. He likes to listen more.
Listening leads to perfection, talking a lot leads to dumbing down.
6. A person can commit a mistake; recognizing it will refine him. But it will refine him even more if he corrects the mistake.
7. Whoever is going to lie is getting out of the way of caution and prudence.
Every word that is untrue is not accepted by truthful people. A liar can get away once or twice, but no one will believe his words after he is disgraced by his lies.
8. Be merciful and do good to evil people means be rude and cause evil to good people. To spare the cat is to exterminate pigeons, to give the free hand to a fox is to destroy all chickens.
9. As long greed and avarice are not extinct,
As long as the dominance of sinister passions is not buried,
As long as the anger of the dark forces is not vanquished,
The country will not blossom with the joy of its people.
10. The scientist who refuses to put his learning to use
Is like a rich man hoarding his money greedily day and night.
Those have died of hundreds of disasters and thousands of misfortunes,
And only their sad example can guide all of us.
