“Look at the world with the eye of reason, not as you looked before. The world is a sea. If you wish to sail, build a ship from good deeds.”

“It is not for violence and killing that swords gleam in our hands: the Lord does not forget evil, and will repay it a hundredfold.”

“How sad that an unwise son is born to a wise man: the son does not inherit his father’s talent and knowledge.”

“Drive greed from your heart, expect nothing from the world, and at once the world will seem to you immeasurably generous.”

“Where the honest man should sit, there sits the vile rogue; the donkey is surrounded with honour, the camel held in contempt.”

“Knowledge is armour against all misfortune.”

“The Almighty saved me from sorrow by giving me four qualities: a renowned name, reason, health and good character. Anyone granted these four qualities by the Almighty will complete his long journey without sorrow, never knowing human grief.”

“Let your clothes be dirty — I myself must be clean; woe to you, unclean hearts, woe to you, wicked eyes.”

“Deceit and discord lead to no good, and no one will come to help in trouble. Choose for yourself the fruit that is sweet — do not touch the bitter fruit, full of poison!”

“Time is a horse and you are its rider; gallop boldly into the wind. Time is a sword; become a stout mallet to win the game.”

(Abu Abdullah Jafar ibn Muhammad Rudaki (860–941) was a Persian poet and singer, the founder of Persian-Tajik literature and one of the first known Persian poets to compose verse in New Persian. In Iran Rudaki is recognised as the founder of new Persian poetry, and in Tajikistan as the father of Tajik literature. He was born in the village of Panjrud, today’s Panjakent district of Tajikistan, and for several decades led a circle of poets at the court of the Samanid rulers in Bukhara, the capital of the great Samanid Empire.)