Arabian Wisdom, by John Wortabet, [1913], at sacred-texts.com
Arabian Wisdom, by John Wortabet, [1913], at sacred-texts.com
To God alone I make my plaint of sorrow and grief (Koran 12, 86).
To bewail grief, except to God, is an humiliation.
Lamentation is the weapon of the weak.
A good man sees his own faults and is blind to the faults of others.
Censure your friend by kindness, and return the evil which he may have done to you by acts of favour.
To blame a friend is better than to lose him.
No man is free from faults.
If you count your friend's faults you will have no friend left.
An absent man has his apology with him.
He who compels you to blame him has made up his mind to forsake you.
Open blame is better than secret malice.
Blame not, nor boast, until a year and a half shall have passed away.
He who has a needle under his arm it will prick him.
There is no wood which has no smoke in it.
Among all snakes there is not one that is good.
You are your own enemy.