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PERSIAN WORDS OF WISDOM

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PERSIAN WORDS OF WISDOM

Sayings and Proverbs by Masters of Persian Poetry

Compiled, edited, and translated by

Bahman Solati

Universal-Publishers

Boca Raton

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Persian Words of Wisdom: Sayings and Proverbs by Masters of Persian Poetry

Copyright © 2015 Bahman Solati

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by

any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission

from the publisher.

Universal-Publishers Boca Raton, Florida • USA

2015

ISBN-10: 1-62734-054-8 ISBN-13: 978-1-62734-054-0

www.universal-publishers.com

Cover image © Sam2211 | Dreamstime.com - Vintage Background Traditional Ottoman Motifs. Photo

Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Solati, Bahman. Persian words of wisdom : sayings and proverbs by masters of persian poetry / Bahman Solati. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN: 978-1-62734-054-0 (pbk.) 1. Persian poetry. 2. Persian poetry—Translations into English. 3. Proverbs, Persian. 5. Bilingual books. I. Author added entry. II. Title. PN6404 .B34 2015 398.9—dc23 2015911956

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Abbreviations AH After hijra b. Born b. (when appearing before a name) The son of c. circa, about cf. confer, compare d. died ed. edition, editor, edited by EI2 Encyclopaedia Islamica EIr Encyclopaedia Iranica Eng. English ESV English Standard Version fl. floruit, flourished ibid. ibidem, in the same place i.e. id est, that is Intro. Introduction lit. Literature lit. hist. literary history ME Middle English ms. Manuscript n.d. no date n.p. no publisher NEV New English Version NLT New Living Translation q.v. quot vide, which see r. Ruled s.v. sub verse S.w.T Subḥāna wa taʽālā, may He be

glorified and exalted tr. translation, translated v. Verse Vol (s). Volume (s)

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Also by Bahman Solati Books: 2016: The Wine Goblet of Ḥāfeẓ: A Comparative Study of the Influence of Ḥāfeẓ on the Fifteenth-Century Classical Persian Poet Jāmī (New York: Peter Lang Inc, 2017). 2015: Persian Words of Wisdom: Sayings and Proverbs by Masters of Persian Poetry (Boca Raton: Brown Walker Press, 2015). 2015: The Rubayyiat of Hakim Umar Khayyam: Sixty Translated Quatrains of Hakim Umar Khayyam (Boca Raton: Brown Walker Press, 2015). 2013: The Reception of Ḥāfiẓ: The Sweet Poetic Language of Ḥāfiẓ in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Persia (Leiden, the Netherlands: Leiden University Press, 2013). 2000: The Rubayyiat of Hakim Umar Khayyam: Sixty Translated Quatrains of Hakim Umar Khayyam (Tehran: Qatreh, 2000). Journals: 2016: “The Influence of Ḥāfiẓ on Muḥammad Taqī Bahār: A Comparative Study of the Influence of Ḥāfiẓ on Bahār” (International Journal of Advances in Language and Literary Studies [ALLS] Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 260-277 June 2016). 2016: “Classical Persian Literature: An Overview of the History of Persian Literature in Post-Islamic Iran” (Iran Chamber Society). 2015: “Ḥāfiẓ: The Spirit of Iran: A Study of the Influence of Ḥāfiẓ on the People of Iran” (International Journal of Recent Advances in Multidisciplinary Research [IJRAMR] Vol. 01, Issue12, pp.0114-0118 December, 2014). 2015: “Hafiz and the Persians” (Iran Chamber Society).

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Book reviews: Parvin Loloi and William Oxley, Poems from the Dīvān… Hermeneus International Journal of Translations (2015), TI, 17, pp. 351-354.

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FOREWORD Parvin Loloi

Proverbs exist in most of the languages and cultures of the world, and have done so from ancient times to the present. The definition of a proverb, however, has proved contentious amongst paremiologists. The Oxford English Dictionary provides an adequate working definition in stating that a proverb is “a concise sentence, which is held to express some truth ascertained by experience or observation and familiar to all”. And, more to our purpose, it is “[a]n oracular or enigmatic saying that requires interpretation”. Many scholars have tried to explain the function of proverbs in diverse ways. There is no doubt that there are many different types of proverbs. The most common are known as “Folk proverbs or sayings”, These are multifaceted and are employed in both religious and pedagogical systems. Wolfgang Mieder, a foremost paremiologist of our times, explains that “proverbs are the most concise but not necessarily the simplest form. …Proverbs fulfil the human need to summarize experiences and observations into nuggets of wisdom that provide ready-made comments on personal relationships and social affairs.” Mieder further explains that proverbs “serve people well in oral speech and the written word, coming to mind almost automatically as prefabricated verbal units. While the frequency of their employment might well vary among people and contexts, proverbs are significant rhetorical speeches in various modes of communication, from friendly chats, powerful political speeches, and religious sermons on to lyrical poetry, best seller novels and the influential mass media.”0F0F

1 In the West many writers and poets from Shakespeare to Blake,

Agatha Christie to J. K. Rowling have employed proverbs in diverse ways. Relatively few originally literary or poetical sayings have, however, become common proverbs in English or other European languages. However, in Iran, a nation of poetry lovers, where many people, from the educated to the less so and the uneducated, recite and memorize poetry, it is a different matter. Many poetical lines or phrases from famous (and not so famous poets) and writers have become proverbs employed not only in Iran but also in the wider Persian-speaking world. There is, of course, a great tradition of folk proverbs in

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Persian and since the mid nineteenth century there have been many paremiological collections published in Iran and other Persian speaking countries. Since 1979 and the Islamic Revolution in Iran, a large number of well educated Iranians have settled in the west, including the United States. Their American and Western born children are, naturally enough, often out of touch with the heritage of their parents. This has prompted the production of several collections of proverbial Persian sayings in English. Some of these are bilingual and also draw on the similarities between Western and Persian proverbs. The aim of such works is not only of educate young Western-born Iranians but also to inform the general reading public. Dr. Solati’s work differs from such previous collections because it is the first bilingual paremiological work to concentrate on poetical proverbs. In an ambitious and substantial work, Dr. Solati has surveyed the whole gamut of Persian poetry from the classical to the modern, examining some 200 volumes of work, from which he has extracted the ‘proverbs’ and sayings which have entered most frequently common usage. 116 Persian poets have been indexed in this fashion. Apart from the preliminary pages, the book is divided into two sections of quotations in the original Persian as well as beautiful Calligraphies of the same, translations and interpretations.

Mysticism in the form of Sufism is an integral part of Persian poetry, therefore the symbolic and allegorical language in many of these proverbs demands clarification. Solati’s labour of love for over ten years has succeeded, whenever possible, not only in providing a coherent interpretation of each poetical line and phrase but also in tracing similar sayings and proverbs from other cultures and religions - from ancient times and philosophers such as Confucius, Plato, to a poet such as Petrarch and a figure such as Mother Teresa, as well as drawing on examples from Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity and Taoism. Of course all known religions as well as different literatures tend to borrow from one another and as it is in the nature of proverbs with their concise language and humanistic wisdom to travel well, it is not surprising that there are many parallels amongst proverbial sayings. A very obvious example of this is the Christian “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” which can be traced back to the major tenets of the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism affirming “good action, good speech, good thinking” which has also infiltrated Budhist philosophy (p.199). Poets, in particular, whether in the West or East have employed

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proverbs from their respective religions, so many of Persian poets, after the advent of Islam, borrowed greatly from the Qur’ān.

One of the major Persian poets, the thirteenth century lyric poet and the foremost moralist, Sa’di rightly takes pride of place in this book. Sa’di’s Gulistan (‘The Rose Garden’) is an extensive repository of wisdom sayings, maxims, and parables in the form of allegorical tales and anecdotes. His language has an attractive simplicity in concise prose which is always witty and full of word-play. His insight into the human psyche is remarkable and his social comments are apt, ironic and at times sarcastic. The morals of the tales are usually summed up in either rhymed prose (saj’) or precise lines of poetry within the tales. It is these short musical phrases and single lines of poetry which have become common proverbs used by Persian speakers up to the present time. An example is “If they take Juses’ ass to Mecca / When it returns, it will still be an ass.” The English equivalents are given here as “ Once a fool, always a fool”, and “If an ass goes travelling, he will not come back a horse”(p. 30). Many Persian poets, such as Sa’di, Ḥāfeẓ, Mulawi (known as Rumi in the West) and others intermingle their wisdom and moral sayings with allegorical mystical / Sufi meanings, so in fact these proverbs are multifaceted and Dr. Solati gives a detailed interpretation of each maxim and proverb, as well as translating entire tales of Sa’di where the lines of poetry are embedded in them. Like the role of the Bible in Christianity, Qura’nic quotations play an important role in moral and mystical sayings alike and Sa’di and a number of other poets employ verses from the Qur’ān and the Hadith in their work.

The first part of the book includes quotations from some twenty six major poets at the head of which stand Sa’di, Ḥāfeẓ, Rumi, etc. The second part “Other Poets” includes ninety poets. Many of the best known and commonly used proverbs, are derived from the poets included in the first part, such as Nezami’s “Hard work equals good work” or in English “practice make perfect” (p. 246); or Nasir Khusraw’s “Do not believe what you hear / Hearing is not the same as seeing”, which has an analogue in English as “seeing is believing” (p.253). This compendium of Persian mystical proverbs and wise words and their international equivalents constitutes a unique contribution to paremiology. The translations are mainly in prose but most of the poetical lines are set on the page as lines of verse. This provides a sense of the original’s verse form as well as an accurate translation. Solati’s own calligraphy adds to the attraction of the book. The book’s

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scholarship and originality approach make it valuable both to specialists and to students of comparative literature or proverbs.

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سپاسگزاری

هیوار ا اندیمنددان و روساان ه یون ها ونناونن رر ه ثر رساندن این پژوهش رست رایادد ک رر این هون، هنکار خانم مریم هر وند رر مود هرورران هن غزلوات جامی و هرخی ا غزلوات حافظ صنرت ورفت. یکر یار و پماوبانی ها محبت

خنر فرض می رانم، ا یار جداب رکتر لنیزون اساار عزیز نوز رر هرورراندن آموز او را هر هرخی ا ایعار پر ایهام و پوچود ههر هررم ک هی یک هدون راهد�یی ها ایمان کوفوت ترجن ه این حد �ی رسود. جداب رکتر هولنن نوز ها نقد و ها خنررها رقوق و

پدهان ید و رر ا ال این نقایص یار هیوار مفودیان هاعث رفع هعضی ا ایکالاترساندند. ا روست عزیز و فر ان ام سرکار خانم نولنفر امور نوز ک نقش رساوار رر پژوهش و هرورراندن هرخی ا مانن را ه عهد رایادد، هیوار سپاسگزارم. ه راسای ک

هان رر تقدیر ا ح�ت این عزیزان قاصر است. ها پژوهمگران و اهل قلم ک ممارکامان رر انجام این تحقوق یایان ذکر هنکار

. است، هاعث خرسدد و خنیبخای ننییدد این سطنر می هاید

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My special thanks go to Maryam Zohrehvand, who aided me in translating all the ghazals of Jami as well as some of those of Ḥāfeẓ. It has taken about nine years of scattered work and an entire year of full-time work for this research to come to fruition, and in the course of this period many researchers and friends have helped me in a number of ways. My deepest gratitude goes to them all, and I can only apologize for not citing everyone’s name here. I would particularly like to thank Dr. Leonard Lewisohn, who patiently guided me with some difficult and ambiguous translations. I am also thankful to Dr. Michael Hillmann for his valuable feedback. Furthermore, the advise and guidance of Ms. Niloufar Amiri as research assistance has proved highly valuable without whose care and perseverance the quality of this research wouldn’t be as it is now. I am very fortunate to be surrounded by scholars and literati whose counsel and direction in this line of research has proved invaluable.

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A Note on Transliteration Transliteration of Persian and Arabic in this book follows the transliteration table of the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies [IJMES]. Following this system, the transliteration of Persian words of Arabic origin generally, but not exclusively, uses w instead of v for the Arabic letter wa. I have made two important exceptions to the IJMES practice, however, writing Dīvān (rather than “dīwān”) and Ḥāfeẓ (rather than “Ḥāfeẓ”), because this is how these nouns are pronounced in Persian. I consistently render diphthongs as aw and ay. Furthermore, since capital letters do not exist in Persian or Arabic, I have refrained from using capitalization, except, of course, for proper nouns and the first word of titles. For simplicity’s sake, I have capitalized Dīvān throughout, whether it is a book’s published title or simply used in the sense of “collective works.” I also follow this style for book and other titles in the bibliography and elsewhere. I have not transliterated internationally recognized names of countries, cities, authors, or well-known journals (like Iran Nameh) but instead have simply written them as they are commonly written in English.

In addition, for Arabic words commonly used in Persian, for the most part I use the Persian spelling generally preferred, and thus the transliteration that reflects this; for example, dropping the final ʼ for ḥamza ( ء) in words likeʽulamā and shuʽarā. For Persian names that incorporate, or consist entirely of, Arabic words, I render these in transliteration as they are typically transliterated in European language sources, or as commonly pronounced in Persian, e.g., Shāh Niʽmat-Ullāh Valī or Ibn ʽAṭā-Ullāh or Mawlānā Jalāluddin Rumi. With respect to the Arabic definite article al, which requires elision when preceded by another word, with the vowel of the word connecting directly to the l, and, for certain consonants, the doubling of the consonant and elimination of the l sound altogether, I follow for most part the IJMES system, which does not reflect these features of Arabic. Thus, for an example of a name, Kamāl al-Dīn Abū al-ʽAṭā rather than something like Kamāl ad-Dīn Abu-l-ʽAṭā or Kamāl ud-Dīn Abu-l-ʽAṭā. The relatively few exceptions to this are personal names or book titles or technical terms that in European language sources seem to more commonly reflect the precise rules of pronunciation for the definite

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article al in Arabic. Thus: Abū Saʽīd Abu’l-Khayr or al-Ishārāt wa’l-tanbīhāt rather than Abū Saʽīd Abū al-Khayr. In some instances I have frankly allowed for Persian preferences in pronunciation.

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CONTENTS

Name of Poets اسامی شاعران Page Verses Preface in Persian پارسیمقدم ه 23 * Preface in English ه انگلویی مقدم 24 * A Note on Translation ترجن نکاتی رر یون 26 * A Note on Translation of Verses and Adages

نکاتی ررهار هرورران و ضرب المثلهاایعار

27 *

Sa‛dī 110 29 سعد Ḥāfeẓ 44 139 حافظ Mulavī 30 181 منلن Sanā’ī 23 209 سدائی Firdawsī 18 231 فرروسی Niẓāmī 15 247 نظامی Nāṣir Khusraw 13 263 ناصرخسرو ʽAṭṭār 12 275 عطار Ūḥadī 12 285 اوحد Asadī 10 297 اسد Jāmī 9 311 جامی Ṣā’ib Tabrizī 8 321 صائب تبریز Bahār 7 329 ههار Amīr Khusraw 6 337 امور خسرو Khwājū Kirmānī 5 345 خناجن کرمانی Kātbī 4 353 کاتبی Qā’ānī Shirāzī 4 355 قآنی یورا Farrukhī 4 359 فرخی Ibn Yamīn 4 365 اهن ینون “Jāmi‛ al-Tamthīl” "جامع الانثول" 371 4 Sūzanī 4 375 سن نی Adīb Nayshābūrī اریب نوماهنر 379 4 Furūghī Basṭāmī 3 383 فروغی هیطامی Kamāl Isma‛īl 3 387 ک�ل اسنعول Naẓīrī Nayshābūrī 3 393 نظور نوماهنر Khayyām 3 397 خوام

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Other poets 401 دیگر شاعران Parvīn Iʽtiṣāmī 2 402 پروین اعاصامی Purīa-yi Valī 2 403 پنریا ولی Khwāja ʽAbdu’Allāh Anṣārī

3 405 خناج عبدالل انصار

Khāqānī 2 407 خاقانی ‛Ᾱrif Qazvīnī 2 409 عارف قزویدی Mīr Nijāt-i Iṣfahānī 2 411 مور نجات اصفهانی Maghribī 2 413 مغرهی Maktabī 2 415 مکابی Mas‛ūd Sa‛d 2 417 میعنر سعد Vaḥshī Bafqī 2 419 وحمی هافقی Salmān Sāvajī 2 421 سل�ن ساوجی Rūdakī 2 423 رورکی ʽAlā al-Dawla-yi Simnānī 2 425 علاءالدول سندانی Abū Sa‛īd Abu’lkhayr 2 426 اهنسعود اهنالخور Vaḥīd Qazvīnī 2 427 وحود قزویدی Anvarī 2 428 اننر Athīr-i Akhsikatī ایگواثور اخی 430 2 Rafī‛ Mashhadī 2 430 رفوع ممهد Rahī Mu‛airī 2 431 رهی معور ʽAbbās Ṣabūḥī 2 432 عباس صبنحی Daqīqī 2 433 رقوقی Fayḍ Kāshānī 2 435 فوض کایانی ʽAmʽaq-i Bukhārā’ī 2 437 عنعق هخارایی Bābā Afḍal-i Kāshānī 3 438 هاها افضل کایانی ‛Imād-i Shahriyārī 1 440 ع�ر یهریار Azraqī 1 440 ا رقی Ᾱṣif-i Ibrāhimī 1 441 آصف اهراهونی Khiyālī 1 442 خوالی ‛Ūfī 1 443 عنفی Sirāj Qumrī/Majd Hamgar 1 444 سراج قنر /مجد هنگر Hātif-i Iṣfahānī 1 445 هاتف اصفهانی

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Ẓahīr 1 446 ظهور Humā-yi Iṣfahānī 1 447 ه� اصفهانی Mīrzā Aqākhān Nūrī 1 448 مور ا آقاخان ننر Ḥazīn-i Lāhijī 1 449 حزین لاهوجی Javād Nūrbakhsh 1 450 جنار ننرهخش Nūr al-Dīn Munshī 1 451 ننرالدین مدمی Shams Qays Rāzī 1 452 ینس قوس را ʽAlī Shirāzī 1 453 علی یورا Najīb Kāshānī 1 454 نجوب کایانی Abu’l Ma‛ālī 1 455 اهنالمعالی Mujīr Bilqānī 1 456 مجور هولقانی Asirī Mashhadī 1 457 اسور ممهد Ḥakīm 1 458 حکوم Mīr Abu’l Qāsim Findiraskī 1 459 موراهنالقاسم فددرسکی “Vays va Rāmīn” Gurgānī "وروانیویس و رامین " 460 1 “Al-faqr-i Fakhrī” " الفقر فخر" 461 1 Adīb Ṣābir 1 462 اریب صاهر Manūchihrī 1 463 مدنچهر Mīr Ilāhī Hamidānī 1 464 مور الهی هندانی Fakhr al-Din ‛Irāqī 1 465 فخرالدین عراقی ‛Unsurī 1 466 عدصر Shabistarī 1 467 یبیتر Imām al-Din al-rāfa‛ī الدین الرافعیامام 468 1 ‛Imād Faqīh 1 469 ع�ر فقو Ḥayrān-i Yazdī 1 470 حوران یزر Kamālī 1 471 ک�لی Yaghmā Jandaqī 1 472 یغ� جددقی Jamāl al-Dīn ʽAbdu’l Razzāq 1 473 ج�ل الدین عبدالر اق Shams-i Tabrīz 1 473 ینس تبریز Umidī Rāzī 1 474 امود را Fadā’ī Lāhijānī 1 475 فدائی لاهوجانی Sayyid Mahdī Mūsavī 1 476 سود مهد منسن Raḍī Nayshābūrī 1 477 رضی نوماهنر

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Muḥammad ʽAlī Mīrzā Dawlatshāh

1 478 محند علی مور ا رولاما

Ᾱdharī Ṭūsī 1 479 آذر طنسی Ibrāhim Urdūbādī 1 480 اهراهوم ارروهار Asirī Iṣfaḥānī 1 481 اسور اصفهانی Abū ʽAbdu’Allāh Shirāzī 1 482 اهن عبدالل یورا Bābā Shāh ‛Irāqī 1 483 هاهایا عراقی Bahā’ī ʽĀmilī Ṭālib Tharāh 1 484 ههائی عاملی طالب ثرا Thābit Badakhshānī 1 485 ثاهت هدخمانی Jamālī Dihlavī 1 486 ج�لی رهلن Jamālī Ardistānī 1 487 ج�لی اررساانی Ῑraj Mīrzā 1 488 ایرج مور ا Ḥaqqī Khawnsārī 1 489 حقی خنانیار Rafiqāy-i Yazdī 1 490 رفوقا یزر Sa‛d al-Dīn Ḥamavī Jū’inī 1 491 سعدالدین حنن جنیدی Sulṭān Valad Rumi 1 492 سلطان ولد رومی Saḥābī Astarābādī 1 493 سحاهی استرآهار Qāsim-i Tabrīzī 1 494 قاسم تبریز Unknown poet 1 495 یاعر وندام Ulfat Kāshānī 1 496 الفت کایانی Shāhid Ῑzad Khāstī 1 496 یاهد ایزر خناسای Ḥasan Nahāvandī 1 497 حین نهاوند Shaḥna-yi Khurāsānī خراسانی یحد 498 1 Ṣabā Kāshānī 2 499 صبا کایانی Ṣafā’i-yi Narāqī 2 501 صفائی نراقی Ẓafar-i Kirmānī 1 503 ظفر کرمانی Shaykh Bahā’ī 1 504 یوخ ههائی Biographies of the Poets 505 ندوودام یعرا * Notes 545 یارایاها * Bibliography 558 کااهمداسی *

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23

مقدمه

یکی ا غدی ترین هانها رر مود میائل معدن و اخلاقی است و ها وجنر پارسی هان

،کار هایی ک صنرت ورفا هدن هرا معرفی این ثروت عظوم جا کار هیوار وجنر رارر

ا مجننع را وررآور کدم. اهواتی ک رر پی می آیدد و این خنر انگوز ا ید تا این

تدوین ایعار و یا غزلوات یعرا کهن هرورفا ید و ه خط نیاعلوق ننیا ید است.

رر تام آثار قدما و اساخراج هن و وررآور چدون مجننع ا محصنل مطالع و تعنق

سخدانی است ک هعدنان امثال، ضرب المثلها، اصطلاحات، کدایات، اساعارات، کل�ت قصار،

نث رر آن آثار وجنر رارر و ریگر سخدنران ها آوررن آنها رر و نظمحکناها و پددها ا

هصنرت تضنون یا یاهد ه سخن خنر ک�ل و ج�ل و تاثور و جذه می هخمدد. یانوفاار

ا مداهعی ماندد امثال و حکم رهخدا، پارسیهرا جنع آور این ونهرها ارب

ولیاان و هنساان تحف سامی، فهرست،ریاض العارفون، مجنع الفصحا، ال لانثول،جامع ا

دن معدن منلن و حدور روییت رینان مخالف ا یعرا کهن و معاصر سعد ، مث

رینار یار ه طرق مخالف من را رر این را ههر ورفا ید است. هیوار ا روساان

ح�ت و کررند، یقوداً اور هنکار ها آنها نبنر کوفوت کااب ه این حد �ی رسود. ا

پماوبانی ها هی رریغمان هی نهایت سپاسگزارم. اکدنن این کااب ثر ر سال تحقوق،

پژوهش و سفرها ماعدر هرا رسترسی ه مداهع مخالف و مصاحب ها اساتودِ رست

اندرکار است. اورچ کار طاقت فرسا و کنریکن هنر، ولی عمق ه یعر و ارهوات ایران

.ر ها را را پوش رویم آسان کررسخای ها و ناهننا

شرح اهوات و تعبور ایعار ک یقوداً خالی ا سهن و لغزش نویت، ا ننییدد این

را ناقاهلسطنر می هاید، امود است ک اهل ارب، صاحبدلان و صاحب نظران این هدی

و پارسی هنودطنر هرا رانمجنیان هان هایدد و نوز ه رید اغ�ض هدگرند. پذیرا

خنینقای و منفقوت می کدم و امودوارم ک این رین آر و علاقنددان این سخدان یو

کااب هاناند پاسخگن پرسمها و کدجکاویها این عزیزان هاید.

ههنن صنلای

٢٠١٥کالوفرنوا اوت،

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Preface There is no need to insist on the importance of the poems and sayings in this collection, since they are pillars of Persian language and literature whose renown will be familiar to the writers and scholars most likely to read these words. Such readers will also understand the depth of work and research involved in gathering such a collection.

I have compiled the verses in this book from nearly two hundred editions of classical and contemporary poetry. These proverbs and words of wisdom, conveyed over centuries of Persian history, are now thoroughly embedded in the daily language of Persian speakers. However, most people, even some Iranians, in particular those born outside of Iran, know very little about the origins and composers of these works. The primary goal of this research is thus to provide such background, as well as spiritual interpretations, where relevant.

This book first presents the poetry and proverbs in Persian, in calligraphic script at the top of each page, followed by normal Persian text for ease of reading. I then provide an English translation of the meaning, the tale behind the verse if any is known, and finally, if applicable, a spiritual interpretation. The spiritual interpretations are informed by my consultation of many religious and spiritual sources, from the Bible, the Torah, and the Qur’ān to Buddhist scripture. My goal in this process has been to provide an impartial interpretation by juxtaposing the sayings from the sacred sources to identify any variances and to provide a fair and clear interpretation as well as a faithful translation.The second section of the book (“Biographies of the Poets”) provides brief details on the writers whose poetry and verses I have included.

I am aware of the wide and growing cultural gap between Iranian parents and their children born outside the country, as well as the difficulty this creates for both. This book attempts to begin to bridge this gap by acquainting the young Iranians living abroad with both Persian culture and the frequent parallels with Western culture, in both literal and spiritual terms.

As a teacher of Persian language and literature, I am sadly aware of how much my students want and need such a collection to assist them in

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their learning. Currently no such book exists on the market. Although some provide Persian proverbs, they give little information about the poets, the stories behind the works, or their spiritual meaning. I hope that this collection will be of use to many students of Persian literature and comparative studies.