أبو العلاء المعري

سِرِ الدَّهرُ حَتّى تَعلَمَ القَدرَ حَقَّهُ فَكَم مِن مَليكٍ أَضحَكَ الدَّهرُ ثُمَّ أَبكى

“Walk with time until you truly know its weight — how many a king did time first make laugh, then weep.”

إِنَّما يَنجَحُ الصَّبورُ وَيَحظى وَرُبَّما طالَ في الأَمورِ الأَناة

“Only the patient one succeeds and prospers; sometimes in all matters deliberateness takes long.”

وَقَد أَفنَيتُ عُمري في طِلابٍ فَلَم أَظفَر بِغَيرِ العِلمِ شَيئا

“I spent my life in pursuit, and gained nothing beyond knowledge itself.”

رَأَيتُ العَقلَ ذا صَبرٍ وَحِلمٍ وَرَأَيتُ الجَهلَ يَطغى وَيَثور

“I found reason endowed with patience and forbearance, and I found ignorance violent and raging.”

وَما العَيشُ إِلّا غَفلَةٌ بَعدَ غَفلَةٍ يَمُرُّ بِها الإِنسانُ حَتّى يُغيَّبا

“Life is nothing but one heedlessness after another, through which a person passes until he is buried.”

فَيا مَوتُ زُر إِنَّ الحَياةَ ذَميمةٌ وَإِنّي عَلى أُنسٍ بِكَ لَحَبيب

“O death, come visit, for life is contemptible — and truly I am fond of your company.”

ضَحِكنا وَكانَ الضَّحكُ مِنّا سَفاهةً وَداعي البُكاءِ الدَّهرُ وَالعُمرُ مُنهَلّ

“We laughed, and laughter was our folly; weeping is more fitting — for time erodes all and life spills away.”

تَعَبٌ كُلُّها الحَياةُ فَما أَعجَبُ إِلّا مِن راغِبٍ في ازدِياد

“All of life is weariness — I marvel only at one who desires more of it.”

لا تَطلُب المَجدَ إِن لَم تَستَطِع حَمَلَ مَشَقَّتِهِ فَالمَجدُ في التَّعَب

“Do not seek glory if you cannot bear its hardship, for glory lies within toil.”

هَذا ما جَنَتهُ يَدايَ وَكَفى وَلَيسَ عَلى اللهِ بِمُستَنكَر

“This is what my own hands have wrought — enough; and it is not to be wondered at from God.”

وَفي الجَهلِ قَبلَ المَوتِ مَوتٌ لِأَهلِهِ وَأَجسادُهُم قَبلَ القُبورِ قُبور

“In ignorance before death there is a death for its people — their bodies are graves before the graves.”

وَإِنّي وَإِن كُنتُ الأَخيرَ زَمانُهُ لَآتٍ بِما لَم تَستَطِعهُ الأَوائِل

“Though I am the last in time, I shall bring what the ancients could not.”

نِم نَومَةً لا تَقومُ مِنها فَعُمرُ الإِنسانِ نَومٌ وَيَقظَة

“Sleep a sleep you do not wake from — for a man's life is sleep and waking.”

وَمَن يَكُن العَقلُ رائِدَهُ يَسلَم مِن وَعثاءِ الطَّريقِ وَيَغنَم

“He who takes reason as his guide is safe from the roughness of the road and gains thereby.”

وَإِنَّ المَوتَ أَعدَلُ مِن حُكّامٍ عَلى وَجهِ البَسيطَةِ لَو عَدَلنا

“Death is more just than any ruler on the face of the earth, if we were to be fair.”

خَفِّف الوَطءَ ما أَظُنُّ أَديمَ الأَرضِ إِلّا مِن هَذِهِ الأَجساد

“Tread lightly — I think the very skin of the earth is made of nothing but these bodies.”