Story of a Darwesh and his Wife

A darwesh remarked to his wife, who was of ill-favoured countenance: “Since Fate has made thee ugly, do not encrust thy face with cosmetic.”

Who can attain good fortune by force? Who, with collyrium, can make the blind to see?

Not one among the philosophers of Greece or Rome could produce honey from the thorn.

Wild beasts cannot become men; education is wasted upon them.

A mirror can be freed from stain, but it cannot be made from a stone.

Roses do not blossom on the branches of the willow; hot baths never yet made an Ethiop white.

Since one cannot escape the arrows of Fate, resignation is the only shield.