humility

The pot calls the pot black-faced — the pot calling the kettle black.

Here, worth belongs neither to the new nor the old — whether you act here or not makes no difference.

When aloe-wood and common firewood both enter the flame, both alike turn to the same ashes.

You, like me, are powerless and constrained, and are far from true greatness and superiority.

My ill-fated self came to this world only to feed this body for the worms of the grave.

A hundred hidden faults are better than the worship others perform with pretense and show.

As a guest among the free-spirited, treat them with honor — for you will bear the headache your own pleasure brings.

We are lowness and height, perfection and lack — a tarnished mirror, yet also the world-revealing cup.

Whoever you see wearing the garb of piety, take them for pious and good — unless you know their inner secret.

I see no fault in his outward appearance, and I know nothing hidden of his heart.

Sinners repent of their sins, but the truly wise seek forgiveness even for their worship.

At the Ka'ba's gate I saw a beggar weeping sweetly as he spoke his prayer.

I do not ask that my devotion be accepted — only draw the pen of pardon over my sin.

Saadi is one who has humbly fallen — no one comes to fight the fallen.

Whoever raises their neck in boastful claim brings the burden down upon their own neck.

He weighs both reason and soul — how could He ever fit within our crafted thought?

You were raised up from two worlds, and nurtured through so many intermediaries.

Since you are a bird of fortune, act with honor: eat little, speak little, harm little.

With everyone, be humble like the earth's dust; toward everything, be unattached like the wind.

Grand show, empty pocket. (≈ Great boast, small roast)

The monkey can't dance, so it blames the crooked floor — an excuse for one's own shortcomings.

The true free spirit is one who has no desire for selfhood, and having passed beyond himself, worships himself no more.

If you want the honor of a wise person, do not seek status — let humility remain instead.

The dervish who holds divine character rules like a king in the kingdom of existence.

Your work is the transformation and giving of essences; my work is only error, forgetting, and fault.

No one has a way into the court of Majesty until they pass away from themselves.

He had become refined and had come this far by beheading his own pride and his own ego.