Jaʿfar ibn al-Muʿtaṣim Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Rashīd, better known as Ibn al-Muʿtazz, was the poet Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Hāshimī al-ʿAbbāsī, a man of consummate, faultless eloquence(1). Quraysh have ever been the leaders of mankind, whether toward good or toward evil. He studied under al-Mubarrad and Thaʿlab, and many aphorisms on wisdom and etiquette have been transmitted from him. Among them are:
• “The breaths of the living are his steps toward his [appointed end](2).”
• “The people of this world are a caravan driven along while they sleep.”
• “Greed may lead a man to the watering place, yet not let him return.”
• “More than once the drinker has choked on the water before slaking his thirst.”
• “Whoever passes the level of sufficiency will not be satisfied by abundance.”
• “The higher the standing of the rival, the greater the calamity of losing him.”
• “When greed mounts a man(3), incessant seeking wears him out(4).”
• “Greed diminishes a person’s worth; it never increases his share.”
• “The most wretched of people are those closest to the ruler, just as the things nearest the fire burn the fastest.”
• “Whoever shares the ruler in the glory of this world will share him in the humiliation of the Hereafter.”
• “It is enough for you against the envier that he is distressed at your joy(5).”
• “Opportunities pass swiftly and are slow to return.”
• “When many become keepers of a secret, its loss increases.”
• “The [humiliation](6) of dismissal mocks the arrogance born of office.”
• “Panic is more exhausting than patience.”
• “Do not stain the face of pardon with reproach.”
• “The estate of the deceased is an honor(7) for the heirs.”

Among his poems of wisdom that accord with the last sentiment are these lines:
Race to your wealth—and to those who will inherit it;
Man does not linger long in this world.

How many a silent one, his money-bags choking him(8),
Has cried out upon the scales of inheritance!(9)

He also said(10):
O possessor of wealth and crushing might,
Of a dominion that commands and forbids,

O devils from among the children of Adam,
O slaves of wanton desire