He holds that a small portion—if truly useful—is, in truth, not small at all. (1)
With sound judgment he maintains that real prudence lies in abandoning superfluities.
He treats the sickness of solitude with gracious patience;
he quarrels with no one, though he live amid endless talk and rumor.
He cleaves to silence, for silence refines the mind;
he leaves arrogance to its people and is content with obscurity. (2)

What life is left for a man who wakes in humiliation—
between the fixed purpose of an enemy and the need to placate a fool,
between the excuses of a friend and the avoidance of one grown weary,
guarding against evil suspicions while enduring the blame of the blamer,
walking beside one he detests and bearing with the overbearing? (3)

Fie upon knowing people on every road!
In the end you can no longer tell the generous from the miser;
but if you master all of this, you will live in a splendid kingdom. (4)

Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Sukkara (5), Abu al-Hasan (6) al-Hashimi, from the progeny of ʿAlī ibn al-Mahdī.