This is the translation of one of the world's greatest masterpieces

THE GOLESTAN OF SA'DI

created by

Sheikh Muslih-uddin Sa'di Shirazi
World famous Persian (Iranian) 13th century poet

Translated by Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890)
Of what use will be a dish of roses to you
Take one page from this rose garden of mine
A rose only lives for five or six days
The joy from my rose garden always stays

Golestan in Persian means "rose-garden" and Golestan of Sa'di is a composition of stories and maxims each representing a flower of this garden.
Golestan of Sa'di is world famous due to its eloquence of style, clear language, moral guidance and counseling through the art of poetry. Sa'di himself describes this book as:

"This well-arranged composition will remain for years, When every atom of our dust is dispersed. The intention of this design was that it should survive Because I perceive no stability in my existence, Unless one day a pious man compassionately Utters a prayer for the works of dervishes."

The author, having deliberated upon the arrangement of the book, and the adornment of the chapters, deemed it suitable to curtail the diction of this beautiful garden and luxuriant grove and to make it resemble paradise, which also has eight entrances. The abridgment was made to avoid tediousness.

The Book of Golestan is composed of 8 Chapters, Introduction and Conclusion. Each Chapter depicts a number of Stories, Maxims and Admonitions.

  1. Chapter 1: The Manners of Kings
  2. Chapter 2: On the Morals of Dervishes
  3. Chapter 3: On the Excellence of Content
  4. Chapter 4: On the Advantages of Silence
  5. Chapter 5: On Love and Youth
  6. Chapter 6: On Weakness and Old Age
  7. Chapter 7: On the Effects of Education
  8. Chapter 8: On Rules for Conduct in Life

Click on a text link on the left if you want to view the whole chapter.

You can download and print the whole book of Golestan (in English).
PostScript version PDF version
PostScript, 1Mb, 135p. PDF, 900K, 135p.
Thanks to A.M. Javed ajaved@pseg.com who typeset the whole book in MS Word and made this nice printable version available.
And a wish: I've a dream of having a world wide and freely accessible Online Library of Persian Art and Literature including classics and contemporary poetry, fine arts, etc., all in Persian. Why not leaving those treasures on-line for our children to read and enjoy? Why not telling our kids where did we come from and how our ancestors contributed to the human culture? Is there anyone else feeling the same? If so, we should work together. I've already taken the first steps and seek help from all of you on volunteer basis. A way that you can contribute to implement this and make it more fruitful is to send me books related to Persian literature in any language, Persian, English, Japanese, French or German. Your contribution to introducing our culture to the world will be highly appreciated. My mail address is given at the bottom of this page. Thank you.
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THIS DOCUMENT AND ITS ENTIRE CONTENTS ARE COPYRIGHT 1995 BY B.H. FAR. COPYING, REPUBLISHING AND DISTRIBUTING THIS DOCUMENT IN WHOLE OR IN PART IS PROHIBITED BY LAW. IF YOU DESIRE TO MIRROR OR REPUBLISH PARTS OF THIS DOCUMENT IN ELECTRONIC FORM, PLEASE CONTACT THE AUTHOR .

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This page was created by B.H. Far.
Please contact far@enel.ucalgary.ca for any suggestions or comments.
Mail Address:
Dr. Behrouz Homayoun Far
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Calgary
2500 University DR. N.W.
Calgary, Alberta,
Canada T2N 1N4