O my poor heart! Since thy lot is to be bruised to death by chagrin, since nature wills that thou be wounded each day with some new torment, tell me, O my soul, why stay you in my body, since you must finally leave it some day? 26. Thou canst not count to-day on seeing the day after to-morrow; even to think of this to-morrow would be the part of folly; if thy heart is awakened, lose not in inaction this instant of life [which remains to thee] and for the duration of which I see no warranty. 27. It is not necessary to knock at every door unless there be a reason for it. It is better to accommodate oneself to the good and the bad here below, for hereafter we can only enjoy the number of moves which destiny presents upon the chessboard of this terrestrial ball. 28. This jug [earthen vessel] has been, like me, a loving and unhappy creature; it has sighed for a lock of some young beauty's hair; this handle that you see attached to its neck was an amorous arm passed about the neck of some girl. 29. Before your time or mine, there were many twilights, many dawns, and it is not without reason that the movement of rotation is enforced upon the heavens. Be careful as you place your foot upon this dust, for it has, without doubt, formed the eyes of someone young and fair. 30. The temple of idols and the Kaaba are places of adoration; the chime of the bells is but a hymn chanted to the praise of the All-Powerful. The _mehrab_ [Mohammedan pulpit], the church, the chapel, the cross are, in truth, but different stations for rendering homage to the Deity. 31. Existing things were already predestined upon the tablet of creation. The brush [of the universe] did not paint good and bad. With destiny God imprinted whatever should be so imprinted, and the efforts that we make in these directions are wholly lost. 32. I can but vaguely tell my secret to the bad or to the good. I cannot elaborate or explain my thought, which is essentially brief. I see a place of which I can only trace a description; I possess a secret which I cannot unveil. 33. False money is not current among us. The broom has rid our joyous dwelling of it completely. An old man, returning from the tavern, said to me: Drink wine, my friend, for other lives shall follow yours in your long sleep. 34. In the face of the decrees of Providence, nothing avails but resignation. Among men nothing avails but seeming and hypocrisy. I have employed every ruse, the strongest that the human mind can invent, but destiny has always overturned my projects. 35.