Persian proverbs

Those who keep seeking are the ones who find.

Encourages active and persistent seeking rather than passive waiting; it does not guarantee success.

Do your part, and trust God for the blessing.

Encourages practical action while attributing blessing or a favorable outcome to God; it does not guarantee success.

Take your time, as long as what arrives is sound.

The saying weighs lateness against soundness and settles in favour of soundness. A late arrival, a delayed piece of work or a slow decision is acceptable on one condition: that what finally comes is whole and right. Delay is treated as the lesser fault beside a hurried result that turns out broken or mistaken.

Patience sees things through; whoever rushes takes a fall.

The saying sets two outcomes side by side. Work that is given time and steady attention reaches its end, while the person who presses for a quick result stumbles and is brought down, so haste ends up defeating the very goal it was meant to reach sooner.

• Compare: Someone wants a result that will not come at once and is tempted to press for it rather than hold on.

The rooftop is reached one step at a time.

A high place is reached only by passing every step beneath it, and the saying applies that picture to any goal that lies at the end of a series of stages. Trying to jump straight to the top skips the footing that makes the top reachable, so the climb has to be taken in order.