On Raising Women and Their Virtue and Vice

A good, obedient, and devout wife can make even a poor man feel like a king. Go and beat the royal drums five times a day at your door when you have a partner in your arms who suits you well. If you grieve all day long, do not despair, for at night a comforter lies beside you. Whoever has a thriving home and a loving companion is one on whom God looks with mercy. When a wife is modest and lovely, your marriage becomes paradise just to look at her. Only the one who found peace of heart with a faithful partner has truly taken what his heart desired from the world. If she is devout and sweet of speech, do not fuss over whether she is beautiful or plain. A wife of good character is more endearing than a beautiful one, for a gentle nature hides all flaws. A good-natured woman, even with a homely face, wins the game against a pretty face with an ugly temper. Vinegar tastes like sweet halva from a loving wife's hand, while halva turns sour from one who scowls. A well-meaning wife brings comfort to the heart, but a bad wife, God protect us from her! When a parrot is caged with a crow for company, it counts escape from the cage a blessing. Set out into the world as a wanderer, or else resign your heart to helpless misery. Going barefoot is better than wearing tight shoes; the hardship of travel beats fighting at home. Better to be locked in the judge's prison than to see a frown of anger at home. Travel feels like a holiday for the man who has an ill-natured wife in his house. Shut the door of joy on any house from which a woman's shouting rises loud. If your wife starts running off to the market, put a stop to it; if not, then sit at home yourself like a woman. If a woman won't listen to her husband, put on her clothes and let her wear the trousers. A woman who is ignorant and dishonest, you brought disaster on yourself, not a wife. When even one grain of trust is broken in the measure, wash your hands of the whole storehouse of wheat. God has willed good for that servant whose wife is honest in heart and hand. When a wife smiles in a stranger's face, tell the husband to stop bragging of his manhood. When a shameless wife reaches into the pot, tell her she may as well claw at her husband's face. May a wife's eye be blind to strangers; and once she leaves the house, may the grave take her. When you see that a wife is not steadfast, her constancy comes from no wisdom or good sense. Flee from her into the crocodile's jaws, for death is better than a life of shame. Veil her face from the eyes of strangers; and if she won't obey, then wife or husband, what's the difference! A good, sweet-tempered wife is still a burden and a strain; so let go of an ugly, quarrelsome one entirely. How fine was that single saying of those two men who had been driven to distraction by their wives. One said: 'May no one ever have a bad wife.' The other said: 'May there be no wife in the world at all!' Take a new wife each spring, my friend, for last year's calendar is of no use now. When you see a man trapped by his wife, Saadi, do not mock him or throw taunts. You too would feel the strain and bear the load if you spent even one dawn in her embrace.