The blind man may escape a pit
In which the man of keen sight will be trapped.
The ignorant may not be injured by the word
That brings destruction to the clever men. A believer may find it hard to earn his daily bread,
Unlike the unbeliever and the libertine.
Of what use are man's actions and his schemes?
What happens is what fate decrees for them.\\¹⁾

I then knocked at the door and out came two young girls with swelling breasts, virgins like moons. 'Come in,' they said. 'Our mistress is expecting you, and she did not sleep last night, so pleased was she with you.' I entered a vaulted hall with seven doors, round which were windows overlooking a garden with fruits of all kinds, gushing waters and singing birds. The walls were treated with sultani gypsum in which a man could see his own face, while the ceiling was ornamented with gold, showing inscriptions in lapis lazuli, encompassing all the qualities of beauty and dazzling those who looked at it. The floor was laid with variegated marble and strewn with carpets, coloured silks and mattresses, while in the centre was a fountain, at whose corners were birds made of pearls and other gems.²⁾

In the context of metaphysics's privileging of the pursuit of knowledge, all other forms of mediation with the world-doing (praxis), making (poiesis), the interpretive mediation of language-were devalued.³⁾

They all continued to lead the most pleasant and delightful of lives until they met death, the destroyer of delights and the parter of companions.⁴⁾

'By God, you donkey's tail,' I said, 'you go on and on speechifying and talking more and more, while all I want is for you to cut my hair and leave.'⁵⁾

The devil never sleeps, neither is the flesh dead; therefore you must always be prepared to do battle, for you are surrounded by enemies that never rest.

God in His bounty has provided you with a barber who is also an astrologer, a chemist, an expert in grammar, morphology, philology, rhetoric, eloquence, arithmetic, astronomy, geometry, religious law, the traditions of the Prophet and the interpretation of the Quran. I have read relevant books and studied them; I have a practical knowledge of relevant committed to heart a perfect knowledge of the sciences; I am theoretical and practical master of technical skill. There is nothing I have not organized and undertaken.⁶⁾

Nicholas Barbon was an English economist, physician, and financial speculator. Critics of mercantilism consider him to be one of the first proponents of the free market. In the aftermath of the Great Fire of London, he also helped to pioneer fire insurance and was a leading player in the reconstruction work—although his buildings were planned and erected primarily for his own financial gain. His unusual middle name–“If-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned”–given to him by his strongly Puritan father, is an example of a hortatory name: religious “slogan names” were often given in Puritan families in 17th-century England.⁷⁾