Al-Mutanabbi: Quotes about men

Al-Mutanabbi was Arabic poet from the Abbasid era. Explore interesting quotes on men.
Al-Mutanabbi: 26   quotes 14   likes

“The desert knows me well, the night, the mounted men
The battle and the sword, the paper and the pen”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O04oUcNXmdI
Context: When the lion bares his teeth, do not
fancy that the lion shows to you a smile.
I have slain the man that sought my heart's blood many a time,
Riding a noble mare whose back none else may climb,
Whose hind and fore-legs seem in galloping as one,
Nor hand nor foot requireth she to urge her on.
And O the days when I have swung my fine-edged glaive
Amidst a sea of death where wave was dashed on wave!
The desert knows me well, the night, the mounted men
The battle and the sword, the paper and the pen

“He asks from men all that he has in himself, though even lions would not claim to match that.”

From the poem "To Sayf Al-Dawla" http://web.archive.org/web/20140708175325/http://www.princeton.edu/~arabic/poetry/al_mu_to_sayf.html