“As iron is eaten away by rust, so the envious are consumed by their own passion.”

“Guilt upon the conscience, like rust upon iron, both defiles and consumes it, gnawing and creeping into it, as that does which at last eats out the very heart and substance of the metal.”

“These hearts rust just as iron rusts; and indeed they are polished through the recitation of the Qur’an.”

“Lies are rust on iron. A blemish on power.”

“If gold rusts, what then can iron do?”

“Nothing can destroy iron, only its own rust can. Likewise, nothing can destroy you, only your own mindset can.”

“… if gold rust, what then will iron do?/ For if a priest be foul in whom we trust/ No wonder that a common man should rust….”

“Time will rust the sharpest sword,
Time will consume the strongest cord”

“Just as iron rusts unless it is used, and water putrifies or, in cold, turns to ice, so our intellect spoils unless it is kept in use.”

“Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation... even so does inaction sap the vigour of the mind.”