Quote of the Day: Saadi on Life & Wisdom

Notice before. Not “until,” not “if,” but “before”, a small word that quietly turns struggle into a stage rather than a verdict. “Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy.” The sentence is less a comfort and more a map: difficulty isn’t a detour; it’s the doorway.

Most people don’t quit because they’re incapable. They quit because they misread the early friction as a permanent signal. The first week at a new job feels like speaking a foreign language. The first month of a new habit feels like pushing a boulder uphill. The mind looks for proof of progress, doesn’t find it fast enough, and calls the whole thing “not for me.” Patience corrects that misinterpretation. It reminds you that the awkward phase is not a personal flaw, it’s the entrance fee.

What becomes “easy” later is rarely a lucky breakthrough; it’s the compound effect of small repetitions. Confusion dissolves through contact. Skills become simple because you’ve made them familiar. Patience also adds resilience: it keeps you present long enough to adjust, to learn what’s actually causing the friction, and to try again with better information rather than louder self-criticism.

Saadi, the widely traveled 13th-century Persian master, distilled human behavior into enduring moral instruction in works like the Gulistan and Bustan, books that have coached generations on character, conduct, and the long arc of growth.

Today, pick one “difficult” thing you’ve been avoiding and shrink it to ten minutes: write the first paragraph, practice the first scale, walk the first block, send the first email. Do it badly on purpose, just long enough to prove you showed up, and let growth do what it always does over time. May your patience turn today’s hard into tomorrow’s natural.