Gulistan (Saadi)

The Gulistan, meaning Rose Garden, is a work of prose interspersed with poetry by the Persian poet Saadi of Shiraz, completed in 1258. Written in Classical Persian in the mirror-for-princes tradition, it is organized into eight chapters holding around 595 short poems, most only a couplet or two, framed by brief moral stories that blend practical instruction with Sufi teaching. It is considered perhaps the single most influential work of Persian prose, prized for its psychological insight and minimalist storytelling, and its verse on human interconnectedness is inscribed in the United Nations General Assembly Building in New York.