I heard Muhammad bin Qasim bin Abd al-Rahman bin Abd al-Karim al-Tamimi al-Fasi in the city of Fez al-Adl, I think, in the year five hundred and ninety-four, saying: Four kings spoke four words as if they were shot from a single bow. Khosrau said, “I am in a position to reject what I did not.” He is less powerful than me to respond to what I said. The King of India said, “If I speak a word, you will own it, even if I own it.” And Caesar, the King of the Romans, said, “I do not regret what I did not say, and I regret what I said.” And the King of China said, “The consequence of what was said is worse than regret for abandoning what I said.” Some poets said.

For your entire life, there is nothing you know where *** is more deserving of being imprisoned than a spoiled tongue.

On you, which does not concern you, his saying *** with a strong lock, where I used to lo