 did not say that may god protect you nor did i claim it except with a present proof and a witness. that is because youth has intoxication and ambition and a pounding and a rush. and old age enters all the members and takes its share from all parts. do you not see how its observer and listener taster and smeller destroyer and worker tires? and how his strength diminishes with the passage of days and so does his heart and all that is hidden of his affair in proportion to the decrease in the strength of his body and the decrease in the strength of his desire. it becomes easy for him to oppose his desires and fight his inclinations. and whoever takes on himself in the prime of his youth and the days of his intoxication and in the power of his sharpness and the perfection of his strength will once control it and restrain it.
وما قلت ذلك حفظك الله ولا انتحلته، إلا وبرهاني حاضر، وشاهدي شاهد. وذلك أن للشباب سكرة وطماحا، وقراعا وصولة. والهرم داخل على جميع الأعضاء، وآخذ بقسطه من جميع الأجزاء. ألا ترى كيف يكل ناظره وسامعه، وذائقه وشامه، وهاشمه وعامله؛ وكيف تنقص على مرور الأيام قوته، وكذلك قلبه وكل ما بطن من أمره، على قدر ما نقص من قوى جسمه وتنقص من قوى شهوته. ويخف عليه مخالفة هواه، ومحاربة نوازعه. ومن حمل على نفسه في كمال شبابه وأيام سكرته، وفي سلطان حدته وكمال قوته، فظلفها مرة وكبحها