Welcome back to Wisdom from the Golestan of Saadi.
Today’s story is about a merchant, rich, restless, and endlessly planning for a future that never seems to come.

Saadi writes:

I once met a wealthy merchant who owned a hundred and fifty camels laden with goods, and forty servants to attend them.
One night, on the island of Kish, he invited me to his chamber.

He could not sleep a moment, his mind spun with anxious talk.
He spoke of his partners in Turkestan, his merchandise in India, his deeds to land, and his guarantees of debt.
He said,
“I’m thinking of going to Alexandria, the air is delightful there.
But then again, the sea of the West is rough and dangerous.
Saadi, I have another journey ahead of me, and once that’s done, I’ll retire for good.”

I asked, “And what journey is that?”

He said,
“I want to take Persian sulfur to China, they say it’s of great value there.
From China, I’ll bring porcelain to Rome,
Roman silk to India,
Indian steel to Aleppo,
glass from Aleppo to Yemen,
and Yemeni cloth back to Persia.
After that, I’ll settle down, open a small shop, and live in peace.”

Saadi says:
He went on with his endless plans, so long that I grew weary of listening.

At last, he said,
“Saadi, tell me something you’ve seen or heard.”

And I replied:

Have you heard of the caravan leader
who fell from his camel in the farthest desert?

The greedy man’s narrow eyes
are never filled,
until the dust of his grave fills them at last.

The lesson is as sharp today as it was eight centuries ago:
Greed has no finish line.
The more we chase, the farther peace runs from us.
And sometimes, the richest man is simply the one who has stopped wanting more.