إِذا المَرءُ لَم يَبنِ اِفتِخاراً لِنَفسِهِ

إِذا المَرءُ لَم يَبنِ اِفتِخاراً لِنَفسِهِ

تَضايَقَ عَنهُ ما اِبتَنَتهُ جُدودُه

تَضايَقَ عَنهُ ما اِبتَنَتهُ جُدودُه

If a man does not build glory for himself,

If a man does not build pride in himself

what his forefathers built becomes too narrow for him.

He feels confined by what his forefathers have built

وَلا خَيرَ في مَن لا يَكونُ طَريفُهُ

وَلا خَيرَ في مَن لا يَكونُ طَريفُهُ

دَليلاً عَلى ما شادَ قِدما تَليدهُ

دَليلاً عَلى ما شادَ قِدما تَليدهُ

And there is no good in one whose newly earned glory is not

And there is no good in one whose excellence

a testament to what his inherited glory built long ago.

Is not evidence of the monuments his ancestors erected