Whoever Knows
توانا بود هر که دانا بودFerdowsi’s line on knowledge, as familiar as a proverb.
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See it in a roomدر خانه
The same print hung in each room of the house. Pick a room.
توانا بود هر که دانا بود
ز دانش دل پیر برنا بود
Whoever has knowledge has power; through knowledge an old heart grows young.
The story
This couplet comes from the opening of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, the Book of Kings, and its first half-line is one of the most quoted sayings in Persian: whoever has knowledge has power. It appears in schoolrooms and on public inscriptions across Iran.
Persiahaus Studio set the couplet in paper-white Nastaliq on a pomegranate ground, over an ink pointed arch, inside a ruled frame with lapis stars at the corners. It is a natural piece for a study or a place of work.