Honesty is better than a false reputation...by Rumi

When you say,
"I'm ignorant: teach me,"

such honesty is better
than a false reputation.

Learn from your father Adam,
O clear-browed man:

he said, "O our Lord"
and "We have done wrong."

He made no excuses,
nor did he invent lies,

nor did he lift up
the banner of evasion.

~ Rumi
-- Mathnawi IV: 1388-1390
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
Art by Boz Vakhshori