"Bani Adam (Persian: بنی آدم; meaning "Children of Adam") is a famous poem by Iranian poet Saadi Shirazi. A translation of the first line of the poem was quoted by former U.S. President Barack Obama in a videotaped message to Iranians to mark Nowruz, the Persian New Year, on 20 March 2009.[1] The poem is also inscribed on a large hand-made carpet installed in 2005[2] on the wall of a meeting room in the United Nations building in New York."
The poem comes from Saadi's book the Gulistan or Golestan (chapter 1, story 10), completed in 1258 AD.
بنیآدم اعضای یک پیکرند
که در آفرينش ز یک گوهرند
چو عضوى بهدرد آورَد روزگار
دگر عضوها را نمانَد قرار
تو کز محنت دیگران بیغمی
نشاید که نامت نهند آدمی
All human beings are members of one frame,
Since all, at first, from the same essence came.
When time afflicts a limb with pain
The other limbs at rest cannot remain.
If thou feel not for other’s misery
A human being is no name for thee.