The History of Shēr Shāh (Tārīkh-i Shērshāhī) 4.1.3

4.1.3

After that he asked if there were any who were oppressed or evil treated, that he might right them, for Sher Sháh was adorned with the jewel of justice, and he oftentimes remarked, "Justice is the most excellent of religious rites, and it is approved alike by the kings of infidels and of the faithful." * * * So he employed himself in personally discharging the administration of the kingdom, and divided both day and night into portions for each separate business, and suffered no sloth or idleness to find its way to him. "For," said he, "it behoves the great to be always active, and they should not consider, on account of the greatness of their own dignity and loftiness of their own rank, the affairs and business of the kingdom small or petty, and should place no undue reliance on their ministers. * * * The corruption of ministers of contemporary princes was the means of my acquiring the worldly kingdom I possess. A king should not have corrupt vakíls or wazírs: for a receiver of bribes is dependent on the giver of bribes; and one who is dependent is unfit for the office of wazír, for he is an interested personage; and to an interested person loyalty and truth in the administration of the kingdom are lost."