— Divan-e-Ghalib, from the ghazal "koi ummeed bar nahin aati"
About this quote
देवनागरी:
कोई उम्मीद बर नहीं आती
कोई सूरत नज़र नहीं आती
English: No hope comes to fruition; no way out comes into view.
Meaning: The opening of Urdu’s most perfect poem of despair. Its power is its plainness — no ornament, no metaphor, just the flat weather of hopelessness stated in twelve words that millions know by heart.
अर्थ: उम्मीद पूरी नहीं होती, कोई रास्ता नहीं दिखता — नाउम्मीदी का इतना सादा और इतना मुकम्मल बयान उर्दू में दूसरा नहीं।
An authentic couplet from the Divan-e-Ghalib, the collected Urdu ghazals of Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib (1797–1869), from the ghazal beginning “koi ummeed bar nahin aati”. Transliteration and English rendering are our own.
