John Wortabet (1827-1908) was a physician and author. He was Professor of Anatomy at the Medical College in Beirut and physician at the Hospital of the Knights of St. John there. As an author, he wrote an Arabic Version of Gray's Anatomy and also Arabian Wisdom: Selections and Translations from the Arabic (1913) and an Arabic-English and English- Arabic Standard Dictionary (1913). "The wise sayings and proverbs of ancient and modern times, and in all the languages I know or to which I had access in translations, have always had a great attraction for me. Drawn from the experiences and study of human life, they have been reduced by wise men to short, pithy sentences, generally expressed in some quaint or striking form, for conveying sound moral truths. They are intended to be maxims of life, or rules of conduct, chiefly for the young, but may be read with pleasure and profit by both young and old. "