Bayazid Bastami

Bayazid Bastami, also known as Abu Yazid Bistami or Tayfur Abu Yazid al-Bustami, (804-874 or 877/8 CE) was a Persian Sufi born in Bastam, Iran. When Bayazid died he was over seventy years old. Before he died, someone asked him his age. He said: “I am four years old. For seventy years I was veiled. I got rid of my veils only four years ago.”

Twelve years I have been smith of myself, until I have made of myself a clear mirror.
They asked Bayazid, “When does a man become a man?” He said, “When he knows the mistakes of his self and he busies himself in correcting them.”