Quoting

From the Rubaiyat of Omar Kayyam

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.

From the Book of Jonah

A plant grew up over Jonah to provice shade for his head and save him from discomfort. ... the next day the plant withered.

And the LORD said: 'You cared about the plant, which you did not work for and which you did not grow, which appeared overnight and perished overnight. Should I not care about Nineveh, that great city [whose inhabitants] do not yet know their right hand from their left.

Incidentally, Nineveh is the name of the province (among 18) in present-day Iraq that was pivotal in passing the new Iraqi constitution.