Ali ibn Abi Talib Quotes

Had there not been five bad qualities, all the people would have been righteous. Contentment with ignorance; love for worldly life; miserliness inspite of much wealth; ostentation in (good) deeds; and pride in their own intelligence.

Whoever educates himself and improves his own morals & character is superior to the man who tries to teach & train others.

Riches without faith are the greatest poverty.

The outcome of fear is disappointment and shyness is frustration.

To fight against one's desires is the greatest of all fights.

Whoever desires Paradise, proceeds towards goodness; whoever fears Hell, refrains from the impulses of passions; whoever believes firmly in death, detests wordly life; and whoever recognises the worldly life, the trials and tribulations (of life) become slight for him.

A calamity does not descend except due to a sin and it is not lifted except with repentance.

Do not take someone's silence as his pride, perhaps he is busy fighting with his self.

In this world, man is a target of death, an easy prey to calamities, here every morsel and every draught is liable to choke one, here one never receives a favour until he loses another instead, here every additional day in one's life is a day reduced from the total span of his existence, when death is the natural outcome of life, how can we expect immortality.

How many lessons there are and how little they are taken

O World, try to deceive someone else. Are you trying to tempt me or attract me? No way! I divorce you irrevocably. Your time is short and you are insignificant. Alas! The provision is little, the journey is long and the way is lonely.

Loving one another is half of wisdom.

A girl is a good deed and a boy is a bounty. Good deeds are rewarded while people are held accountable for bounties.

One who thinks and reflects develops his foresight and vision.

There is no nobility with bad manners.

I was not created to be occupied by eating delicious foods like tied up cattle.

Dislike in yourself what you dislike in others.

The vision of the eye is limited; the vision of the heart transcends all barriers of time and space.

Fear only the will of God and you will have no cause to fear anyone else.

Greed is permanent slavery

I wonder at a man who loses hope of salvation when the door of repentance is open for him.

Contentment is a wealth that is never exhausted

Perfecting one's intellect causes one to speak less, and those words spoken will be adorned with wisdom.

Know you that Allah has made Islam the most sublime path for attainment of His supreme pleasure and the highest standards of his worship and obedience. He has favoured it with noble precepts, exalted principles, undoubtable arguments, unchallengeable supremacy and undeniable wisdom. It is up to you to maintain the eminence and dignity granted to it by the Lord, to follow it sincerely, to do justice to its articles of faith and belief, to obey implicitly its tenets and orders and to give it the proper place in your lives.

People are of two types, they are either your brothers in faith or your equals in humanity.

A man's worth depends upon the nobility of his aspirations.

The sin which makes you sad and repentant is more liked by Allah than the good deed which turns you arrogant.

A wise man first thinks and then speaks and a fool speaks first and then thinks.

Be like a flower that gives its fragrance even to the hand that crushed it.

Beautiful people are not always good, but good people are always beautiful.

Do not be too hard, lest you be broken; do not be too soft, lest you be squeezed.

Never make a decision in anger and never make a promise in happiness.

One who rushes madly after inordinate desire, runs the risk of encountering destruction and death.

One who is mild rather than forceful has greater capacity for outreach.

Do not let your difficulties fill you with anxiety, after all it is only in the darkest nights that stars shine more brightly.

Silence is the best reply to a fool.

The best revenge is to improve yourself.

If you are greeted then return the greetings more warmly. If you are favored, then repay the obligation manifold; but he who takes the initiative will always excel in merit.

No one has ever suffered from his people as I have.

How strange and foolish is man. He looses his health in gaining wealth. Then to regain health he wastes his wealth. He ruins is present while worrying about his future - but weeps in the future by recalling his past. He lives as though death shall never come to him - but dies in a way as if he were never born.

The nourishment of body is food, while the nourishment of the soul is feeding others.

The highest person is he who is of most use to humankind.

Do not hate what you do not know, for the greater part of knowledge consists of what you do not know.

A moment of patience in a moment of anger prevents a thousand moments of regret.

Body is purified by water. Ego by tears. Intellect is purified by knowledge. And soul is purified with love.

An accepted deed is never small in Taqwa (consciousness of Allah), how can what has been accepted be small?

Abstinence from sins is better than seeking help afterwards.

He who is greedy is disgraced; he who discloses his hardship will always be humiliated; he who has no control over his tongue will often have to face discomfort.