Sayings of Imam Ali-Ibne-Abu Talib S.A. - Written about 1400 Years ago!

The aim of this Blog/Article is to present to mankind in general and English-Readers in particular an exalted sources of inspiration, a very persuasive approach towards piety, a guiding beacons towards justice and truth, as models of the art of rheorics and a masterpiece of literature written over 1400 years ago.

It is intended that people from all over the World will be benefitted  from these following SAYINGS of a noble AUTHOR: Imam Ali-Ibne-Abu Talib (A.S.) who was born about 610 A.D. in the precincts of Kaaba in Mecca ( Saudi Arabia ).


1. During the times of troubles, disturbances, tumults and wars adopt such an attitude that people do not attach any importance to you, they neither burden you with important and weighty affairs nor try to derive any advantage out of you.

2. One who developes the trait of greediness and avarice invites degradation; one who keeps on advertising his poverty and ill-luck will always be humiliated; one who has no control over his tongue will often have to face embarrassment and discomfort.

3. A wiseman's mind is the safest custody of secrets; an open and pleasant countenance gets more friends; patience and forbearance will hide and cover many defects.

4. Wisdom is the noblest heritage; theoritrical and practical knowledge are best marks of distinction; deep thinking will present the clearest picture of every problem.

5. A wiseman's mind is the safest custody of secrets; an open and pleasnat countenance gets more friends; patience and forbearance will hide and cover many defects.

6. A wise man/woman first thinks and then speaks and a fool speaks first and then thinks later.

7. A fool's mind is at the mercy of his/her tongue and a wise man's/woman's tongue is under control of his/her mind.

8. A conceited and self-admiring person is disliked by others; charity and alms are the best treatments for ailments and calamities; one has to face in after-life and deeds that he/she has done in this world.

9. Man is the wonderful creature, he/she sees through layers of fat ( fatty tissue ), he/she hears through a bone, he/she speaks through a lump of flesh ( tongue ).

10. When this world favours anybody it lends him/her qualifications, attributes and surpassing merits of others, and when it turns its face away from him/her it snatches away even his/her own excellences and fame.

11. Treat people in such a way and live amongst them in such a manner that if you die they weep over you, and if you are alive they crave for your company.

12. If you get an opportunity and power over your enemy then, in thankfulness to Almighty God for this, forgive him/her.

13. He/She is very unfortunate who cannot in his/her lifetime gain a few sincere friends and sympathisers and more unfortunate is the one who has gained them and then lost them ( through his/her deeds ).

14. When few blessings come your way, do not drive them away through thanklessness.

15. One who is deserted by friends and relatives will often find help/assistance and sympathy from strangers.

16. Every person who is tempted to go astray does not deserve punishment.

17. Our affairs are hinged to the destiny decreed by the Lord; even our best thoughtout programmes may lead us to death and destruction.

18. One who rushes madly after inordinate desires runs the risk of encountering destruction and death.

19. Overlook and forgive weaknesses of generous people, because if they fall down Hand to God lifts them.

20. Failures are often results of timidity and fears; disappointments are results of uncalled for modesty; hours of leisure pass away like summer-clouds, therefore, do not waste opportunity of doing good in this world.

21. Anyone who has done good work is better than his/her action and anyone who has committed bad deed is worse than the deed itself.

22. Be generous but not extravagant, be frugal but not miserly.

23. To come to the relief of distressed and to help the oppressed act as expiation and amends to many sins; the best form of devotion to the service of  mankind is not to make a show of it.

24. Often your utterances and expressions of your face leak out the secrets of your hidden thoughts.

25. Value of a man/woman depends upon his/her courage and resolution; his/her veracity depends upon his/her traits of nobility and self-respect and his/her chastity depends upon his/her sense of honour.

26. To give up inordinate desires is the best kind of wealth and fortune.

27. There is no greater wealth than wisdom, no greater poverty than ignorance, no greater heritage  than culture and no greater friend and helpmate than consultation.

28. Wealth converts every foreign country into your native place and poverty turns  your native place into a strange land.

29. Wealth is the fountain-head of inordinate cravings.

30. Contentment is the capital which will never come to an end!

31. Tongue is such a ferocious beast that if let loose it will act ravenously.

32. If you are favoured then repay the obligation manifold; but he/she will always excel in merit who takes the initiative.

33. The best source of success of a claimant is the mediator.

34. People in this world are like travellers whose journey is going on though they are asleep ( Life's journey is going on though people may not feel it.) !

35. To loose friends is to become a stranger in one's own country.

36. Not to have a thing is less humiliating than to beg it from others!

37. Do not be ashamed if the amount of charity is small because to return the needy empty-handed is an act of greater shame.

38. To refrain from unlawful and impious source of pleasures is an ornament to poor, and to be thankful for the riches granted is the greatest decoration to wealth.

39. If you cannot get things as much as you desire then be contented with what you have.

40. An uneducated man/woman or a savage will always overdo a thing or neglect to do it properly.

41. The wiser a man/woman is, the less talkative he/she will be.

42. Time delays bodies but rejuvenate hopes, daily it brings death nearer and nearer but delays fulfilment of desire more and more.

43. Whoever gets anything from the world lives in anxiety of holding it, and whoever loses anything passes his/her days grieving over the loss.

44. Whoever wants to be a leader and a guide, should educate himself/herself before educating others; before teaching morality to others he/she should imrove his/her morals and character.

45. Every breath that you take is a step you put forward towards death.

46. Anything which can be counted or reckoned is finite and will come to an end.

47. If you are confused about good or bad effects of an action, then study carefully the cause and you will know the effect will be.

48. Like your body your mind also gets tired and fagged, in such case find educational diversion for it.

49. That knowledge is very superficial which remains only on your tongue, the intrinsic merit and value of knowledge is that you act upon it.

50. Acquire wisdom and truth from whomever you can, because even an apostate can have them, but unless they are passed over to a faithful/true-believer in Lord and become part of wisdom and truth that he/she possesses, they have a confused existence in the minds of abostates.

51. Those who give up religion to better their circumstances in life seldom succeed. The Wrath of Lord makes them go through more calamities and losses than the gains they gather for themselves.

52. Only such person can establish a Divine Rule, who, where justice and equity are required, will neither feel deficient nor weak and who is not greedy and avaricious.

53. No wealth has more utilility value than intelligence and wisdom;  no solitude is more horrible than when people avoid you on account of your vanity and conceit or when you wrongly consider yourself above everybody to confide and consult.

54. No eminence is more exalting than pity; no companion can prove more useful than politeness; no heritage is better than culture ; and no leader is superior to Divine Guidance.

55. No deal is more profitable than good deeds; no profit is greater than Heavanly Reward; no abstinenece is better than to restrain one's mind from indulging in doubts ( about religion/existence of God ); no virtue is better than refraining from prohibited deeds.

56. No knowledge is superior to deep thinking and prudence; no worship or prayers are more sacred than fulfilment of obligations and duties; no religious faith is loftier than feeling ashamed to do wrong and bearing calamities patiently.

57. No eminence is greater than to adopt humbleness; no exaltation or grandeur is superior to learning and knowledge; nothing is more respectable than forgiveness and forebearance; and no support and defence are stronger than consultation and counsel.

58. When a community is composed of really honest, sober and virtuous people then anybody forming a bad opinion about anyone of its member when nothing wicked has been seen is a great insjustice to its member; on the contrary in a corrupt society to form good opinion of anyone out of those people and to trust him/her is doing harm to yourself.

59. To lose or to wate an opportunity will always result in grief and sorrow.

60. The world, which offers you vicious pleasures is like a snake, so soft to touch, but so full of lethal poison. Unwise people are allured by it and drawn towards it and wise people avoid it and keep away from its poisonous effects.

61. Blessings are for the people who humbles themselves before Lord, whose sources of income are honest, whose intentions are always honourable, whose character is noble, whose habits are sober, who gives away in the name and in the cause of God the wealth which is lying surplus with him/her, who controls his/her tongue from vicious and useless talk, who abstains from oppression and tyranny, who cheerfully and faithfully follows the traditions of prophets/commandments of God and who keeps himsef/herself away from innovation in their religion.

62. How I wonder at the mentality of a miser; fearing poverty he/she takes so stinginess and thus hastily pushes himself/herself head-long into state of want and destitution; he/she madly desires plenty and ease but throws it away without understanding. In this world, he/she, of his/her own free will, leads the life of a beggar and in the next world he/she will have to submit an account like a millionaire!

63. How I wonder at the arrogance of a haughty and vain person. Yesterday he/she was only a cell and tomorrow he/she will be a dead-body!

64. I wonder at the person who observes the Universe created by God and doubts His Being and Existence!

65. I wonder at the person who sees people dying around him/her and yet has forgotten his/her end (death)!

66. I wonder at the person who understand the marvel of original creation and refuses to accept that he/she will be brought back to live again!

67. I wonder at the man/woman who takes great pains to decorate and to make comfortable this mortal habitat and totally forgets his/her permanent and immortable abode.

68. Whoever is not diligent in his work will suffer sorrow and loss.

69. Whoever has no share of God in his/her wealth and in his/her life then there is no place for him/her in the Realm of the Lord.

70. If you understand the Majesty of the Lord then you will not attach any importance to the universe and its marvels.

71. An Angel announces daily "Birth of more human beings means so many more will die; collection of more wealth means so much more will be destroyed; errection of more buildings means so many more ruins in time to come."

72. This world is not a place of permanent settlement, it is a passage, a road on which you are passing; there are tow kinds of people here, one is the kind who have sold their souls for Eternal Damnation, the other is of those who have purchased their souls and freed them from damnation.

73. A friend cannot be considered as a friend unless he is tested on three occasions: in time of need; behind your back and after your death!

74. If you want to pray to the Lord for better means of subsistence then first give something in charity.

75. If one is sure of the returns then he/she shows great liberality in donations.