“A man of bad character punishes his own soul.”

He who buries his head deep into a nosebag full of food cannot hope to see the invisible world.

You must convince your heart that whatever Allah has decreed is most appropriate and most beneficial for you.

Never have I dealt with anything more difficult than my own soul, which sometimes helps me and sometimes opposes me.

The happiness of the drop is to die in the river.

Do not fix hopes on your health, and do not laugh away life. Remember how they walked and now all their joints lie separately, and the tongue with which they talked lightly is eaten away by the worms.

It is sometimes said that we drink our religion with our mother’s milk.

Desires make slaves out of kings and patience makes kings out of slaves.

Those who look for seashells will find seashells; those who open them will find pearls.

Do not allow your heart to take pleasure with the praises of people, nor be saddened by their condemnation.

If you do not prepare now for the Afterlife, then when will you do so?

Work for your terrestrial life in proportion to your location in it, and work for your afterlife in proportion to your eternity in it.

This visible world is a trace of that invisible one and the former follows the latter like a shadow.

Whoever passes forty without his virtue overpowering his vice, let him get ready for hellfire. This advice contains enough for people of knowledge.

Man’s nature is made up of four elements, which produce in him four attributes, namely, the beastly, the brutal, the satanic, and the divine. In man there is something of the pig, the dog, the devil, and the saint.

The corruption of religions comes from turning them to mere words and appearances.

Does money upset the hearts of learned men? He answered, “men whose hearts are changed by money are not learned.”

I choose my friends for their good looks, my acquaintances for their good characters, and my enemies for their good intellects.

Every day we make decisions, big and small. Those choices paint a picture of who we are.

The way you see people is the way you treat them.

Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.

Our ability to handle life’s challenges is a measure of our strength of character.

The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depends upon himself, and not upon other men, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation, the man of manly character and of wisdom.

Life is an echo. What you send out comes back. What you sow, you reap. What you give, you get. What you see in others, exists in you.

No one can long hide behind a mask; the pretense soon lapses into the true character.