“Virtue pardons the wicked, as the sandal-tree perfumes the axe which strikes it.”

Better is the sinner who hath thoughts about God, than the saint who hath only the show of sanctity.

Two orders of mankind are the enemies of church and state; the king without clemency, and the holy man without learning.

Virtue is in the mind, not in the appearance.

The bad fortune of the good turns their faces up to heaven; the good fortune of the bad bows their heads down to the earth.

The true disciple should aim to live for the gospel, rather than to die for it.

However much you study, you cannot know without action. A donkey laden with books is neither an intellectual nor a wise man. Empty of essence, what learning has he whether upon him is firewood or book?

Do to me, O Allah, what is worthy of Thee; And not what is worthy of me.

The hand of liberality is stronger than the arm of power.

There is a difference between him who claspeth his mistress in his arms, and him whose eyes are fixed on the door expecting her.

A little beauty is preferable to much wealth.

Whoever acquires knowledge but does not practice it is as one who ploughs but does not sow.

Religion is only in the service of the people; it is not in the rosary and the prayer-carpet.

He who learns, and makes no use of his learning, is a beast of burden with a load of books. Does the ass comprehend whether he carries on his back a library or a bundle of faggots?

It’s no virtue to gain the whole world. Just gain the heart of one person.

Whoever gives advice to a heedless man is himself in need of advice.

If a piece of worthless stone can bruise a cup of gold, its worth is not increased, nor that of the gold diminished.

Do not tell jokes that ain’t funny. 

Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is silence.

Never help an ungrateful person get on their feet.

Listen to your elder’s advice not because they are always right, but because they have more experience of being wrong.

Forever in debt to your priceless advice.

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.

If you can’t do it, give up!

In the small matters trust the mind, in the large ones the heart.