Ali

“ Some persons of understanding have been of opinion, that the wisdom of a nation may be judged of by the sententiousness of their proverbs and sayings in common use among them: in this the Arabs excel all nations. ”

“ They whose friendship is fixed on the Most High, their love remaineth as long as the cause of it: but as for the friends of this present world, their love is broken off as soon as the causes of it cease. ”

“ PREFACE. If providence hath removed us to a greater distance from the influence of those genial rays which ripen the wits of the eastern nations, it hath made us abundant amends, by indulging us in this conceit, that we are wiser than all the rest of the world besides.
There are some sorts of pleasing madness of which it would be cruelty to cure a man. By bringing him to his senses you make him miserable. ”

“ A man’s entertaining a mean opinion of himself is a demonstration of the gravity of his understanding, and a branch of the abundance of his excellency.
68. A man’s admiring himself is a demonstration of his deficiency, and a branch of the weakness of his understanding. ”

“ He is thy true friend, that takes care of thee as himself, and prefers thee to his riches, children, and wife.
72. He is a wise man who can govern himself both in his anger; desire, and fear.
73. Weeping out of the fear of God, enlighteneth the heart, and fortifieth against the return of sin.
74. Opportunity is swift of flight, slow of return.
75. To make one good action constantly succeed another is the perfection of goodness.
76. Patience in poverty, with a good reputation, is better than a plentiful maintenance with contempt.
77. A wise enemy is better than a foolish friend. ”

“ They first communicated it to the Greeks (a vain, conceited people, who never penetrated into the depths of oriental wisdom) ; from whom the Romans had theirs. And after barbarity had spread itself over the western world, the Arabians, by their conquests, restored it again in Europe. And it is the wildest conceit that can be imagined, for us to suppose that we have greater geniuses, or greater application, than is to be found in those countries. ”

“ To depend upon every one without distinction, is weakness of understanding.
53: He is the man of understanding, that overcometh his appetite, and will not sell his world to come for his present world.
54. He is the cunning man that looks more narrowly after himself than other people.
55. It is fear which withholds the soul from sin, and restrains it from transgression.
56. He is a prudent man that restrains his tongue from detraction.
57. He is a believer that purifieth his heart from doubt.
58. Riches are a damage to the owner, except that part of them which he sends before him. ”

“ The souls of the truly pious are contented, and their appetites dead; their countenances cheerful, and their hearts sorrowful.
62. The believer always remembers God, and is full of thought: he is thankful in prosperity, and patient in adversity. ”

“ Trust in God is the believer’s castle.
131. Holy wars [5] are the pillars of religion, and the highways of the happy: and to those that are engaged in them, the gates of heaven shall be open.
132. Repentance purifieth the heart, and washeth away sin.
133. Mankind is divided into two parts or sorts: the one seeketh, and doth not find; another findeth, and is not contented.
134. The good man liveth, though he be translated to the mansions of the dead.
135. The abstinence from evil is better even than doing good.
136. Knowledge is the ornament of the rich, and the riches of the poor. ”

“ They have their wisdom by inheritance, derived from their forefathers through numerous generations. They are tenacious of their ancient customs, and retain the precepts of their ancestors; they couch more solid wisdom under one single aphorism, than some European writers would put into a system. ”

“ The control of thy appetites will procure thee riches.
27. The control of the appetites cuts off men’s observation.
28. A man’s advice is the proof of his understanding.
29. Every maws portion is as much determined as his latter end.
30. A man’s advice is according to the measure of his experience.
31. A man’s subsistence is according to what he proposeth, i. e. according to his management; because every action of his life tends to something or other which contributes either to the increasing or diminishing him. ”

“ Covetousness is the head of poverty, and the foundation of wickedness.
149. A deceiver’s tongue is sweet, and his heart bitter.
150. Perfection consists in three things; patience in affliction; moderation in our pursuits; and assisting him that asketh.
151. A wise man knoweth a fool, because he hath formerly been ignorant himself; but a foal doth not know a wise matt, because he never was wise himself.
152. The believer is always cautious of his sins: he dreads temptation, and hopes for the mercy of his Lord. ”

“ The most odious of men to the most high God is he whose thoughts are fixed upon his belly and his lust.
163. The most happy man, as to this life, is he to whom God hath given wherewithal to be content, and a good wife. ”

“ The fear of God purifieth the heart.
4. The best riches are those employed in the service of God.
5. Resignation to the divine will, is the healing of the heart.
6. The disease of the heart is in concupiscence.
7. A man’s behaviour is the index of the man; and his discourse is the index of his understanding. ”

“ He that firmly believeth in a future state, is, upon his own account, the most melancholy man of all men in the world.
70. He that perishes, is one that busies himself beside himself, and whose to-day is worse than his yesterday. ”

“ And it was their custom always, either at the parting with their children, and especially upon their death-beds, to recommend to them some few precepts founded upon their own or their forefathers’ experience, which, afterwards increasing, were collected into volumes by wise and learned men. ”

“ And, to be more particular, the folly of the westerns, in despising the wisdom of the eastern nations, and looking upon them as brutes and barbarians; whilst we arrogate to ourselves every thing that is wise and polite ”

“ What we here present the reader with, is a little collection of wise sentences, calculated for the direction of a man’s conduct in affairs of the greatest consideration, and are of the same nature as the Proverbs and Ecclesiasticus. ”

“ A fool doth not know what maketh him look little; neither will he hearken to him that adviseth him.
158. Riches, without God, are the greatest poverty and misery.
159. Liberality and fortitude are noble things; which God, giveth to him whom he loveth and maketh trial of. ”

“ They govern their families with prudence and discretion. We make their polygamy an objection against them; but we must consider that they are not Christians, and therefore continue their way of living after the patriarchal manner. ”

“ He is the most just man that doth justice upon himself without any one else to judge him.
165. That man best deserveth a kindness who, when he is put off, beareth it patiently; when he is refused, excuseth it ”