Proverbs and Sayings on Good Character
- A sign of good character is being the best in manners within your own household.
- One should be compassionate; kindness unites humanity, and being cultured helps to harmonize discordant hearts.
- Two things inspire admiration and respect: the starry sky above and the elevation of morals within oneself.
- If your relationship with someone you loved comes to an end, let your heart be a secret refuge for all their stories and secrets, for relationships are built on ethics.
- A man devoid of morals is a beast unleashed upon this world.
- Good character conceals many faults, while bad character can overshadow many virtues.
- A person of good character feels shy when praised and remains silent under criticism.
- Good character is one of the vessels of salvation.
- I would rather be accompanied by a sinner with good character than a devotee with bad character, for the sinner, when he improves his manners, becomes lighthearted and beloved by others, while a devotee with poor manners drives people away with contempt.
- The foundation of ethics is to completely refrain from lying.
- It is admirable to give to those who ask for help, but it is even more commendable to offer assistance to those who do not ask when you know they are in need.
- Poverty is not solely defined by a lack of financial resources; there are also those who are impoverished in upbringing, intelligence, and morals.
Verses by Ahmed Shawqi on Ethics
Indeed, nations are defined by their morals as long as they endure.
When their ethics fade away, they too shall perish.
The rectitude of your affairs is rooted in ethics.
So cultivate your soul with morals, and you will find stability.
If a community is afflicted in their morals,
Then establish mourning and wailing over them.
Lines by Al-Buhturi on the Excellence of Character
Virtue embodies moral qualities,
And seeks no like from any kind of being.
He gathered all virtues through his character,
Which had not been united in any lord before him.
When he rises, so does honor; when he advances,
Virtue follows in his shadow.
His kindness is the height of hope, and his words
At promised meetings reflect his deeds.
He swears, whether far or near,
And recognizes the path of gratitude as one of his strengths.
Nothing can exhaust the noble except
What it is willingly given by the hands of the virtuous.
His guidance indicates closeness to prophethood,
And each part signifies some whole.
Among those blessed with security and greatness,
Are the ones who acted in abundance and in scarcity.
Thou hast earned honor, O Abu al-Abbas,
By abandoning every lowly deed.
God bears witness, and He is the best of witnesses,
That the cousin of your father is the best of His messengers.
Lines by Ma’ruf al-Rusafi on Ethics
The poet Ma’ruf al-Rusafi wrote a poem about ethics titled “Ethics Grow Like Plants”:
Ethics grow like plants,
If watered with the essence of virtues.
They flourish when nurtured by a guardian,
Standing tall on the stem of virtue, bearing fruits.
They soar towards glory in harmony,
Like the pipes of a canal.
From the core of glory, they awaken a spirit,
With blossoms of delightful fragrance.
I haven’t seen a place for beings
To be refined like a mother’s embrace.
The mother’s lap is a school that rises,
In the upbringing of either sons or daughters.
The morals of the offspring are best measured
By the ethics of their nurturing mothers.
And the foster child of high virtues
Is not like the foster child of low qualities.
Nor does the plant grow in gardens
Like the plant growing in wasteland.
So, dear girl, with your spacious heart,
You are the abode of the finest sentiments.
When you embrace the child, he resembles a slate
Surpassing all tablets of life.
When the child leans against you, scenes of affection
Will appear as reflections on the mirror.
And what can strike your heart but a lesson
To instill noble traits?
The first lesson of refining characteristics
Should begin with you, O dear girl.
So how can we expect goodness in children
If they grow in the embrace of the ignorant?
And can perfection be hoped for from children
If they suckle from deficient mothers?
What of mothers who know nothing
And bring forth just the most foolish of offspring?
They are kind to the infant without knowledge,
Yet the tenderness of those wet nurses has vanished.
O Mother of the Believers, we complain to you
Of our calamity due to the ignorance of female believers.
This is indeed a calamity, O Mother, from which
“We nearly choke on the Euphrates water.”
After you, we took customs as religion,
Causing Muslim women to be miserable.
For they walked upon a path of loss,
And drove them away from the pathways of life.
Until they became confined to the home,
Reducing them to the status of mere tools.
And they are treated as weaker than flies,
Without wings, and lesser than the faintest fragrances.
They claimed that Islamic law mandates
To prefer “those on top to those below.”
And they said: the meaning of knowledge is something
That compresses the chests of the delightful women.
And they declared that the ignorant are more chaste,
Than the educated in resisting immorality.
Indeed, they have greatly lied about Islam,
With lies that rock the heavens.
Isn’t knowledge an obligation in Islam
For both sons and daughters?
Our mother was an ocean of knowledge,
Resolving problems for those who asked her.
And the knowledge of the Prophet was of the highest order,
Making her one of the greatest scholars.
Therefore, it was said: Always refer back to her,
For two-thirds of your religion lies within her insights.
Knowledge was once acquired through instruction,
But now it is gained by attending schools.
And through the study of substantial books,
And with the pen extended by the inkpot.
Did we not see among the beautiful maidens of the past,
Feminine poets and writers?
And it was common for women of the tribe to
Accompany warriors into battle.
They provided them with assistance against adversaries
And healed their grievous wounds.
How many of them were captured and tasted
The torment of disgrace in the captivity of the enemy?
What harm is there today if we reflect
On our ancestors, even slightly?
They proceeded on a path of guidance, while we tread
The path of division and disarray.
We see the ignorance of the girl as a virtue,
As if ignorance is a fortress for her.
And we despise the virtuous women not for a crime,
But we harm them in various ways.
And we force them into the depths of the home,
Considering them to be worthless.
Indeed, while they buried daughters alive, we have buried
All our women before their time.
We restricted them from seeking greatness,
Resulting in the ignorance that led to their destruction.
If the nature of these people lacks scorn,
Women would not have been veiled.
And the refinement of men is the utmost condition
To elevate the status of their women.
And it harms the virtuous to unveil their faces,
Amidst the noble and honorable.
I dedicate my life to the beings of the desert,
Even if they are described as coarse toward us.
How many beautiful maidens have emerged from their midst,
Unveiled and untroubled?
And how many gazelles wander in their fields,
Crossing the paths with their companions.