Ali ibn Abi Talib Quotes

Virtue is a positive quality developed by taking a firm stand for the right in temptation, or by the suffering endured in consequence of wrongdoing.

The greatest want of the world is the want of men - men who will not be bought or sold; men who in their inmost souls are true and honest; men who do not fear to call sin by its right name; men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole; men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.

Virtue is an inner strength. It expands your nature.

The superior man does not, even for the space of a single meal, act contrary to virtue. In moments of haste, he cleaves to it. In seasons of danger, he cleaves to it.

Moral courage is higher and a rarer virtue than physical courage.

Virtue is insufficient temptation.

The greatest man is he who chooses the Right with invincible resolution, who resists the sorest temptations from within and without, who bears the heaviest burdens cheerfully, who is calmest in storms and most fearless under menace and frowns, whose reliance on truth, on virtue, on God, is most unfaltering. I believe this greatness to be most common among the multitude, whose names are never heard.

Being a Deol for me is to be honest; walking with my head held high and never having to bow in front of injustice.

A man should be upright, not be kept upright.

A man has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so.

Character is that quality of mind which makes truth-telling instinctive rather than strange.

Virtue must be valuable, if men and women of all degrees pretend to have it.

What is character? It is that quality of man which is going to make a man, in an hour of strain, do the just and, if possible, the generous thing.

Virtue could see to do what Virtue would by her own radiant light, though sun and moon where in the flat sea sunk.

I always admired virtue - but I could never imitate it.

All good is hard. All evil is easy. Dying, losing, cheating, and mediocrity is easy. Stay away from easy.

Virtue is reason which has become energy.

True courage is not the brutal force of vulgar heroes, but the firm resolve of virtue and reason.

Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.

Everyone tries to define this thing called Character. It's not hard. Character is doing what's right when nobody's looking.

Virtue, like art, constantly deals with what is hard to do, and the harder the task the better the success.

The courage of New England was the courage of conscience.

The just man and firm of purpose—not the heat of fellow citizens clamoring for what is wrong, not presence of threatening tyrant can shake—in his rocklike soul.

Today we need a special kind of courage. Not the kind needed in battle, but a kind which makes us stand up for everything that we know is right, everything that is true and honest. We need the kind of courage that can withstand the subtle corruption of the cynics, so that we can show the world that we are not afraid of the future.

It is an important part of our life’s experience to develop the strength, courage, and integrity to hold fast to truth and righteousness despite the buffeting we may experience.