Ali ibn Abi Talib Quotes

In the meanest are all the materials of manhood, only they are not rightly disposed.

No man who acts from a sense of duty ever puts the lesser duty above the greater. No man has the desire and the ability to work onhigh things, but he has also the ability to build himself a high staging.

We need above all to learn again to believe in the possibility of nobility of spirit in ourselves.

A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself, and a mean man, by one lower than himself.

You show your worth by what you seek.

Man is not made better by being degraded.

Our inner strengths, experiences, and truths cannot be lost, destroyed, or taken away. Every person has an inborn worth and can contribute to the human community. We all can treat one another with dignity and respect, provide opportunities to grow toward our fullest lives and help one another discover and develop our unique gifts. We each deserve this and we all can extend it to others.

We are defined by our dignity to rise above debasement. We are certainly better people for doing so.

If I do find pride, I'll not find it in what I was or what I am, but what I may become. Not in my birth, but in myself.

Give your best effort, because you are worth your best effort.

Worry not that no one knows you; seek to be worth knowing.

There's always going to be dreams and goals I have, but I never really tell people what they are.

The nobility of a human being is strictly independent of that of his convictions.

Your sole contribution to the sum of things is yourself.

Any person who selects a goal in life which can be fully achieved, has already defined his own limitations.

I think I've got a bit more to offer than just dancing. It might just be me that thinks that, but it's worth saying.

I don't think I'd be happy if I were satisfied. I enjoy challenge, and I wouldn't say that I'm an ambitious person career-wise or financially, really. I would like to travel more comfortably, but that's really about all I need.

I don't believe you have to be better than everybody else. I believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be.

I like to think that my finest hour is still ahead of me, so I can look forward rather than look backward.

I think I owe it to myself to put my best effort forward and prove how good I can be.

Man is worth more for what he is than for what he has.

Don't worry about people knowing you. Make yourself worth knowing.

In coming to the shores of Africa, we indulged the pleasing hope that we should be permitted to exercise and improve those faculties which impart to man his dignity; to nourish in our hearts the flame of honourable ambition, to cherish and indulge those aspirations which a Beneficent Creator hath implanted in every human heart, and to evince to all who despise, ridicule and oppress our race that we possess with them a common nature, are with them susceptible of equal refinement, and capable of equal advancement in all that adorns and dignifies man.

No one is diminished by the truth, rather does the truth ennoble all.

The government is not best which secures mere life and property -- there is a more valuable thing -- manhood.