Classical

"I am ready, but only on one condition. Once I start writing, you should not stop dictating to me."

John the Merciful

Mathematics

550–619

"If in order to help the needy one is able, without ill-will, to strip the rich down to their shirts, one is not doing wrong, especially if they are heartless skinflints."

"'I do not know either 'The Merciful, or the Compassionate'. Write: 'In the name of God'."

"The Prophet said: If you find anyone doing as Lot's people did, kill the one who does it, and the one to whom it is done."

Hazrat Abu Bakr (R.A.)

Religion

573–634

"It is a matter of great shame that the birds wake up in the morning before you."

Hazrat Uthman (R.A.)

Religion

577–656

"Enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil. No believer should subject himself to humiliation, for I will be with the weak against the strong so long as he has been wronged, Insha'Allah"

🇮🇳Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib (A.S.)

Religion

601–661

"A fool's mind is at the mercy of his tongue and a wise man's tongue is under the control of his mind."

🇨🇳Lao Tzu

Philosophy

Confucianism

b. 604

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."

"First thy neighbour, and there after your own house."

🇮🇳Hazrat Aisha (R.A.)

Politics

613–678

"'Urwah narrated from 'Aishah: that when Saudah bint Zam'ah grew old, she gave her day to 'Aishah, and the Messenger of Allah went to 'Aishah on Saudah's day."

Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr

Politics

624–692

"History of the Prophets and Kings, New York, United States, 1989"

Imam Hasan ibn Ali (A.S.)

Religion

625–670

"If you cannot teach knowledge, than you should teach your intuition."

Imam Husayn ibn Ali (A.S.)

Religion

626–680

"Al-Tabari: History of the Prophets and Kings, New York, United States, 1989"

Hazrat Zaynab bint Ali (A.S.)

Religion

628–682

"O my grief! Your life will be violently wrenched from you and that is more wounding to my heart and harsher to my soul."

Hasan al-Basri

Religion

642–728

"The dunyâ distracts and preoccupies the heart and body, but al-zuhd gives rest to the heart and body. Verily, Allâh will ask us about the halâl things we enjoyed, so what about the harâm!"

🇯🇵Kakinomoto no Hitomaro

Literature

662–710

"Kakinomoto no Asomi Hitomaro Poems at Poem Hunter"

John of Damascus

Religion

675–749

"Images are books for the illiterate and silent heralds of the honor of the saints, teaching those who see with a soundless voice and sanctifying the sight."

Imam Ali Zayn al-Abidin (A.S.)

Religion

677–713

"Be aware that the most detested person in the presence of God, is the one who accepts an Imam as a leader, but doesn't follow him in action."

Umar II

Politics

681–720

"This is the Last Abode; we appoint it for those who desire not exorbitance in the earth, nor corruption. The issue ultimate is to the godfearing."

🇮🇳Shantideva

Literature

685–763

"Just as a blind man might find a jewel amongst heaps of rubbish, so this Spirit of Awakening has somehow arisen in me."

Muhammad bin Qasim

Military

696–715

"My ruling is given: Kill anyone belonging to the combatants ; arrest their sons and daughters for hostages and imprison them. Whoever submits…grant them aman and settle their tribute as dhimmah."

🇨🇳Li Bai

Literature

712–770

"Li Po Poems, illustrated with Nature Photos"

Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (A.S.)

Religion

714–765

"There are two kinds of scholars: those who act on their knowledge, these are the saved ones; and those who do not put into practise what they know, these are led to their downfall."

Sufyan al-Thawri

Religion

716–778

"There is a punishment for all things. The punishments for the gnostic is to be cut off from His remembrance."

Ibrahim ibn Adham

Religion

718–776

"You know the Devil is your enemy but you do not deal with him as such."

As-Saffah

722–754

"As power becomes great, concupiscence grows less."

"He who seeks pearls immerses himself in the sea."

Ali al-Rida

Religion

770–818

"Knowledge and science are the coffers and caches to the treasures of Perfection; and the only access to them is to ask and question."

Ahmad ibn Hanbal

Law

780–855

"'If the scholars remains silent the grounds of dissimulation , and the ignorant do not know, when will the truth be manifested?'"

🇪🇬Dhul-Nun al-Misri

Science

796–860

"God gives his servant no source of strength more powerful for him than when He leads him to humiliate himself."

John Scotus Eriugena

Philosophy

800–877

"Synthesizing as it does the philosophical accomplishments of fifteen centuries, this book appears as the final achievement of ancient philosophy."

Sheikh Bayazid Bastami (R.A.)

Religion

804–848

"The thing we tell of can never be found by seeking, yet only seekers find it."

"Abu Wa'il narrated: "Ali said to Abu Al-Hayyaj Al-Asadi: 'I am dispatching you with what the Prophet dispatched me: "That you not leave an elevated grave without leveling it, nor an image without erasing it."

Imam Muhammad al-Mahdi (A.J.S.)

Religion

b. 869

"Indeed, Earth could not be without a Hujja , either manifest or occult."