Imam Ali’s Sayings on Intelligence

 
The intelligent person is one who fetters his tongue.

The intelligent person is one who covers up sins with forgiveness.

The intelligent personis one who forsakes his lust and sells his world for his Hereafter.

The intelligent person does not speak except when he needs to or in order to present his case
The intelligent person is one who abstains from sins and keeps himself free from faults.

The intelligent person is one who fetters his tongue except from the remembrance [and extolment] of Allah.

The intelligent person is one who opposes his vain desire in obedience to his Lord.

The intelligent person is one who performs acts of kindness and puts his effort in its correct place.

When the intelligent one is quiet, he reflects and when he speaks, he remembers [and extols Allah] and when he observes, he takes lesson.

The intelligent personis one who suspects his [own] opinion and does not trust everything that his self makes decorous for him.

The intelligent personis one who abstains from [the pleasures of] the lowly, perishing world and desires the sublime, everlasting, lofty Paradise.

The intelligent person is one who puts things in their right places, and the ignorant one does the opposite of this.

The intelligent person acts when he knows and when he acts, he does so sincerely, and when he becomes sincere, he secludes himself [from others].

The intelligent person is one who guards his tongue from backbiting.

The intelligent person survives in his work and shortens his hopes.

The intelligent person is one who overcomes his vain desire and does not well this Hereafter for his [temporary life in this] world.

The intelligent one is neither pushed to the extreme by violence nor is he hampered by weakness.

The intelligent person is one who controls himself when he gets angry, when he desires and when he is frightened.

The intelligent person charges himself with performing that which is obligatory upon him and he does not charge himself with seeking that which is due to him.

The intelligent personis one who does not waste his [time and] energy in that which does not benefit him, and does not [strive to] acquire that which will not accompany him [after his death].

The intelligent personis onewho overpowers his contending vain desires.

The intelligent person is one who submits to the decredd [of allah] and acts with judiciousness [and determination].

The intelligent person is one who subdues his vain desire with his intellect.
Be rational and you will discern.

Indeed, the intelligent person is one who considers the different [expression] opinions with correct reasoning and considers the consequences [of matters].

The most intelligent of you is the most submissive of you.

The most intelligent of person is one who follows the wise people.

When you make and indirect reference to an intelligent person then you have tormented him with reproof.

The most felicitous of people is the intelligent one.

The most intelligent of people is the most modest of them.

The most intelligent person is the virtuous, fearful one.

The most intelligent of people is the one who forgives [and accepts the excuses of] others the most.

The most intelligent of people is the farthest of them from all vile things.

The most intelligent of people is the most submissive of them to Allah, the Glorified.

The most intelligent of people is the closest of them to Allah.

Themost intelligent of people is one who sees his own fault and is blind to the fault of others.

The most intelligent of people is the one who does not go beyond silence in punishing the ignorant.

The most intelligent of people is the best of them in estimating his livlihood and the most serious of them in endevouring to improve his Hereafter.

The most intelligent of people is one whose seriousness overpowers hisfrivolity and who overcomes his vain desire with his intellect.

The most intelligent of people is one who is humbled in front of the truth so he submists himself to it,
and is honoured by the truth so he does not undermine its establishment and acting upon it with goodness.

The most intelligent of people is one who is most considering of the consequences [of actions].

Verily the intelligent one is not beguiled by covetousness.

Verily the intelligent person is one whose intellect is [employed] in right guidance and whose view is in [process of development and] growth, that is why his view is correct and his action praiseworthy.

Indeed, the intelligent one learns through discipline while the beasts are not trained except by beating.

Verily the intelligent person is one who looks in his today for his tomorrow and strives to unshackle his soul and works for that which must come to pass and which cannot be escaped.

Verily it behoves the intelligent one to be cautious of death in this world, and he should make good preparations before he arrives at the abode wherein one wishes for death but does not find it.

The practive of those who possess intellect and understanding is turning towards the permanent abode,
turning away from the evanescent abode and being desireous of the Garden of Paradise.

It behoves the intelligent one to make arrangements for his Hereafter and to develop [and build]the abode of his permanent residence.

The intelligent one likes the company of those who are like him.