Pearls of Wisdom
The book collects the pearls of wisdom from the pen of Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, guiding people toward right thinking. The greatness of humanity lies in our ability to think. We believe first, then act. We will decide on the right course of action if we have the right review. Life is a series of experiences. The readiness to learn lessons from our experiences, and those of others, help us to develop intellectually and succeed. It is our level of thinking which determines our success or failure. Success is the result of right thinking. Think right, do right, and succeed.
Pearls of
Wisdom
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Translated by:
Prof. Farida Khanam
1
People often take up reading
the book of life without
learning its language.
2
One who has a book
with him is never alone.
3
Life is a long tiring tale; only he can study it successfully
whose attention always stays focused on the tale’s next paragraph.
4
One who can conquer oneself can easily find victory over others.
5
What is maturity?
Maturity is the ability to live with things we cannot change.
6
Wishing to have more than
what you deserve is as good
as disqualifying yourself from
what you rightfully deserve.
7
If you are strong from within
even after losing everything,
rest assured that you have not
yet lost anything.
8
A new morning follows every evening, but only he can find it
who waits until it comes.
9
Despite being of any magnitude, a defeat always happens to be temporary.
It can always be turned into success by better planning.
10
One person says, “night has fallen”,
whereas another would say,
“morning is yet to come”.
11
Chasing after the impossible,
you lose what is possible.
12
Children’s sandcastles collapse in less time than it takes for their making.
13
Everyone has lost his yesterday; success is destined for one
who does not lose his today.
14
What is sympathy?
Sympathy is your pain in my heart.
15
Our past and present may lie in ruins, but our future is still secure.
16
In this world, no sunset is final, for every sunset is destined to be followed by a new sunrise,
provided man dares to turn his evening into morning again.
17
Success knocks at the door,
but only once.
18
To concede defeat is the expression of one’s determination to try again
to win what one has lost.
19
There is no greater sacrifice than
that of one’s own opinion.
20
If you have found your beginning,
you can find your end;
another name for the right ending
is the right beginning.
21
Opportunities do slip away,
but they never vanish.
22
Defeat is a delay,
but not failure.
23
The fool said:
“I have wasted my past and present.”
The wise man replied:
“But your future is still safe.”
24
Not to fall is not a miracle;
the miracle is that you fall
and stand up again.
25
Do not make haste;
hastening doubles the delay.
26
If you do not sow in time,
you cannot harvest
at the harvesting time.
27
A wise man thinks
before taking action;
a stupid man thinks afterwards.
28
If you wish to raise your dream palace from top to the ground, in the end,
you will not find anything except a pile of debris.
29
Strategic retreat is the first phase
of planned action.
30
Nothing can make the sun rise early,
but everyone wishes his life’s morning to dawn early.
31
Wise is he who forgets
the faults and wrongs of others
and keeps his faults in mind.
32
If you arrive at the station late,
you cannot complain about the train that departed without picking you up.
33
A small container cannot hold much water. Similarly,
a small heart cannot achieve great success.
34
A single push cannot ground a wall. An effort to do so may,
however, hit your head.
35
A step taken with insufficient preparation further complicates the problem.
36
Experience is what we learn from others,
for our expertise always comes at the cost of loss.
37
Today’s sunset must rise the next day,
but most people do not wait until the upcoming day.
38
The most successful war is when
the enemy is disarmed and left
with no fighting power.
39
The road is closed only for one
who does not know how to walk;
the pleasant breeze gives
this message every day.
40
People engrossed in petty issues
only prove they cannot achieve anything significant in their lives.
41
If you want to hide your secret from your enemy, do not talk about it,
even with your friend.
42
Ships are safe in the harbour,
but they are not meant for that purpose.
43
The secret of life is that man must know that with every flower,
there is a thorn and with every thorn, a flower.
44
If man could learn a lesson from others’ mistakes,
he would never commit a mistake himself.
45
For a man to achieve anything worthwhile in life,
he has to work towards it in a planned and methodical manner.
46
To have a flower, you must know
how to handle the thorns.
47
How beautiful is the Taj Mahal of words,
the storm of facts washes it away like a pile of straws blown away by the wind.
48
One who cooks his food
in a wooden pot will never be able to fill his belly.
49
Holding others responsible for your disaster proves
that you were unaware of your vulnerability.
50
To appeal to a powerful enemy
for justice is like asking the rock to give you water.
51
Anger is a negative response
to any given situation.
52
Think, think, think;
there must be a better way.
53
If one has missed a train,
one can always take another,
but people often forget this
when they lose one chance
in their life’s race.
54
A wise man is one whose competitor comes to know
about his plan only after it is accomplished.
55
Wise is he who agrees to accept less than what he rightfully deserves
and stays ready to give others more than what they justly deserve.
56
Only that person arrives at his destination who is willing to tackle
the obstacles in one’s path successfully.
57
The formula for de-stressing:
forget the past and re-plan the future.
58
If two people quarrel, both are at fault; had the innocent one withdrawn himself from the spot,
the brawl itself would not have taken place.
59
Man himself is supposed to pay the price of his mistake,
but after committing a mistake,
he tries to find someone else to pay for his fault.
60
Forget
whatever you have lost
so that
you may avail of what is left
with you.
61
What is loss?
To miss an opportunity!
What is gain?
To avail of the opportunity!
62
You can, in a moment, raise your dream palace, but raising a building,
in reality, is not possible without a long strenuous effort.
63
Life’s problems are solved by employing a rational strategy,
not by making complaints.
64
Misfortune always enters through
the door which we have left open.
65
People know what to speak,
but a wise man also knows
not to speak.
66
The silence of an elephant is a thousand times stronger than
the barking of a dog.
67
Petrol and water are alike,
but petrol ignites a fire
while water extinguishes it.
68
What is loss?
It is a failure to act on time!
69
A wise man expects everything
from himself, and a fool expects everything from others.
70
Excessive words cannot compensate for your lack of practical ability.
71
One who does not listen to others’ difference of opinion
is not to be counted as a learned man.
72
Everything can be earned
through sheer hard work,
not simply through wishing.
73
If you do not know how to speak, then learn to keep quiet
because keeping quiet is as important as speaking.
74
Deprivation can lead you to progress
if it awakens your latent potential.
75
Fragrance does not need to prove
its presence by a proclamation.
76
This world is a world of competition;
if you do not get ahead of others,
others will get ahead of you.
77
Think before taking revenge;
revenge too will be avenged.
78
If you speed up your vehicle
where you must apply brakes,
it would be driven towards
the graveyard instead of
the destination.
79
Wise is the man who can live in peace
with things he cannot change.
80
If you wish to be successful in
this world, first develop the courage to welcome failures.
81
Nothing is impossible in this world of God.
The only thing impossible is striving to achieve the possible
by using impossible means.
82
Recognition always comes after rejection.
83
The secret of success for
a person is that he does not lose
his rationality even at the height
of his emotional moments.
84
When you face darkness, do not curse it. Instead, light the candle,
and the darkness will disappear.
85
No seed can suddenly become a whole tree; similarly,
it is not possible for someone to suddenly reach his destination.
86
Question: How long will the big fish continue to swallow the small fish?
Answer: Till the time the small fish makes itself large enough not to fit into the mouth of the big fish.
87
‘Difficult’ is an excuse
that history never accepts.
88
The harsh truth of life is that
you cannot ask someone else to pay the price for your wrongdoing.
89
Do not be afraid of difficulties,
for it is the difficulties that go into the making of a man.
90
Progress is the result of man’s hard work, but many consider others’
destruction the nearest step to their progress.
91
Patience is not inaction;
patience is another name
for planned action.
92
A foolish man often starts waiting
for the end of a journey that
he has not yet begun.
93
To find something, you shall always have to lose something.
However, people are never ready to lose.
That is why most people cannot even become finders.
94
Holding others responsible for all your woes results in hatred and frustration
while holding yourself accountable for them inspires you to act and achieve your goal.
95
Tolerance is not cowardice;
it is a principle of life.
96
People generally do not utilise themselves a hundred per cent,
which is why they fail in their plans.
97
Success lies on the other side of patience, but generally,
people search for it on this side of patience.
98
The secret of success is that man learns the art of failure management.
99
To be successful, a man has to
exert himself; while for failure,
he has to do nothing; it is itself running towards him.
100
The cause of man’s failure always lies within himself,
but he often searches for that in others.
101
Change yourself; your luck will change on its own.
102
The most straightforward way to keep yourself safe from others’
evil design is to keep others safe from your ill will.
103
Complaining against others generally turns out to
be an admission of one’s incompetence.
104
Man’s impatience is his enemy’s greatest weapon; stupid is he
who himself would provide this weapon to his enemy.
105
There is only one plan to survive in this world: every man should have a large graveyard
wherein he would keep on burying the faults of others.
106
The greatest secret of success is patience,
and the greatest secret of failure is impatience.
107
The most unimportant word in collective social life is “I”, and the most important is “We”.
108
To say “I was wrong”
is the way to success.
109
The most successful way of avenging one’s enemy is to forgive them.
However, very few people know this secret of success.
110
Always consult others in all matters;
consultation protects against loss.
111
The only way to save yourself from the mischief of
others is not to get provoked despite provocation.
112
If your roof is weak, you cannot prevent it from being hit by a flood,
no matter how much hue and cry you may raise.
113
Not fighting is the most successful war,
but only a few people know how to fight such a war.
114
High status is always achieved
by elevating yourself, not by
shouting slogans.
115
Good luck asks: Is prudence present inside the house by knocking on everyone’s door?
116
In their silent language, flowers proclaim:
stay amongst men like flowers.
117
The art of rejection is easy,
but only a great mind can accept it.
Acceptance is a phenomenon of maturity.
118
Envy eats up one’s good deeds
as the fire eats up wood.
119
Seeing a problem as a problem is
a problem. However, if you see
a problem as a normal event,
there is no problem.
120
The cost of great work is to humble yourself; generally,
people do not agree to humble themselves;
which is why they cannot do any significant work.
121
When envy and arrogance enter
into man, wisdom goes out.
122
The essence of religion is to fear God and to like for others what you want for yourself.
123
What is unity?
To live unitedly despite having differences.
124
Your critic is your best adviser.
125
Impatience is reflected in a hasty response to a situation, while a well-considered,
well-thought-out response is what patience is all about.
126
The cost of disrespecting others
is to be held disrespectful
in the eyes of God.
127
A significant sign of a man being flawless is that he does not search
for flaws in others.
128
Peace means normalcy,
and normalcy provides such opportunities as favour
the growth of a healthy environment.
129
If the bricks are scattered,
they are a pile of debris,
but when bricks mutually unite,
they become a building assuming
the shape of a strong fort wherein nations seek refuge.
130
The truthful beginning always ends on truth,
and the false beginning always ends on falsehood.
131
Everyone has excuses,
but the living does not use excuses.
132
The way to escape thorns is not to get entangled with them; instead,
one should cautiously move away from the place of thorns.
133
Only those who prove to be giver members of society can establish themselves in life.
134
To conquer an enemy by force is half a victory,
but to conquer him by love is a complete victory.
135
Only he knows how to speak
who knows how to keep silent.
136
Everyone wants to grow his tree separately.
That is why humanity’s garden does not grow.
137
Life is more precious for it to be
used for a lesser purpose than
for some great one.
138
Most stupid is he who would lose something great for something small.
139
You cannot separate the thorns
from the flowers, even if you run
a bulldozer over them.
140
Man has been created to succeed,
but he fails due to negligence.
141
Discontent is the first step in
the progress of a man or a nation.
142
A man should give out fragrance like the flowers and shine like the sun.
This is the world’s daily message in silent language.
143
Self-knowledge is the beginning
of self-improvement.
144
If you want to move mountains, you must, first of all,
learn to move particles.
145
A defeatist mentality is shaped by history.
A positive mentality shapes history.
146
It is easier to blame others than
to accept responsibility for oneself.
147
If man could but know the hopeful circumstances of tomorrow,
he would never lose heart over the unfortunate events of today.
148
No one is so powerful that
he can harm others without
harming himself.
149
Error is the discipline through
which we advance.
150
The day will, in any case, end in twelve hours,
whether you make good use of it or waste it.
151
Crisis is part of life. But you cannot deal with crisis without patience.
152
Many people fail to recognise opportunity because it comes disguised as hard work.
153
The hopeful man sees success in failure, sunshine in the storm.
154
It is not difficult for one who can conquer himself to conquer others.
155
In prosperity, caution;
in adversity, patience.
156
Life is an ongoing trial.
After falling ten times, rising
the eleventh time is success.
157
No one puts out other people’s lamps.
It is the lack of oil that puts them out.
158
Man has a hidden treasure
within him.
Difficulties and setbacks
bring it forth.
159
The false man bows before power.
The true man bows to the argument.
160
Success depends on the ability to convert
unfavourable circumstances into favourable ones.
161
No one fights for another: everyone has to fight life’s battles himself.
162
Complaint is the origin of every evil. Complaint leads to hate;
hate leads to enmity, and enmity leads to violence.
163
When a piece of wood breaks up, it breaks into two or many parts.
However, there is no question of defeat and destruction for a living being.
When a live amoeba breaks up, it becomes two living amoebae.
164
It is a wise man who learns
from his own mistakes.
165
The world is a testing ground for wisdom.
It is not a political platform for protests and clamour.
166
It is possible to usurp something, but keeping a possession that is not rightfully yours is impossible.
167
It is bad to do evil. However,
it is worse to hate the evil-doer.
168
Man has to pay the price for his faults,
however much he tries to find someone
who will pay the price for his mistakes.
169
The wind carries away the scattered particles of sand,
causing them to float all around.
However, when these particles of sand join together to make
a mountain, no tempest is strong enough to shake them.
170
Be large of heart and succeed.
Be small of heart and fail.
171
The ordinary person lives in his greatness.
The believer lives in the greatness of God.
172
Man is born to succeed,
but he makes himself a failure
due to his negligence.
173
The world is full of friends.
Someone is your actual friend; another is your potential friend.
174
Accept the status quo in controversial matters and
divert your activities to the non-confrontational field.
175
People are equal as regards respect,
but they are different in the roles they play in life.
176
The secret to success in life is to plan one’s time and energy wisely and
to avail of the opportunities within one’s reach.
177
If you want to succeed in this world, the first thing you have to do is display enough courage
to welcome failures.
178
Tolerance is one of the greatest factors in stabilising human relationships.
179
To live in a state of happiness,
you must learn the difference between need and desire.
180
No seed turns into a tree by leaps and bounds. Similarly,
a person cannot reach his destination without travelling for the requisite period.
181
The secret of success lies in man’s learning the secret of failure.
182
If your building is weak, you cannot prevent it from
being washed away by the flood.
183
When two different ideas clash, a third idea emerges.
So take the difference as an intellectual challenge, and it will certainly be a blessing for you.
184
Do not rail at the darkness.
Light a candle, and the darkness will itself disappear.
185
Wisdom lies in knowing what is possible and what is not possible
in terms of the circumstances.
186
A two-word success story—
work works.
187
If someone pelts you with stones, do not quarrel with him.
Instead, raise yourself to such a height that the stones cannot reach you.
188
If you have a good excuse,
don’t use it.
189
With peace, one can achieve what one cannot achieve with violence.
190
Evil can have no beginning but from pride nor any end but in humility.
191
Whoever seeks to obtain small benefits at the risk of great dangers is like a fisherman using a hook of gold;
should it come off, no catch would compensate for the loss.
192
He who has no mission in life
is the poorest of all.
193
The only initiative worth taking is one
which will yield positive results.
194
It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare;
they are difficult because we do not dare.
195
Success is never final,
and failure is never fatal.
It is courage that counts.
196
Maturity is perseverance, sweating out a project despite setbacks.
197
Tension is another name
for taking a wrong choice.
198
You have removed most of the roadblocks to success when
you have known the difference between motion and direction.
199
The word “shortcut” may apply to the world of roads and footpaths.
However, there are no shortcuts in the struggle of life.
200
Starve the problems,
feed the opportunities.