“Unfortunate is he who cannot gain a few sincere friends during his life and more unfortunate is the one who has gained them and then lost them”

—  Ali , book Nahj al-Balagha

through his deeds
Nahj al-Balagha

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Unfortunate is he who cannot gain a few sincere friends during his life and more unfortunate is the one who has gained …" by Ali?
Ali photo
Ali 124
cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad 601–661

Related quotes

Democritus photo

“The man who is fortunate in his choice of son-in-law gains a son; the man unfortunate in his choice loses his daughter also.”

Democritus Ancient Greek philosopher, pupil of Leucippus, founder of the atomic theory

Freeman (1948), p. 169

Christine de Pizan photo

“As for those who state that it is thanks to a woman, the lady Eve, that man was expelled from paradise, my answer to them would be that man has gained far more through Mary than he ever lost through Eve.”

Christine de Pizan book The Book of the City of Ladies

Source: The Book of the City of Ladies

Hazrat Inayat Khan photo

“Very often in everyday life one sees that by losing one's temper with someone who has already lost his, one does not gain anything but only sets out upon the path of stupidity. He who has enough self-control to stand firm at the moment when the other person is in a temper, wins in the end. It is not he who has spoken a hundred words aloud who has won; it is he who has perhaps spoken only one word.”

Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882–1927) Indian Sufi

Source: Mastery through Accomplishment

Sallustius photo

“From all these things the Gods gain nothing; what gain could there be to God? It is we who gain some communion with them.”

Sallustius Roman philosopher and writer

XV. Why we give worship to the Gods when they need nothing.
On the Gods and the Cosmos
Context: The divine itself is without needs, and the worship is paid for our own benefit. The providence of the Gods reaches everywhere and needs only some congruity for its reception. All congruity comes about by representation and likeness; for which reason the temples are made in representation of heaven, the altar of earth, the images of life (that is why they are made like living things), the prayers of the element of though, the mystic letters of the unspeakable celestial forces, the herbs and stones of matter, and the sacrificial animals of the irrational life in us.
From all these things the Gods gain nothing; what gain could there be to God? It is we who gain some communion with them.

“Without-it ministries can be filled with very sincere Bible-believing Christians; unfortunately, they're simply more concerned about themselves than the lost.”

Craig Groeschel (1967) American priest

It – How Churches and Leaders Can Get It and Keep It (2008, Zondervan)

Hermann Hesse photo

“Passion is always a mystery and unaccountable, and unfortunately there is no doubt that life does not spare its purest children and often it is just the most deserving people who cannot help loving those that destroy them.”

Hermann Hesse book Gertrud

Source: Gertrude (1910), p. 217

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

Jim Elliot (1927–1956) Martyred Christian missionary to Ecuador

Journal excerpt from Shadow of the Almighty (1989) by Elisabeth Elliot, Jim Elliot, 1949
This quote is a paraphrase of Elliot's from the original quote (below) by English nonconformist clergyman Philip Henry (1631-1696)
Misattributed

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Jim Elliot (1927–1956) Martyred Christian missionary to Ecuador

“Reason gains all men, by compelling none.
Mercy was always Heaven's distinguished mark:
And he, who bears it not, has no friend there.”

Aaron Hill (writer) (1685–1750) British writer

Don Alvarez in Act I, Sc. 1; also misquoted as "Reason gains all people by compelling none."
Alzira: A Tragedy (1736)

Naomi Wolf photo

“What becomes of a man who acquires a beautiful woman, with her 'beauty' his sole target? He sabotages himself. He has gained no friend, no ally, no mutual trust: She knows quite well why she has been chosen. He has succeeded in buying a mutually suspicious set of insecurities. He does gain something: the esteem of other men who find such an acquisition impressive.”

Naomi Wolf book The Beauty Myth

Source: The Beauty Myth (1991), Chapter 5 : 'Sex', p. 174

Related topics