Imam Ali’s Sayings on the Ignorant and the Foolish Part 1
An ignorant person is never found to be anything but falling short or excessive.
Neither does an ignorant restrain himself [from wrongdoing] nor does he benefit from good advice.
An ignorant person feels aversion towards that which the wise person feels at ease with.
The ignorant person does not understand the learned because he [himself] was never learned before.
An ignorant person does not recognize his failure and does not accept that [good] advice given to him.
An ignorant person relies on his hopes and is negligent in his actions.
The ignorant person is like a rock through which water does not gush forth, and a tree, the branches of which do not become green, and a ground upon which foliage is not found.
An ignorant person is [like the] dead among the living.
The most retched of all people is the ignorant one.
An unremoreseful sinner is the most ignorant person.
The most ignorant person is one who is deceived by the praise of a flatterer who makes the ugly look appealing to him and makes him hate the [sincere] adviser.
The most hated creature in the sight of Allah is the ignorant person, because He deprived him of what He bestowed on His creation, and that is intellect.
Verily the ignorant is one whose ignorance leads astray and whose vain desires entice [towards evil]; so his speech is unhealthy and his action is blameworthy.
The ignorant one is perplexed.
The ignorant person inclines towards the one who is like him.
Man is an enemy of that which he is ignorant of.
The ignorant one does not restrain himself [from evil].
An ignorant person is a slave to his passions.
The ignorant person does not desist [from sinning].
An ignorant person seeks to raise himself but ends up abasing himself.
The ignorant person is one who is ignorant of his own capability.
An ignorant person is dead, even when he is alive.
The correctness of an ignorant person is like the mistake of a learned person (i.e. it happens rarely).
The ignorant person is deceived by [false claims].
The ignorant person is one who is ignorant about his [own] affair.
The ignorant person is one who takes his sincere advisor to be a deceiver.
When the ignorant one becomes stingy [or denies]. he obtains [wealth] and when he obtains [wealth] (or professes belief in one God), he apostatizes.
Indeed the ignorant person is one who is enslaved by [worldly] pursuits.
When an ignorant perosn grows older, his ignorance rises.
