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Ataa al Khurasani said: "I don't advise you to mind your life's affairs because I know that you are covetous to do so, but I advise you to mind the affairs of the Hereafter. Take from this temporary home to the eternal one. Consider this life as something that you have left, I swear by Allah you will leave it. Consider death as something that you have tasted, I swear by Allah you will taste it. And consider the Hereafter as a home that you have visited, I swear by Allah you will be there."

Dhu'n-Noon al-Misri said: "The ailment of the body is in sickness and that of the heart is in sins. A delicious meal cannot benefit the body when the person is sick and likewise, the heart cannot taste the sweetness of worship if it is full of sins."

Ash-Shafi`i said: "The greatest of deeds are three: To give generously out of the few that you have, to be devoted to Allah in loneliness and to say the truth in the face of someone who is hoped and feared."

`Ali ibn Abi Talib said: "Whoever has the following six characteristics does all that is required to make him enter Paradise and avoid Hell: to know Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala and obey him, to know Satan and disobey him, to know the truth and follow it, to know the falsehood and avoid it, to know the life of this world and renounce it, and to know the Hereafter and seek it."

Ibrahim al-Ash`ath said: I heard al-Fudayl saying: "Man's fear of Allah is equal to his knowledge of Him, and his renunciation of the life of this world is equal to his desire of the Hereafter. Whoever acts according to what he knows, Allah will make him successful in what he doesn't know. And whoever is ill-tempered disgraces his honour, religion and generosity."

Narrated Dirar ibn Murrah: Iblis said: "If I am successful in persuading man to do three things, then that will be all I need: to make forget his sins, to regard his good deeds as too many, and to be proud of his opinion."

Wahib ibn al-Ward said: "Do not insult Satan explicitly whereas you take him clandestinely as a friend."

Narrated Anas Ibn `Ayyad, "I saw Safwan Ibn Salim, and had it been said to him: 'Tomorrow is the Day of Resurrection', he would have not needed to perform an additional act of worship."

Ibrahim ibn Adham was asked: "How are you?" He said: "We patch the life of this world by tearing from our religion, so neither our religion remains nor what we patch. Blessed is he who prefers Allah, his Rabb and renounces the life of this world for what he expects as reward in the Hereafter."

Abu Bakr al-Maruthi said: I visited Ahmad ibn Hanbal one morning and said to him: "How are you?" He answered: "How is the one whose Rabb requires to perform his duties, whose Prophet requires to flow the Sunnah, the two angels require that he rectifies his deeds, his human self requires him to follow its desires, Satan requires him to commit evil deeds, the angel of death requires him to give his life and his children require him to satisfy their needs."

A man said to Al Fudayl ibn `Ayyad: "How are you?" He replied: "If you are asking about the life of this world, it has diverted us from the right path and sent us in many directions."