Arabic Quotations With Transliteration and Explanation

We will lean here Arabic Quotations. Over the centuries, the most outstanding thinkers of the Middle East and North Africa wrote novels, essays, plays and speeches using the best possible writing language the Modern Standard Arabic. And when you have a language whose literary history is as fruitful as that of Arabic, you wish to be able to do the same sort of thing with your own Arabic.

However, it is somewhat challenging when you are just beginning. Actually, it is not easy even when you have been learning Arabic a bit!

1. Arabic Quotations About Success

We will begin with a list of some quotes in Arabic on how to be successful. These in themselves are eloquent without a lot of florid language.

الأَفعالُ أَبلَغُ مِن الأَقوَال.
al-ʾafʿalu ʾablaġu min al-ʾaqwal.

This is a well-known quote of leadership and very famous throughout the Arab world. In less formal English this would be the same as: Actions speak louder than words.

إنَّ مَفاتيحَ الأمورِ العَزائِم.
ʾinna mafātīḥa al-ʾumūri al-ʿazāʾim.

The literal meaning of the word mafaatiih in this quote implies keys. As you may see, the metaphor works in English and Arabic. One more helpful word is ʾumūr that can be translated as matters and has its root in -m-r (involving commanding or instructing).

2. Arabic Quotations About Life

These Arabic quotes on life help to illuminate some critical facts about the world we are living in.

الإسكافي حافي و الحايِك عِريَان.
al-ʾiskāfī ḥāfī wa al-ḥāyik ʿiryan.

The quote is found in most languages, although the English version, the shoemaker children go barefoot is not used much. It is applied to explain a scenario where a person is not listening to the things that are closest to him. It is natural, however–who needs to spend the day at a work-bench and then to go home and make shoes in their leisure time?

عُصفورٌ في اليَد خَيرٌ مِن عَشَرَة عَلى الشَجَرَة.
ʿuṣfūrun fī al-yad ḫaīrun min ʿašarah ʿalā al-šaǧarah.

The quote is quite comparable to the one in English: Two in the Bush A Bird in hand is worth a bird in hand. The slight variation is in the birds.

تَجري الرِياحُ بِما لا تَشتَهي السُفُن.
taǧrī al-riīāḥu bimā lā taštahī al-sufun.

The term rih [wind] is an early Semitic term which finds its equivalent in both Hebrew and Aramaic. In keeping with this, this quote is credited to Al-Mutanabbi (المتنabbee), a highly renowned and a very successful poet who lived in modern-day Iraq during the tenth century. The quote simply refers to the fact that you do not always get what you want.

3. Arabic Quotations About Happiness

Feeling down? Read these two Arabic quotes on joy and happiness.

وَمَن يَتَهَيَّب صُعودَ الجِبال يَعِش أَبَدَ الدَهرِ بَيْنَ الحُفَرِ.
waman yatahayyab ṣuʿūda al-ǧibal- yaʿiš ʾabada al-dahri bayna al-ḥufari.

What this quote implies is that unless you push yourself, then you will never push your horizons. You never get to know the beauty of the mountains by spending all your time in your hills.

اِتَّقِ شَرَّ الحَليمِ إذا غَضِب.
ittaqi šarra al-ḥalīmi ʾiḏā ġaḍib.

This is a good quote to follow, however, when you say it when you get angry, you will sound very threatening and it is more appropriate to turn the other cheek.

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4. Arabic Quotations About Patience

The following are some of the Arabic quotes on patience that help clarify the advantages of waiting in a relaxed manner.

إن غَداً لِناظِرِهِ قَريب.
ʾinna ġadan lināẓirihi qarīb.

Patience is not a word that is explicitly used in this quote, rather, it can be translated to mean something such as tomorrow is in sight. This quote can be used when you are almost over with what you need to do after a long day.

اِصبِر تَنُل.
iṣbir tanul.

These two words just are have patience on the surface. Nevertheless, it is in fact a famous phrase of a quote that can be located on the hundreds of Arabic Instagram, Pinterest, and other social media posts.

5. Arabic Quotations About Family

The family is a very significant part of the Arab culture, and the kind of rapport between the parents and children is usually so conservative than what is anticipated in the west. Read these Arabic quotes about family to have a cultural insight into the subject matter!

ابنك هو وزغير ربّيه وهو وكبير خاويه
Ibnak hwa zghir rabih, whwa kbir khaawih.

This quote can be used to describe the thoughts of most parents. You must mentor and reform your child, but once he or she grows up, you can treat him or her as an equal.

طب الجرة ع تمّها بتطلع البنت لإمّها
Tob aljara eala tamha, btitlaea lbint la’imha.

In English we would say like father, like son, but this verse in Egypt is in the same meaning when applied to women.

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6. Quotes About Friendship

Friends present one of the most pleasurable and essential joys in life. Read the Arabic quotes on friendship to understand how Arabs view friends.

إذا كان حبيبك عسل ما تلحسوش كله
Idha kan habibak easal matlahsush kolo.

This is a nice spin on old trite sentiments of friends being valuable/golden/etc. Although that may be so, do not exploit your friends- otherwise you will have no honey to eat!

المشي مع صديق في الظلام أفضل من المشي وحيداً في الضوء.
Almashyo maea sadiqi fi dhalam afdali min almashyi wahidan fi daw’.

This quote of poetic nature demonstrates to us that friends are useful during hard or anxious circumstances. Moreover, it is always good to have a friend with you rather than to be lonely even in good times.

7. Quotes About Food

Who will not like to sit down and take good food occasionally? These are two distinctive Arabic quotations that touch on the issue of food.

أَقلِل طَعامَك تَجِد مَنامَك.
ʾaqlil ṭaʿāmak taǧid manāmak.

You may be somewhat surprised to find this quote because the stereotypes would surely tell you to consume as much of the delicious Arab food as you can. But you all know it is not easy to sleep your stomach out:

life needs balance.

ما تقول فول لَيْصير بِالمَكيُول.
mā tqūl fūl layṣīr bilmakyūl.

Here in this vegetarian adaptation of do not count your chickens before they hatch, you are again in a market place. Suppose that somebody inquires about what he/she is purchasing. Though you are all intending to purchase fawal (beans), you do not buy a bean till it is being weighed up to you.

8. Quotes About Health

One must consider his/her health first before all since good health is obligatory in the accomplishment of other significant objectives.

الصِحَّة تاجٌ عَلى رُؤوس الأَصِحّاء لا يَراهُ إلّا المَرضى.
al-ṣiḥḥah tāǧun ʿalā ruʾūs al-ʾaṣiḥḥāʾ lā yarāhu ʾillā al-marḍā.

The default position that we tend to consider when we think of being healthy is the same way in which a sick person would see health as being as distant as being a king is to a poor person.

اِللي عَلى راسُه بَطحَة يِحَسِّس عَليها.
illī ʿalā rāsuh baṭḥah yiḥassis ʿalīhā.

You happen not to have any head-wounds to prove whether this quote is true or not! The Egyptian Arabic is given the credit of this relatively ghastly quote so you are not likely to come across it elsewhere. Take a case whereby you have a group of soldiers lined and you want to see who is the strongest. Oh, should one of them be wounded, he or she will likely continue to involuntarily cradle the wound. To this end, the quote can be translated as: A guilty man will always sell oneself.

9. Quotes About Language Learning

In conclusion, the following are three quotes on language learning. Learning a language is not a minor feat that you take lightly, and in the process, you learn the lessons of life, and as such, these are all pretty inspirational quotes in general.

لُغَةٌ جَديدَة هِيَ حَياةٌ جَديدَة.
luġaẗun ǧadīdah hiya ḥaīāẗun ǧadīdah.

الرَجُل اَلَّذي يَعرِف لُغَتَيْن يُساوِي رَجُلَين.
al-raǧul allaḏī yaʿrif luġatayn yusāwi raǧulaīn.

مَعرِفَةُ اللُغات مَدخَل إلى الحِكمَة.
maʿrifaẗu al-luġāt madḫal ʾilā al-ḥikmah.

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10. Conclusion

The whole culture of Arabic literature it is impossible to see through the few lines, though you can have a good view of the veneer.

By making the decision to study Arabic you have made a choice which many people are not prepared to make, and as they say, the payback is quite heavy.