Quotes from Al-Shafi'i

How strange! You seek guidance, yet you do not tread its path, surely a boat does not sail on land.

Knowledge is not what is memorised. Knowledge is what benefits.

Be hard on yourself, easy on others.

You say that you are just a body, but inside of you is something greater than the Universe.

To admonish your brother in private is to advise him and improve him. But to admonish him publicly is to disgrace and shame him.

I complained to Waki' about the weakness of my memorisation, So he instructed me to abandon disobedience; He informed me that knowledge is a light, And the light of Allah is not given to a sinner.

Only someone who is sincere recognizes what showing off is.

Whoever is not made glorified by taqwa can find no glory.

The one who admonishes his brother secretly, he has advised sincerely and has honored him. If he does it outwardly (among others) then he has dishonored and shamed him.

There is not on the face of the earth-after the Book of Allah - a book which is more sahih than the book of Malik.

My sin burdened me heavily. But when I measured it against Your Grace, O Lord, Your forgiveness came out greater.