"A noble man need not pretend to be virtuous, any more than a well-spoken man feigns eloquence. When a man exaggerates his qualities it is because of something lacking in him; the bully gives himself airs because he is conscious of his weakness. Pride is ugly in all men … it is worse than cruelty, which is the worst kind of sins, and humility is better than clemency, which is the best of all good deeds."
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The Book of Misers
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Al-Jahiz
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Al-Jahiz
Abū ʿUthman ʿAmr ibn Baḥr al-Kinānī al-Baṣrī (Arabic: أبو عثمان عمرو بن بحر الكناني البصري), commonly known as al-Jāḥiẓ (Arabic: الجاحظ, bug eyes, born 776; died December 868/January 869) was an Arab prose writer and author of works of literature, Mu'tazili theology, and politico-religious polemics.
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