QuoteProject
How often it is that a small action becomes great by its intention. And how often it is that a great action becomes small by its intention.
Abdullah Ibn Mubarak
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The intent behind our actions can elevate or diminish their significance.

This quote highlights the importance of intention behind our actions, suggesting that a seemingly small deed can have a profound impact when done with genuine purpose, while a grand gesture may lose its value if lacking sincere intent. It reminds us to consider the motivations behind our actions, as they define the true worth of what we do.

Themes

IntentionActionSignificancePurposeMeaning

In practice

Example use cases

Using this quote in a motivational speech about the importance of meaningful actions.

More from Abdullah Ibn Mubarak

O man! Prepare yourself for the Hereafter, obey Allah to the extent of your need for Him and anger Him to the extent of your patience in Hell.
Abdullah Ibn MubarakRead
I love the saliheen (pious people) even though I’m not one of them, and I hate the taliheen (evil people) even though I (may be) worse than them.
Abdullah Ibn MubarakRead
The beginning of knowledge is the intention, then listening, then understanding, then action, then preservation, and then spreading it.
Abdullah Ibn MubarakRead

Similar quotes

To tell you the truth, the older I get, the less I know. I keep meeting people, both older and younger, who seem to have accrued so much more knowledge or expertise or certainty about who they are and the jobs they do. I just marvel at it.
Hugh LaurieRead
I have an extraordinary attention span. I manage to juggle two or three different ideas at the same time, and that's probably - if I have a gift, that's probably the best gift that's given me.
Paul NewmanRead
Eventually we all have to accept full and total responsibility for our actions, everything we have done, and have not done.
Hubert Selby, Jr.Read
If I wanted to doubt, then I could doubt endlessly, but at some point a person has to stop questioning and act, and at that point you have to trust something to be true. You have to act as if something is true, and so you choose the thing you have the most reason to believe in, you have to live in the world that you have the most hope in.
Orson Scott CardRead
By your own folly you will be brought as low as your worst enemy wishes.
Gautama BuddhaRead
It's surprisingly nice out here, peaceful and pretty-strange to be standing in the middle of a little garden while enclosed by the massive stone walls of the prison, like being at the exact center of a hurricane, and finding peace and silence in the middle of so much shrieking damage.
Lauren OliverRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.