# God only bless smart people.



## taeka

"God only bless smart people"

Hey, I know it may sound weird but I once saw this proverb on wikiquote and decided to make a tattoo out of it,

and I stupidly think that it still there untill today I checked on wikiquote and it's gone.

I'm desperate right now, could you please help me to translate it into Arabic?

THanks alot

p/s: I did try google's translation but I didn't (want to) trust it because you-know-why


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## CarlosPerezMartinez

Kindly note that tattoos with the name of Allah could be offensive for many people. My version would be: 
لا يبارك الله إلا الناس الأذكياء


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## elroy

CarlosPerezMartinez said:


> لا يبارك الله إلا الناس الأذكياء


 Your version means "God *blesses* only smart people" ("Dios bendice...").

"(May) God bless only smart people" ("Que Dios bendiga...") has a very different meaning.

Taeka will have to clarify which is meant.

Also, I would drop الناس. It's not necessary in this context.


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## CarlosPerezMartinez

Elroy, you are right (as always  ), I guess then the right answer should be:   بارك الله الأذكياء


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## elroy

CarlosPerezMartinez said:


> I guess then the right answer should be: بارك الله الأذكياء


 I would use ليبارك to avoid confusion, because بارك can also mean "blessed" (past tense). 
Oh, and you would need to add فقط ("only").


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## Andrew___

May I say that I think taeka meant to say "God only bless*es* smart people".

Given the position of "only" in the English sentence, and the sense of the whole idea, I think this is more likely.  

Perhaps taeka can clarify.


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## taeka

First of all I'd like to thanks all of you guys, you guys rock!!!!
Secondly, I once asked my US friend about the "bless" stuff.
I was like "Hey why people say it's "God bless you" but not " God blesses you"?"
they explained something like it's the short term for "God (did) bless you" or God (will) bless you."

Back to my sentence, I meant "God (will just) only bless smart people" so that's why I didnt use "es" in "bless."

But finally, after tons of your replies, I'm so confused because I really dont know what's the right (and good) version for my sentence because (sorry, no offense) I don't know anything about Arabic (but I'd love to learn it).

so once again, thanks you all
you guy rock!!!


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## taeka

Sorry Elroy for the mistakes, because I'm so hyper right now with all your enthusiasm and excited also because I'm about to get my tattoo 

and thanks for editing my post


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## elroy

Your American friend is incorrect. "God bless you" is not short for "God did bless you" or "God will bless you" but "*May* God bless you." It expresses a wish, not something that happened or will happen. So if you want to refer to the future, you have to say "God *will* only bless smart people."

As for what the "right" version is, since you're not sure what the original was there's no way for us to determine which translation corresponds to the quote you found. I think you should just let us know what you want to say (whether it's "will bless," "blesses," or otherwise) and we can help you translate that.

"God will only bless smart people" would be لن يبارك الله إلا الأذكياء.


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## taeka

okay, my story is I once fail for my examination and after a year with all my effort I finally made it to university

so I decided to made a tattoo which mean right like what i want

"God will only bless smart people"

But I'm afraid it's a little creepy because like Carlos said above, is it a little inappropriate when we mention God in our sentence?


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## Andrew___

May I suggest an alternate tattoo for you, to overcome the "creepy" concerns which you mentioned above:

رزقي هو بفضل الله
(My success/blessings come from God).

I think this sounds less arrogant and more sensitive than "God only blesses smart people".

Grateful for your thoughts in relation to my tattoo.


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## taeka

It's a very good version but i didn't mean it that way because i truly didn't receive any luck for my exam this year(actually I did receive some, but I would love to think that it was all my effort  )
And i want it to be more like "if you want to get blessed by God, you have to make yourself smart (by study)" i know it may sound a little arrogant but it's how i felt when i fail


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## taeka

Hello everyone
after all your helpful replies especially from Elroy 
I decided to take لن يبارك الله إلا الأذكياء. as my tattoo

But the problem is i want it (my tattoo) to be in 2 different rows
and like what I said, I don't know anything about Arabic so i don't really think i know how to cut it
so...... could you guys please help me again?


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## Andrew___

A suitable way of cutting it is:

لن يبارك الله
 إلا الأذكياء


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## eric489

I'm a novice arabic level but I understood the sentences posted before, so I'll (for once) permit to give an advice. 

I'll admit that mentionning God on a tatoo is pretty provocative, and moreover the sentence :  لن يبارك الله إلا الأذكياء reflects that God excludes a certain number of people, which is contrary to monotheistic religious beliefs and expresses a lil' cocky side, kinda like if you were showing off.

So if you want my two cents, i'd tell you to go for Andrew_'s translation. It's more humble, down to earth and people might even appreciate it.

But that's only my opinion.

For the two rows thing, I don't understand it. Do you mean you want the text to be centered on two rows ? 

like this ? 
لن يبارك الله
 إلا الأذكياء 

Hope this helps.


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## taeka

* Elroy, you freaked me out!!!!*

Wait, if we cut it that way so we have to read it from right to left and from bottom to top?
Because I realized the letter (that supposed to be) the 1st one is put in the bottom line in the right of Andrew's cutting......

So now it's freaking me out....


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## eric489

taeka said:


> * Elroy, you freaked me out!!!!*
> 
> Wait, if we cut it that way so we have to read it from right to left and from bottom to top?
> Because I realized the letter (that supposed to be) the 1st one is put in the bottom line in the right of Andrew's cutting......
> 
> So now it's freaking me out....




No no, you still read it from right to left, from top to bottom.


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## eric489

I've had this issue before and still struggle wit it.

Seems like all arab fronts are minimized to the maximum on whatever webpage you'll read.
Haven't even bothered to ask why, but it must be technical.

In the meantime here's a solution : Just copy/past your text in word/openoffice/abiword.... (whatever text document) and enlarge it. 
It'll do the job.

Here's a bold version :

*لن يبارك الله
 إلا الأذكياء *

and another one :

لن يبارك الله
إلا الأذكياء  
 Enjoy


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## taeka

Thanks Eric, it's very kind of you!!!!!


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## AndyRoo

*لن يبارك الله
إلا الأذكياء *
This could be read as "only the clever will bless God", perhaps?


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## elroy

In theory, yes. To completely avoid ambiguity, one could say الله لن يبارك إلا الأذكياء.


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## taeka

AndyRoo said:


> *لن يبارك الله
> إلا الأذكياء *
> This could be read as "only the clever will bless God", perhaps?



So dear Elroy, If I
1- Cut that sentence into 2 rows like that
2- am Smart

So I could even bless God

OMG
I'm PANIC!!


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## elroy

It's not about whether the sentence is divided in two.It is ambiguous either way.


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## taeka

So how to firmly sure that there's no other way to misunderstand that sentence, dear Elroy?


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## elroy

See Post 21.


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## eric489

taeka said:


> So how to firmly sure that there's no other way to misunderstand that sentence, dear Elroy?



Kinda surprises me that I haven't notice that ambiguity first.

Anyhow, use Elroy's translation, it completely removes any doubt.

الله لن يبارك إلا الأذكياء


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## AndyRoo

Another possibility:

الله يبارك
 الأذكياء

Literally: "God blesses the clever".


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## taeka

eric489 said:


> Kinda surprises me that I haven't notice that ambiguity first.
> 
> Anyhow, use Elroy's translation, it completely removes any doubt.
> 
> الله لن يبارك إلا الأذكياء



So how could I separate it into 2rows?


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## eric489

الله لن يبارك
إلا الأذكياء 



الله يبارك
الأذكياء 



Andy's version is also good because it supresses the double negation.
It also somehow supresses the idea of provocation.


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## taeka

Thanks Eric, it's very kind of you


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## elroy

AndyRoo said:


> الله يبارك
> الأذكياء


 But the original is "God blesses *only* smart people."

The double negative is completely acceptable and natural here; indeed, it is the most idiomatic way to translate the sentence into Arabic.


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## taeka

So it's mean I shouldn't have added the "will only" to the sentence from the very beginning?


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