Has man anything more precious than his heart?
Calling someone a man of brave heart, people respect him
as a batyr. They have but a poor idea of any other virtues
of the human heart.

Mercy, kindness, the capacity to treat
a stranger as a dear brother and wish him all the blessings
one would wish one’s Self all these are the commands of
the heart. And love likewise comes from the heart. The
tongue that obeys the heart will tell no lie. Only hypocrites
forget about the heart. Yet those men of brave heart? often
prove to be unworthy of praise. Unless they value courtesy
and honour their vows, are averse to evil and lead lost
souls along the straight and narrow path, not following the
crowd like a miserable сиг, unless they stand up in defence
of a righteous cause in the face of all difficulties and not
turn from the truth when this is so easy to do then the
heart that beats in the breast of those respected as batyrs is
that of a wolf, not a human being.
Indeed, the Kazakh is also a child of mankind. Many
of the Kazakhs stray from the path of truth not through any
deficiency of reason but because they lack the courage and
staunchness in their heart to accept and follow wise соun
sels. I do not believe many of those who argue that they
have done evil through ignorance. No, they have enough
knowledge, but their shameful weakness of will and lazi
ness cause them to ignore it. Having stumbled once, few
will be strong enough to mend their ways.
Those who are praised as stout dzhighits, brave and
clever, will more often than not put each other up to dark,
sordid deeds. Their blind aping of one another and dare
devil capers are a frequent cause of misfortunes.
If a man who has indulged in evil and in unbridled
bragging cannot stop and chasten himself, and does not
attempt to cleanse himself before God or his own соп
science
One may well question whether he can be called a
man.

Abay(Абай Құнанбаев)