"We (Aal-a-Muhammad) guided you from obscurity of ignorance and infidelity towards the splendours of knowledge and religion; we raised the standards of your life and culture for you. Because of us you saw the lights of truth and wisdom and came out of the darkness of heathenism (uncivilized or unenlightened state) and depravity (moral corruption or degradation)."
 

(Nahjul Balagha: Sermons, letters and saying of Hazrat Ali, Khutba of Hazrat Ali 8, p. 10)

"Let us make a short survey of their favours on us. We were ignorant of everything and were spiritually dead. They brought us back to life and showed us the path of wisdom. We were blind, they gave us the eyes to see for ourselves what is right and what is wrong. We were groping in the dark, they showed us the light. We had lost the track, they showed us the way to salvation. We were lacking in knowledge, they gave us knowledge. We were falling in hell-fire, they picked us up and put us in the middle of righteous. In short, they gave done us the favours which we cannot count. They have given us all that is good in this world and the world to come."
 

Majlis 8: To Thank the Imam in Weal or Woe from Qazi Noaman's Code of Conduct for the followers of Imam (pp. 51-55)