Sorry, I didn't realise they were Koranic quotes, (or at least I thought 'He's surely not using these as examples?') but ok, do you honestly consider these to be beautiful quotes full of wisdom? Especially considering the vast pantheon of literature the world has to choose from, if they were wanting some prima facie evidence of beautiful wisdom. But each to their own. The greek will inherit the Earth,
“Verily, the wasters are brothers of the devils,” or “Don’t allow your hand to become chained to your neck (in spending), nor extend it to its fullest reach.”
“And above every knowledgeable one is one with more knowledge.” “Those who contain their anger and pardon the people” or “Pardon, enjoin good, and abstain from the ignorant.
I’m going to assume you are not deliberately missing the point here. I’ve already said that I don’t think the wisdom found in the Qur’an is necessarily unique to it. However, with the Qur’an being an incredibly important piece of human literature, particularly Arabic literature, and with me being a person who has studied Arabic and the Qur’an with an intense passion, I cannot help but to appreciate and identify with those elements of the book that I agree with.
With its widely recognizable style and structure, the Qur’an is easily peppered throughout conversation to illustrate a point. That is one of its strengths and its weaknesses. Those who will naturally gravitate towards the good bits might be quick to quote things like “there is no compulsion in religion,” or, “When you judge between the people, judge with justice” or “God loves those who do good.” The poetic language of the Qur’an makes those points resonate even more with the audience.
At the same time, those with an inclination towards the nasty parts will cherry-pick things like “Kill them wherever you find them” or “don’t let compassion sway you in implementing the religion of Allah” or “Fight them! God will punish them with your hands.”
Most people don’t recite the Qur’an cover to cover. They pick out a verse or a set of verses that supports their point, then move on with their argument from there. Just like most people probably don’t spend their time reading Shakespeare, but might readily say something like, “That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.”
People who may never have read the full Declaration of Independence are still likely to recognize, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” Is that line profoundly and uniquely wise and beautiful on its own? Not really. But a good orator, like, say, a young African American civil rights leader, might sprinkle that line into a speech for resounding effect. It really doesn’t matter that the same document refers to Native Americans as “merciless Indian savages.”
Topic: The Wisdom of the Koran