Idries Shah Quotes - Page 4

Poor greedy one, wherever he runs He's after food, and death is after him.(Saadi)

Opportunity's precious, and time is a sword.

The candle burned the moth:But soon it will vanish in its own fat.

Saying of the ProphetAccusationsAnyone reviling a brother for a sin will not himself die before committing it.

When people believe that the form is more important than the Truth, they will not find truth, but will stay with form.

Proverbs and truisms are for this reason dangerous, because they produce blindness or non-thought.

When the mind is full of established biases, it will not be able to graft Sufism on top of them.

Take the straight path, even if it is long: marry no widow, even if she is a houri.

When you get a principle on which everyone is agreed, you get the beginning of complacency and deterioration.

The union of the mind and intuition which brings about illumination, and the development which the Sufis seek, is based upon love.

Patience is the food of understanding.

The Path is not to be found anywhere except in human service

You may be able to get the bone down your throat But if it reaches your stomach it will tear your navel.(Gulistan)

To 'see both sides' of a problem is the surest way to prevent its complete solution. Because there are always more than two sides.

If, from time to time, you give up expectation, you will be able to perceive what it is you are getting.

Right time, right place, right people equals success.Wrong time, wrong place, wrong people equals most of the real human history.

If you assume that it is there, you will generally not be far off the truth…

Saying of the ProphetAngerYou ask for a piece of advice. I tell you : 'Do not get angry.' He is strong who can withhold anger.

Sufi Teachers are not, as you might hope, people who make you feel peace and harmony.

Learning without action is like wax without honey.(Anwar-i-Suhaili)

I am the Real, for I have not ceased to be real – through the Real.

Everything man needs is in the world.

The teacher works in accordance with the prospects of his students and the possibility of maintaining the community of Sufis.

Laziness is always your fault. It is the sign that a man has persevered in uselessness for too long.

...action is in fact knowledge in operation. Right action stems from right knowledge. Right knowledge is acquired through the teacher.

Saying of the ProphetObjectsIt is your attachment to objects which make you blind and deaf.

It is experience which teaches, not controversy based on supposed logic and assumptions of what is likely to be true.

Debating whether one trusts or not is a sign that one does not want to trust at all, and therefore is still incapable of it.

Man thinks many things. He thinks he is One. He is usually several. Until he becomes One, he cannot have a fair idea of what he is at all.

Knowledge is something which you can use.Belief is something which uses you.

A real secret is something which only one person knows.

He who sleeps on the Road will lose either his hat or his head.

Study the assumptions behind your actions. Then study the assumptions behind your assumptions.

Helping othersI order you to assist any oppressed person, whether he is a Moslem or not.

Be a dog, but don't be a younger brother.Proverb.

What you are seeking in your retreat, I see clearly in every road and alleyway.

Nobody can stand between you and knowledge if you are fit for it.

Rust through washing never became white.

The Sufis say, "This is not a religion; it is religion

Sufism is therefore not 'Do as I say and not as I do', or even 'Do as I do', but 'Experience and you will know'.

Sufism, the "secret tradition," is not available on the basis of assumptions which belong to another world, the world of intellect.

Because there is a word for perfection, people will always imagine that they know it.

Feeling important is a vice, not a virtue, however concealed as participation in something noble.

Eat what you desire, but dress like other people.

But the minimum human duty is to serve others: it is no great attainment.

The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk. As Prince Dara Shikoh says, in a Persian poem: Do you wish to be included with the Lords of Sight? From speech (then) pass on to experience. By saying 'Unity', you do not become a monotheist; The mouth does not become sweet from the word 'Sugar

Saying of the ProphetEnvyEnvy devours good deeds, as a fire devours fuel.

From the beginning, from the age of Adam to the time of kingship: from the powerful, pardon: from the poor, sins.

TeachingOne hour's teaching is better than a whole night of prayer.

When there is a true or useful thing, there is sure to be a counterfeit.

EPITAPH OF JALALUDIN RUMIWhen we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men.

Man has less than he suspects of: Time, Friends, Hopes, Qualities.Proverb

You fear tomorrow: yet yesterday is just as dangerous.

We are adjured not to burn the candle at both ends.But how many people have verified that physically possible?

The colour of the water seems to be the colour of the glass into which it has been poured

None meets harm who knows his capacity.

There can be no spirituality, according to the Sufi masters, without psychology, psychological insight and sociological balance.

Sufism is the doing in this lifetime what any fool will be doing in then thousand years’ time.

What do I sing, and what does my tambourine sing?

Inheritance and culture obscure people’s higher capacities.