Idries Shah Quotes - Page 9

You must improve yourself on a higher level if you are to be able to help people, and not just weep over them.

That which is capable of perceiving objective reality is, in Sufism, the human soul (ruh).

From a personal experience and the examination of literature, I feel that we cannot take for granted that a dialogue, without information and perhaps without understanding, is possible between any individuals or groups on all levels. So the prerequisite is information.

People talk about ‘service, effort, love, knowledge’. But with knowledge you know what love is, and what it is not.

Please, not again what you studied, how long you spent at it, how many books you wrote, what people thought of you - but: what did you learn?

I will not serve God like a labourer, in expectation of my wages. Rabia

A man must be a Salomon before his magical ring will work

The secret of Sufism is that it has no secret at all'.

Better to quarrel with a friend than to support enemies.

Presence and AbsenceA certain person may have, as you say, a wonderful presence: I do not know. What I do know is that he has a perfectly delightful absence.

As swords were designed to killThey did well to make them tongue-shaped.(Anwar-i-Suhaili)

Most people, whatever their opinions and protestations, do not want to learn.

Instant Reading. A certain famous Fakir was claiming in the village that he could teach an illiterate person to read by a lightning technique. Nasrudin stepped out of the crowd: 'Very well, teach me – now.' The Fakir touched the Mulla's forehead, and said: 'Now go home immediately and read a book.' Half an our later Nasrudin was back in the market-place, clutching a book. The Fakir had gone on his way. 'Can you read now, Mulla?' the people asked him. 'Yes, I can read – but that is not the point. Where is that charlatan?' 'How can he be a charlatan if he has caused you to read without learning?' 'Because this book, which is authoritative, says: “All Fakirs are frauds”.

Anyone can see that an ass laden with books remains a donkey. A human being laden with the undigested results of a tussle with thoughts and books, however, still passes for wise.

If you are uninterested in what I say, there's an end to it. If you like what I say, please try to understand which previous influences have made you like it. If you like some of the things I say, and dislike others, you could try to understand why. If you dislike all I say, why not try to find out what formed your attitude?

A stolen kiss is not easily returned.

But the world itself, as well as special attitudes, properly understood, constitute the Sufi school.

The happiness of the superficial: when a man who has lost his donkey finds it again.

People who have fallacious objectives are like the barren soil. The flowers grow from soil which is composed of the right objectives.

The selection and following of a spiritual guide is the most important duty of a Sufi.

Sufism is experience, and hence not to be defined – imprisoned – in perennial, static categories.

I am an idol worshipper; for I understand what idol worship means, and the idolater does not.

What goes into a salt-mine becomes salt.

A man's capacity is the same as his breadth of vision.

When you realise the difference between the container and the content, you will have knowledge.

Good. Show me a man who thinks that he knows what 'good' is, and I will probably be able to show you a horror of a person. Show me a person who really knows what 'good' is, and I will show you that he almost never uses the word.

Humility has to precede instruction.

Man (and woman) has an infinite capacity for self-development. Equally, he has an infinite capacity for self-destruction. A human being may be clinically alive and yet, despite all appearances, spiritually dead.

ScrapsThe scraps from the meal of the Emir are larger than the gifts of halwa from the merchant. Timur Fazil

Ali, Son of the Father of the SeekerAli said: 'None may arrive at the Truth until he is able to think that the Path itself may be wrong. This is because those who can only believe that it must be right are not believers, but people who are incapable of thinking otherwise than they already think. Such people are not men at all. Like animals they must follow certain beliefs, and during this time they cannot learn. Because they cannot be called “humanity”, they cannot arrive at the Truth.

Like calls to like, truth to truth and deceit to deceit.

Nothing can defile the Sufi, and he in fact purifies everything.” Abu-Turab al-Nakhsabi.

Miracles, to the Sufi, are not evidential, they are instrumental.

… the Sufi attitude is: ‘Let the real truth, whatever it may be, be revealed to me’.

The man who knows must discharge a function. The one who does not, cannot arrogate one to himself; he can only try to do so.

A book, for the Sufis, is an instrument as much as it is something to give information....The key is the teacher.

Imagination blocks you like a bolt on a door. Burn that bar. (Rumi)

Has it not occurred to you that, conversely, other people do not have your difficulties because they do not react as you do to what happens?

The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk.

Give and TakeThe Chief takes less than he is givenAnd gives more than he has taken.

Better to be safe than to be sorry' is a remark of value only when these are the actual alternatives.

Materialism, attachment to things of the world, includes pride. Many religious people suffer from pride: taking pleasure or even delight in being good, or religious.

How many friends would you have if you went from one to another asking them to conceal a dead body?

From time to time ponder whether you are unconsciously saying:'Truth is what I happen to be thinking at this moment.

Whoever might perfume a scorpionWill not thereby escape its sting. Bahaudin Naqshband

Before garden, vine or grape was in the world," writes one, "our soul was drunken with immortal wine.

The would-be students wish to transcend books.But, ask yourselves: if someone says that books do not contain wisdom, and yet he writes books; books do not contain Sufism, and yet he continues to publish books on Sufism, what is really happening? It really is your duty, and not mine, to ask and to find the answer to that question, if you are interested enough.

Trying to force something is the best way to stop it from happening.

All forms are limited. Some of the limitations are time, place, culture, language.

Premature independence is the daughter of conceit.

Do not tell your secrets to everyone in this headquarters, Earth. We have surveyed it well. There was nobody to whom to entrust secrets.

Hit your hand on a stone and expect it to hurt.

That which is given free is never knowledge. It may be information....but knowledge does not come in that manner.

If you forsake a path, it is because you were hoping for conviction from it. You seek conviction, not self-knowledge.

The would-be Sufi needs guidance precisely because books, texts, while telling you what is needed, do not tell you when.

Deteriorated science is a cult, so is imitative or deteriorated Sufism.

They say: 'Seek wisdom while you have the strength, or you may lose the strength without gaining wisdom.

As with any other specialisation, teaching is a vocation, open only to those who are truly capable of discharging its functions.

A Better Beard that Yours. 'All true devotees wear a beard,' said the Imam to his audience. 'Show me a thick and lustrous beard and I'll show you a true believer!' 'My goat has a beard far bushier and longer than yours,' replied Nasrudin. 'Does that mean he is a better Muslim than you?

SENTENCES OF THE KHAJAGANRUDBARI : Heart to heart is an essential means of passing on the secrets of the Path.