“Careful preparation is necessary before people can perceive something which is there all the time.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“A book, for the Sufis, is an instrument as much as it is something to give information…The key is the teacher.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
Knowledge is not gained, it is there all the time. It is the "veils" which have to be dissolved in the mind. — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Whoever gives knowledge to a fool loses it And who keeps it from the deserving does wrong.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“The question of divine knowledge is so deep that it is really known only to those who have it.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“The real generosity is when a man does something generous when nobody knows about it.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“You have come a long way, and you do not know it. You have a long way to go, and you do… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk. — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Sufis hold that the superior experience and knowledge comes to a man or woman in exact accordance with his worth,capacity,and earning of… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Superior experience and knowledge will be made available to a man or woman in exact accordance with his worth, capacity and earning… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Sufism," according to the Sufi, "is an adventure in living, necessary adventure.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“As the Eastern saying, by the sage Hilali, has it, 'one person who understands is worth a hundred who merely obey a… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“To be a Sufi is to detach from fixed ideas and from preconceptions; and not to try to avoid what is your lot.” — Idries Shah Copy Share
Prescribing hard work for the soft, or easy work for the hardy, is generally nonsense. What is always needed in any aim is right… — Idries Shah Copy Share
A king who feared wasps once decreed that they were abolished. As it happened, they did him no harm. But he was eventually stung… — Idries Shah Copy Share
“Do not tell your secrets to everyone in this headquarters, Earth. We have surveyed it well. There was nobody to whom to entrust secrets.” — Idries Shah Copy Share
“Sufis are those who have expunged from their minds the human tendencies of envy and enmity.” — Idries Shah Copy Share
The human being, whether he realises it or not, is trusting someone or something every moment of the day. — Idries Shah Copy Share
“You may be able to get the bone down your throat But if it reaches your stomach it will tear your navel. (Gulistan)” — Idries Shah Copy Share
“People are always trying to understand. There is only one way to do that. It is to discover < + i + >why< +… — Idries Shah Copy Share
We view Sufism not as an ideology that molds people to the right way of belief or action, but as an art or science… — Idries Shah Copy Share
