“I will not serve God like a labourer, in expectation of my wages. Rabia” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Sayings of the Prophet Trust: Trust in God – but tie your camel first.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“The Sufi teacher’s mission is to be in the service of those who can learn.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Most people, whatever their opinions and protestations, do not want to learn.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Learning how to learn involves examining assumptions. Mulla Nasrudin tales very often fulfil this funcition.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Show me a person who really knows what 'good' is, and I will show you that he almost never uses the word.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Remedy Your medicine is in you, and you do not observe it. Your ailment is from yourself, and you do not register… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Never follow any impulse to teach, however strong it might be. The command to teach is not felt as an impulsion.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Laziness - The laziness of adolescence is a rehearsal for the incapacity of old age.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“As swords were designed to kill They did well to make them tongue-shaped. (Anwar-i-Suhaili)” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“They say: 'Seek wisdom while you have the strength, or you may lose the strength without gaining wisdom.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“He who knows himself, knows his Lord' means, among other things, that self-deception prevents knowledge.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Self-mortification, far from producing liberation from material things, is far more likely to cause either an unhinged mind, delusions or a masochistic… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Stages First I thought that a Teacher must be right in all things. Then I imagined that my teacher was wrong in… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“You can learn more in half an hour's direct contact with a source of knowledge (no matter the apparent reason for the… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Three Things Three things cannot be retrieved: The arrow once sped from the bow The word spoken in haste The missed opportunity.… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Wisdom Sufian said: 'The wisdom which is invisible but which sustains is a hundred times better than the appearance of wisdom, for… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“It is no accident that Sufis find that they can connect most constructively with people who are well integrated into the world,… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Good. Show me a man who thinks that he knows what 'good' is, and I will probably be able to show you… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Salute to the Thief. Junaid of Baghdad was passing the scene of a public hanging, where a thief was on the scaffold.… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“It is a Sufi contention that truth is not discovered or maintained by the mere repetition of teachings. It can only be… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Counsels of Bahaudin You want to be filled. But something which is full has first to be emptied. Empty yourself so that… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk. As Prince Dara Shikoh says, in a Persian poem:… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“The Seeking of the Master. Musa Najib was asked why he charged a fee from those who came to his sessions; and… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Instant Reading. A certain famous Fakir was claiming in the village that he could teach an illiterate person to read by a… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
We view Sufism not as an ideology that molds people to the right way of belief or action, but as an art… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Contrary to Expectation. A wise man, the wonder of his age, taught his disciples from a seemingly inexhaustible store of wisdom. He… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“The would-be students wish to transcend books. But, ask yourselves: if someone says that books do not contain wisdom, and yet he… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Virtually all organisations known to you work largely by means of your greed.” — 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
