“If you really want to learn, do not be surprised if someone tries to teach you. And do not lightly reject the… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“The teacher works in accordance with the prospects of his students and the possibility of maintaining the community of Sufis.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Inner Knowledge -- You want to become wise in one lesson: First become a real human being.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Sufism, the "secret tradition," is not available on the basis of assumptions which belong to another world, the world of intellect.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Sufism is therefore not 'Do as I say and not as I do', or even 'Do as I do', but 'Experience and… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“If you seek small things to do, and do them well, great things will seek you, and demand to be performed.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“If you will not reprove yourself,’ Saadi says, ‘you will not welcome reproof from another.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Whoever might perfume a scorpion Will not thereby escape its sting. Bahaudin Naqshband” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Any society which enjoins its members to adhere to both of these (politeness and truth) is a fraud.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
When Fortune knocks, open the door,' they say. But why should one make fortune knock, by keeping the door shut? — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Do not tell your secrets to everyone in this headquarters, Earth. We have surveyed it well. There was nobody to whom to… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Q: What is a fundamental mistake of man's? A: To think that he is alive, when he has merely fallen asleep in… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“The major barrier to understanding is wishful thinking and following that which pleases one.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“It is your duty to do your best. It is not, however, your birth-right to prevail.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Sufis deny the absolute reality of time, space and physical form. These things are both relative and local. They only appear to… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Real generosity is anonymous to the extent that a man should be prepared even to be considered ungenerous rather than explain it… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Day and Night The night is long: do not shorten it by sleep. The day is fair: do not darken it with… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“All approaches to a study or an individual may start with a desire for attention. However they start, they must never end… — 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
“Poor greedy one, wherever he runs He's after food, and death is after him. (Saadi)” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
Mediation - Before you learn how to meditate, you must unlearn what you think meditation might be. — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“The man who knows must discharge a function. The one who does not, cannot arrogate one to himself; he can only try… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Almost every day I am reminded of Saadi's reflection that there is no senseless tyranny like that of subordinates.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Forms have changed through the centuries in obedience to the external world to which all forms belong.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“All forms are limited. Some of the limitations are time, place, culture, language.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
The colour of the water seems to be the colour of the glass into which it has been poured'. — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Has it not occurred to you that, conversely, other people do not have your difficulties because they do not react as you… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Abu-Yaqub al-Susi: the Sufi is 'One who does not care when something is taken from him, but who does not cease to… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“The people of the world have a fixed destiny. But the spiritually developed receive what is “not” in their destiny.” — 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
“If you seek a teacher, try to become a real student. If you want to be a student, try to find a… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Fettered feet in the presence of friends is better than living in a garden with strangers.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Saying of the Mulla Nasrudin. If I survive this life without dying, I'll be surprised.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Not to be greedy is, paradoxically, the highest form of looking after one's true interests.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“It has truly been said that 'Humility is not so much a virtue as a necessity, in order to learn.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Virtually all organisations known to you work largely by means of your greed. They attract you because... they appeal to your greed.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Man (and woman) has an infinite capacity for self-development. Equally, he has an infinite capacity for self-destruction.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Remember the proverb: 'A sign is enough for the alert, but a thousand counsels are not enough for the negligent.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Only the search for truth is valid, the desire for wisdom the motive. The method is assimilation, not study.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“The person that you feel yourself to be, according to the Sufis, is a false person, which has no true reality.” — 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
