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Learning Quotes by Idries Shah

45 Learning quotes by Idries Shah

All Learning quotes Idries Shah’s page

Idries Shah says people must first ask why they want to understand before they can truly learn. He claims progress comes from the ability to learn and that truth is kept alive by continual experience, not by repeating teachings. His ideas blend curiosity with a call for active thinking.

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“Opportunity's precious, and time is a sword.”

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“Progress comes through capacity to learn, and is irresistible.”

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

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“Virtually all organisations known to you work largely by means of your greed.”

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If your desire for 'good' is based on greed, it is not good, but greed.

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“If you cannot laugh frequently and genuinely, you have no soul.”

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“Words have to die if humans are to live.”

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“The Sufis,' runs the saying, 'understand with their hearts what the most learned scholars cannot understand with their minds”

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

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“Talent is the presence of ability and absence of understanding about the source and operation of knowledge.”

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“The major barrier to understanding is wishful thinking and following that which pleases one.”

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“Q: What is a fundamental mistake of man's? A: To think that he is alive, when he has merely fallen asleep in…

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“The institution of teachership is there for this reason, that the learner must learn how to learn.”

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“Why did I do such-and-such a thing?' is all very well. But what about 'How otherwise could I have done it?”

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“HE is a Master who may teach without it being totally labelled teaching; HE is a student who can learn without being…

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“It is no accident that Sufis find that they can connect most constructively with people who are well integrated into the world,…

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“From a personal experience and the examination of literature, I feel that we cannot take for granted that a dialogue, without information…

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“You can learn more in half an hour's direct contact with a source of knowledge (no matter the apparent reason for the…

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“A man is deficient in understanding until he perceives that there is a whole cycle of evolution possible within himself: repeating endlessly,…

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“Show a man too many camels' bones, or show them to him too often, and he will not be able to recognize…

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“It is a Sufi contention that truth is not discovered or maintained by the mere repetition of teachings. It can only be…

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“Learning how to learn involves examining assumptions. Mulla Nasrudin tales very often fulfil this funcition.”

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“Never follow any impulse to teach, however strong it might be. The command to teach is not felt as an impulsion.”

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

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

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“He who knows himself, knows his Lord' means, among other things, that self-deception prevents knowledge.”

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“Our objective is to achieve, by the understanding of the Origin, the Knowledge which comes through experience.”

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“There is no wisdom where there is no common sense: it cannot under those conditions find any expression.”

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“Assume that you are part-hypocrite and part heedless, and you will not be far wrong.”

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“Study institutions may become visible when the head is more emptied of imaginings.”

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“Many a “learned” man is destroyed by ignorance and by the learning which is of no use to him’ (Hadrat Ahmed ibn…

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“The real generosity is when a man does something generous when nobody knows about it.”

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“You have come a long way, and you do not know it. You have a long way to go, and you do…

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The Sufi is One who does not care when something is taken from him, but who does not cease to seek for…

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“Someone says that I haven’t taught him anything that he can remember. He can’t understand yet that that’s precisely what I am…

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“The Sufis are unanimous that a Guide (Sheikh) is absolutely essential, though never available on demand: 'the Sufis are not merchants'.”

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“People are always trying to understand. There is only one way to do that. It is to discover < + i +…

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

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“Real generosity is anonymous to the extent that a man should be prepared even to be considered ungenerous rather than explain it…

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“All approaches to a study or an individual may start with a desire for attention. However they start, they must never end…

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More by Idries Shah

“To be a Sufi is to detach from fixed ideas and from preconceptions; and not to try to avoid what is your lot.”

“Teach honesty by all means - you do know what it is, don't you?”

Prescribing hard work for the soft, or easy work for the hardy, is generally nonsense. What is always needed in any aim is right…

“Sufism is transmitted by means of the human exemplar, the teacher.”

“No existe práctica en aislamiento.”

A king who feared wasps once decreed that they were abolished. As it happened, they did him no harm. But he was eventually stung…

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

“Sufis are those who have expunged from their minds the human tendencies of envy and enmity.”

“Yes, the world is an illusion. But Truth is always being shown there.”

It is the message, not the man, which is important to the Sufis.

The human being, whether he realises it or not, is trusting someone or something every moment of the day.

“Who is the wrong person to criticise? You”

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

“People are always trying to understand. There is only one way to do that. It is to discover < + i + >why< +…

We view Sufism not as an ideology that molds people to the right way of belief or action, but as an art or science…