The impatient man is his own enemy; he slams the door on his own progress. — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
Effort makes some great men famous. Even greater effort enables other great men to remain unknown. — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
A man who believes the word of a donkey in preference to my word does not deserve to be lent anything. — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
The stupidest man I ever met had a favourite saying. It was: 'What do you think I am, stupid, or something? — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
MAN: Kick him-he'll forgive you. Flatter him-he may or may not see through you. But ignore him and he'll hate you — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
When the Higher Man does something worthy of admiration, it is an evidence of his Mastership, not the object of it. — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
The more wakeful a man is to the things which surround him, the more asleep is he, and his waking is worse… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
If you want to make an ordinary man happy, or think that he is happy, give him money, power, flattery, gifts, honours.… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
Man (and woman) has an infinite capacity for self-development. Equally, he has an infinite capacity for self-destruction. A human being may be… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
People who speak or act in an ordinary fashion are most likely to be those who have been the recipients of higher… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
Like the bat, the Sufi is asleep to 'things of the day' - the familiar struggle for existence which the ordinary man… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
If a pot can multiply. One day Nasrudin lent his cooking pots to a neighbour, who was giving a feast. The neighbour… — 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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
“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 Image
“Sufis are those who have expunged from their minds the human tendencies of envy and enmity.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Yes, the world is an illusion. But Truth is always being shown there.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
The human being, whether he realises it or not, is trusting someone or something every moment of the day. — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
