“It is axiomatic that the attempt to become a Sufi through a desire for personal power as normally understood will not succeed.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“There is a saying that, according to what a person's mentality is, even an angel may seem to him to have a… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“The existence of relative truth does not prove the non-existence of universal truth.” — 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
“The institution of teachership is there for this reason, that the learner must learn how 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
Study the assumptions behind your actions. Then study the assumptions behind your assumptions. — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“They asked Abboud of Omdurman: 'Which is better, to be young or to be old?' He said: 'To be old is to… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Show a man too many camels' bones,or show them to him too often,and he will not be able to recognize a camel… — 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
“HE is a Master who may teach without it being totally labelled teaching; HE is a student who can learn without being… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“When people believe that the form is more important than the Truth, they will not find truth, but will stay with form.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Show a man too many camels' bones, or show them to him too often, and he will not be able to recognize… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
The union of the mind and intuition which brings about illumination, and the development which the Sufis seek, is based upon love. — 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
“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
