“Yes, the world is an illusion. But Truth is always being shown there.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Before the antidote arrives from Iraq The man with snake-bite will be dead.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Dicho del Mulá Nasrudín. Si sobrevivo a esta vida sin morirme, me sorprenderé.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“I longed to teach, but I had to wait until the desire had left me before I could really do so.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Sentirse importante es un vicio, no una virtud, no importa lo escondido que está como participación en algo noble.” — 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
“Cualquier sociedad que ordene a sus miembros adherirse a ambas cosas (cortesía y verdad) es fraudulenta.” — 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
“He who knows himself, knows his Lord' means, among other things, that self-deception prevents knowledge.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“If you are penniless you will have a thousand dreams. Get even a single piece of money, however, and you will have… — 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
“A Better Beard that Yours. 'All true devotees wear a beard,' said the Imam to his audience. 'Show me a thick and… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Presence and Absence A certain person may have, as you say, a wonderful presence: I do not know. What I do know… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
From imperial, economic and ideological causes, many cultures are the inheritors, and hence the prisoners, of attitudes of scorn and disdain for… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Sandals. The Sufi teacher Ghulam-Shah was asked what pattern he used in formulating his courses for disciples. He said: 'Barefoot until you… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“But the minimum human duty is to serve others: it is no great attainment.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
Study the assumptions behind your actions. Then study the assumptions behind your assumptions. — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Our objective is to achieve, by the understanding of the Origin, the Knowledge which comes through experience.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“One of the basic Sufi needs is to enable people to see themselves as they really are.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“When humility is exercised, people begin to realise that they do not, as it were, exist at all.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“if... says: 'Do not be greedy, be generous', you may inwardly interpret this in such a manner that you will develop a… — 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