“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
“As swords were designed to kill They did well to make them tongue-shaped. (Anwar-i-Suhaili)” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
Scholars of the East and West have heroically consecrated their whole working lives to making available, by means of their own disciplines,… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“In the modern world we are in a paradoxical situation; because although in theory man knows that he can extend his attention… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Remembering and Forgetting You have not forgotten to remember; You have remembered to forget. But people can forget to forget. That is… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“The would-be students wish to transcend books. But, ask yourselves: if someone says that books do not contain wisdom, and yet he… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“But the minimum human duty is to serve others: it is no great attainment.” — 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
“If you want special illumination, look upon the human face: See clearly within laughter the Essence of Ultimate Truth.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Our heads are filled with ‘knowledge’, a knowledge that in some areas pre-empts our seeing anything at all.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“The existence of relative truth does not prove the non-existence of universal truth.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“There is no wisdom where there is no common sense: it cannot under those conditions find any expression.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Remedy Your medicine is in you, and you do not observe it. Your ailment is from yourself, and you do not register… — 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
“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
“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
“Wisdom Sufian said: 'The wisdom which is invisible but which sustains is a hundred times better than the appearance of wisdom, for… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
The Sufi is One who does not care when something is taken from him, but who does not cease to seek for… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Feeling important is a vice, not a virtue, however concealed as participation in something noble.” — 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
