“Scraps The scraps from the meal of the Emir are larger than the gifts of halwa from the merchant. Timur Fazil” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“...action is in fact knowledge in operation. Right action stems from right knowledge. Right knowledge is acquired through the teacher.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“A loan is the scissors of friendship. A man's own tongue may cut his throat. The cage has no value without the… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Sufism, the "secret tradition," is not available on the basis of assumptions which belong to another world, the world of intellect.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“He who is fortunately enlightened [the Sufi] Knows that sophistry is from the devil and love from Adam.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Sufism is therefore not 'Do as I say and not as I do', or even 'Do as I do', but 'Experience and… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Counsels of Bahaudin You want to be filled. But something which is full has first to be emptied. Empty yourself so that… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“The Sufis regard systems which treat everyone alike as mechanical and degenerate.” — 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
“A great deal of thought is only a substitute for the thoughts that the individual would really find useful at the time.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“You have come a long way, and you do not know it. You have a long way to go, and you do… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
The colour of the water seems to be the colour of the glass into which it has been poured'. — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Not to be greedy is, paradoxically, the highest form of looking after one's true interests.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“That which is given free is never knowledge. It may be information....but knowledge does not come in that manner.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“You can perceive a person's aspiration if it is genuine, because this creates a change in the emanations from such a person.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Service I will not serve God like a labourer, in expectation of my wages. Rabia el-Adawia.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Ali, Son of the Father of the Seeker Ali said: 'None may arrive at the Truth until he is able to think… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Assume that you are part-hypocrite and part heedless, and you will not be far wrong.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Real generosity is anonymous to the extent that a man should be prepared even to be considered ungenerous rather than explain it… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Remember the proverb: 'A sign is enough for the alert, but a thousand counsels are not enough for the negligent.” — 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
