“Instant Reading. A certain famous Fakir was claiming in the village that he could teach an illiterate person to read by a… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“People who have fallacious objectives are like the barren soil. The flowers grow from soil which is composed of the right objectives.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“The major barrier to understanding is wishful thinking and following that which pleases one.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“The question of divine knowledge is so deep that it is really known only to those who have it.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“The door of illumination is open to those for whom other doors are closed.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“When you realise the difference between the container and the content, you will have knowledge” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
He that is purified by love is pure; and he that is absorbed in the Beloved and hath abandoned all else is… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“It is your duty to do your best. It is not, however, your birth-right to prevail.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Sufism is experiential. Capacities, even those for learning beyond a certain point, are provoked by Sufis, by one's own efforts and what… — 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
“...most systems end up by making imagined humility into a form of vanity, so they end up with vanity just the same.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Contrary to Expectation. A wise man, the wonder of his age, taught his disciples from a seemingly inexhaustible store of wisdom. He… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“You can learn more in half an hour's direct contact with a source of knowledge (no matter the apparent reason for the… — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Virtually all organisations known to you work largely by means of your greed. They attract you because... they appeal to your greed.” — Idries Shah Copy Share Image
“Careful preparation is necessary before people can perceive something which is there all the time.” — 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
“Almost every day I am reminded of Saadi's reflection that there is no senseless tyranny like that of subordinates.” — 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
