Idries Shah Quotes

81 quotes in 905 categories

• A generous person may not have wisdom: but, unlike others, he has the means to gain it.
• The learned person who only talks will never Penetrate to the inner heart of humans.
• To 'see both sides' of a problem is the surest way to prevent its complete solution. Because there are always more than two sides.
• History is not usually what has happened. History is what some people have thought to be significant.
• People who speak or act in an ordinary fashion are most likely to be those who have been the recipients of higher experiences. But because…
• Do not try to be humble: learn humility.
• When tomorrow comes, think tomorrow's thoughts.
• A man who believes the word of a donkey in preference to my word does not deserve to be lent anything.
• If you can turn a murderer into a mere thief, you are making progress.
• If you give what can be taken, you are not really giving. Take what you are given, not what you want to be given. Give…
• Anyone can see that an ass laden with books remains a donkey. A human being laden with the undigested results of a tussle with thoughts…
• Exercise power by means of kindness, and you may be causing more damage than you could by cruelty. Neither approach is correct.
• ... when we are talking about 'Christians' and 'Moslems' we must first make sure that we are talking about people who have an idea, which…
• When you realize the difference between the container and the content, you will have knowledge.
• A king who feared wasps once decreed that they were abolished. As it happened, they did him no harm. But he was eventually stung to…
• Advice is priceless: when it becomes interference it is preposterous.
• The word 'choice' is a fraud while people choose only what they have been taught to choose.
• Better to be safe than to be sorry' is a remark of value only when these are the actual alternatives.
• The impatient man is his own enemy; he slams the door on his own progress.
• If you want to strengthen an enemy and make him exult - hate him.

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