Best Idries Shah Sayings
- One cannot learn from someone whom one distrusts. Cannot Learn
- If you want to make an ordinary man happy, or think that he is happy, give him money, power, flattery, gifts, honours. If you want… Flattery
- You must empty out the dirty water before you fill the pitcher with clean. Clean
- Materialism, attachment to things of the world, includes pride. Many religious people suffer from pride: taking pleasure or even delight in being good, or religious. Attachment
- It is not only a matter of not caring who knows - it is also a matter of knowing who cares. Care
- To be obsessed by the idea of freedom, for instance, is itself a form of slavery. Such people are in the chains of the hope… Able
- A motto of the human race: Let me do as I like, and give me approval as well. Approval
- You need not wonder whether you should have an unreliable person as a friend. An unreliable person is nobody's friend. Friend
- The proverb says that 'The answer to a fool is silence'. Observation, however, indicates that almost any other answer will have the same effect in… Answer
- Opinion is usually something which people have when they lack comprehensive information. Comprehensive
- An egocentric pessimist is a person who thinks he hasn't changed, but that other people are behaving worse than before. Behaving
- It is not important to have said a thing first, or best - or even most interestingly. What is important is to say it on… Best
- Prescribing hard work for the soft, or easy work for the hardy, is generally nonsense. What is always needed in any aim is right effort,… Aim
- Right time, right place, right people equals success. Wrong time, wrong place, wrong people equals most of the real human history. Equals
- Banality is like boredom: bored people are boring people, people who think that things are banal are themselves banal. Interesting people can find something interesting… All
- A real secret is something which only one person knows. Inspirational
- Enemies are often former or potential friends who have been denied - or think that they have been denied - something. Been
- Knowledge is something which you can use. Belief is something which uses you. Belief
- Have you noticed how many people who walk in the shade curse the Sun? Curse
- Effort makes some great men famous. Even greater effort enables other great men to remain unknown. Effort
- Sometimes a pessimist is only an optimist with extra information. Extra
- From time to time ponder whether you are unconsciously saying: 'Truth is what I happen to be thinking at this moment. From
- The more you look at 'common knowledge', the more you realise that it is more likely to be common than it is to be knowledge.… Common
- If, from time to time, you give up expectation, you will be able to perceive what it is you are getting. Able
- People used to play with toys. Now the toys play with them. People