Quotes from Idries Shah

People generally deal with situations by means of assumptions.

A man's capacity is the same as his breadth of vision.

Patience is bitter, but bears a sweet fruit.

Saying of the Prophet Anger You ask for a piece of advice. I tell you : 'Do not get angry.' He is strong who can withhold anger.

It is as true as anything else which can be spoken to say that all knowledge is really available everywhere.

It is axiomatic that the attempt to become a Sufi through a desire for personal power as normally understood will not succeed.

Better to quarrel with a friend than to support enemies.

A man must be a Salomon before his magical ring will work. (Hafiz)

There is one kind of man worse than a boastful man: a complaining one.

Haste is from the Devil.

Satisfaction is a treasure which does not decay. Proverb

When you observe that today's controversies often reveal not relevance but the clash of the untaught with the wrongly taught, and when you can endure this knowledge without cynicism, as a lover of humankind, greater compensations will be open to you than a sense of your own importance or satisfaction in thinking about the unreliability of others.

Greed harms you: generosity helps you. This is why is has been said: 'Greed is the mother of incapacity'.

Scholars of the East and West have heroically consecrated their whole working lives to making available, by means of their own disciplines, Sufi literary and philosophical material to the world at large. In many cases they have faithfully recorded the Sufis' own reiteration that the Way of the Sufis cannot be understood by means of the intellect or by ordinary book learning.

Saying of the Prophet. Lies, promises, trust He is not of mine who lies, breaks a promise or fails in his trust.

To bind one free man with love is better than to release a thousand slaves.

Show a man too many camels' bones, or show them to him too often, and he will not be able to recognize a camel when he comes across a live one. (Mirza Ahsan of Tabriz)

It is a Sufi contention that truth is not discovered or maintained by the mere repetition of teachings. It can only be kept understood by the perpetual experience of it. And it is in the experience of truth that the Sufis have always reposed their trust. Sufism is therefore not 'Do as I say and not as I do', or even 'Do as I do', but 'Experience it and you will know'.

FIVE KINDS OF FOLLY The Sages have said that five things are signs of foolishness: First, seeking one's own good while harming others; Second, looking for the yield of the last days without discipline and service; Third, loving women harshly and brashly; Fourth, seeking to learn the refinements of science in comfort and ease; Fifth, expecting friendship without oneself being reliable and trustworthy. (Anwar-i-Suhaili)

The secret protects itself. It is found only in the spirit and practice of the Work.

Hazrat Ali, in a saying attributed to him, says: 'Man is in disguise, covered by his tongue'.

Never follow any impulse to teach, however strong it might be. The command to teach is not felt as an impulsion.

People who have fallacious objectives are like the barren soil. The flowers grow from soil which is composed of the right objectives.

Like calls to like, truth to truth and deceit to deceit.