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One of the tragedies of modern times is that people have come to believe that something said by someone in the past, perhaps for illustrative or provocation purposes, actually represents that person's beliefs at the time.
Idries Shah
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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 what cannot be taken.
Idries Shah
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Enlightenment must come little by little - otherwise it would overwhelm.
Idries Shah
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Exercise power by means of kindness, and you may be causing more damage than you could by cruelty. Neither approach is correct.
Idries Shah
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Trying to force something is the best way to stop it happening.
Idries Shah
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If you want to strengthen an enemy and make him exult - hate him.
Idries Shah
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The lecture which you are about to hear from Sheikh Rahimi lacks conviction. Why, he is so unsere of himself that he has actually adducted written proofs and authorities to what he says.
Idries Shah
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Learn to be as analytical about things of which you are credulous as you are of those which you criticise.
Idries Shah
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People who know nothing, or know very little and should be studying instead of teaching, are fond of creating an air of mystery.
Idries Shah
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The impatient man is his own enemy; he slams the door on his own progress.
Idries Shah
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If the path has been laid down, why the successive appearance of different teachers? Why would anyone reinvent the wheel, if everything were as cosy and sequential as primitive longing so easily convinces us?
Idries Shah
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The main problem is that most commentators are accustomed to thinking of spiritual schools as 'systems', which are more or less alike, and which depend upon dogma and ritual: and especially upon repetition and the application of continual and standardised pressures upon their followers.The Sufi way, except in degenerate forms which are not to be classified as Sufic, is entirely different from this.
Idries Shah
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The laziness of adolescence is a rehearsal for the incapacity of old age.
Idries Shah
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Right time, right place, right people equals success. Wrong time, wrong place, wrong people equals most of the real human history.
Idries Shah
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The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk.
Idries Shah
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When we are talking about 'Christians' and 'Moslems' we must first make sure that we are talking about people who have an idea, which should be more or less correct, as to what the other is supposed to believe and what he is expected to do as a consequence of that belief.
Idries Shah
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Advice is priceless: when it becomes interference it is preposterous.
Idries Shah
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If you are uninterested in what I say, there's an end to it. If you like what I say, please try to understand which previous influences have made you like it. If you like some of the things I say, and dislike others, you could try to understand why. If you dislike all I say, why not try to find out what formed your attitude?
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There is a Persian proverb: 'To test that which has been tested is ignorance.' To try to test something without the means of testing is even worse.
Idries Shah
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Knowledge is not gained, it is there all the time. It is the "veils" which have to be dissolved in the mind.
Idries Shah
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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 in all things.
Idries Shah
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From time to time ponder whether you are unconsciously saying: 'Truth is what I happen to be thinking at this moment.
Idries Shah
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For every person there is an interpretation.
Idries Shah
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Anybody or anything may stand between you and knowledge if you are unfit for it.
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You will know the real student because he seeks whatever there is to be found.
Idries Shah
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Quote of the day
The theatre is a gross art, built in sweeps and overemphasis. Compromise is its second name.
Enid Bagnold
Idries Shah
Creative Commons
Born:
June 16, 1924
Died:
November 23, 1996
(aged 72)
Known for:
The Sufis (1964)
The Way of the Sufi (1968)
Tales of the Dervishes (1967)
Caravan of Dreams
Most used words:
people
,
time
,
knowledge
,
man
,
person
,
happy
,
ordinary
,
wrong
,
history
,
forget
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effort
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