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Idries Shah Quotes
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If you want to strengthen an enemy and make him exult - hate him.
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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Talking about straws and camels' backs is just one way of approaching things. If you have enough camels, no backs need be broken.
Idries Shah
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The Way of the Sufis cannot be understood by means of the intellect or by ordinary book learning.
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When the Higher Man does something worthy of admiration, it is an evidence of his Mastership, not the object of it.
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The word 'choice' is a fraud while people choose only what they have been taught to choose.
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But one may say something and yet not be able to do it. Try, for instance, lifting yourself up by the bootstraps.
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Study the assumptions behind your actions. Then study the assumptions behind your assumptions.
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Many things which are called 'secrets' are only things withheld from people until they can understand or effectively experience them.
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Anybody or anything may stand between you and knowledge if you are unfit for it.
Idries Shah
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If your desire for 'good' is based on greed, it is not good, but greed.
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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.
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Trying to force something is the best way to stop it happening.
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For every person there is an interpretation.
Idries Shah
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You will know the real student because he seeks whatever there is to be found.
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When the ignorant have become numerous or powerful enough, they have been referred to by a special name. This names is 'the Wise'.
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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. No real knowledge is common.
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The laziness of adolescence is a rehearsal for the incapacity of old age.
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It is not important to have said a thing first, or best - or even most interestingly. What is important is to say it on the right occasion.
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Sometimes a pessimist is only an optimist with extra information.
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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.
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A generous person may not have wisdom: but, unlike others, he has the means to gain it.
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Effort makes some great men famous. Even greater effort enables other great men to remain unknown.
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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 the long run.
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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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Quote of the day
Now if the harvest is over, And the world cold, Give me the bonus of laughter, As I lose hold.
John Betjeman
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
effort
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