Idries Shah Quotes

79 Sourced Quotes

It is not only a matter of not caring who knows - it is also a matter of knowing who cares.

Idries Shah
Better to be safe than to be sorry' is a remark of value only when these are the actual alternatives.

Idries Shah
To 'see both sides' of a problem is the surest way to prevent its complete solution. Because there are always more than two sides.

Idries Shah
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?

Idries Shah
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 and books, however, still passes for wise.

Idries Shah
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
Please, not again what you studied, how long you spent at it, how many books you wrote, what people thought of you - but: what did you learn?

Idries Shah
Knowledge is not gained, it is there all the time. It is the "veils" which have to be dissolved in the mind.

Idries Shah
Enemies are often former or potential friends who have been denied - or think that they have been denied - something.

Idries Shah
History is not usually what has happened. History is what some people have thought to be significant.

Idries Shah
Learn to be as analytical about things of which you are credulous as you are of those which you criticise.

Idries Shah
Right time, right place, right people equals success. Wrong time, wrong place, wrong people equals most of the real human history.

Idries Shah
It is the message, not the man, which is important to the Sufis.

Idries Shah
The human being, whether he realises it or not, is trusting someone or something every moment of the day.

Idries Shah
A certain person may have, as you say, a wonderful presence; I do not know. What I do know is that he has a perfectly delightful absence.

Idries Shah
Knowledge is something which you can use. Belief is something which uses you.

Idries Shah
MAN: Kick him-he'll forgive you. Flatter him-he may or may not see through you. But ignore him and he'll hate you

Idries Shah
Opinion is usually something which people have when they lack comprehensive information.

Idries Shah
You need not wonder whether you should have an unreliable person as a friend. An unreliable person is nobody's friend.

Idries Shah