Idries Shah quotes

Enlightenment must come little by little - otherwise it would overwhelm. (Idries Shah)
You have not forgotten to remember; You have remembered to forget. But people can forget to forget. That is just as important as remembering to remember - and generally more practical. View quote
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. View quote
Idries Shah
You need not wonder whether you should have an unreliable person as a friend. An unreliable person is nobody's friend. View quote
Idries Shah
Knowledge is something which you can use. Belief is something which uses you. View quote
Idries Shah
Opinion is usually something which people have when they lack comprehensive information. View quote
Idries Shah
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 to make a wise man happy - improve yourself! View quote
Idries Shah
The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk. View quote
Idries Shah
From time to time ponder whether you are unconsciously saying: 'Truth is what I happen to be thinking at this moment. View quote
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? View quote
Idries Shah
If, from time to time, you give up expectation, you will be able to perceive what it is you are getting. (Idries Shah)
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. View quote
Idries Shah
Man (and woman) has an infinite capacity for self-development. Equally, he has an infinite capacity for self-destruction. A human being may be clinically alive and yet, despite all appearances, spiritually dead. View quote
Idries Shah
Study the assumptions behind your actions. Then study the assumptions behind your assumptions. View quote
Idries Shah
A motto of the human race: Let me do as I like, and give me approval as well. View quote
Idries Shah
You must empty out the dirty water before you fill the pitcher with clean. View quote
Idries Shah
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. View quote
Idries Shah
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 of freedom, and are therefore able to do little else than struggle with them. View quote
Idries Shah
When people have a hard task to do - one which stretches them - they become less concerned with trivial matters. View quote
Idries Shah
The human being, whether he realises it or not, is trusting someone or something every moment of the day. View quote
Idries Shah
The union of the mind and intuition which brings about illumination, and the development which the Sufis seek, is based upon love. (Idries Shah)
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. View quote
Idries Shah
It is not only a matter of not caring who knows - it is also a matter of knowing who cares. View quote
Idries Shah
Have you noticed how many people who walk in the shade curse the Sun? View quote
Idries Shah
One cannot learn from someone whom one distrusts. View quote
Idries Shah