Idries Shah Quotes - Page 4

Quotes about:

• No practice exists in isolation.

  Idries Shah

  Practice, Isolation

  Idries Shah (1978). “Learning how to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way”, p.91, Octagon Press Ltd

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• If a pot can multiply. One day Nasrudin lent his cooking pots to a neighbour, who was giving a feast. The neighbour returned them, together with one extra one – a very tiny pot. 'What is this?' asked Nasrudin. 'According to law, I have given you the offspring of your property which was born when the pots were in my care,' said the joker. Shortly afterwards Nasrudin borrowed his neighbour's pots, but did not return them. The man came round to get them back. 'Alas!' said Nasrudin, 'they are dead. We have established, have we not, that pots are mortal?'.

  Idries Shah

  Men, Law, Giving

  Idries Shah (2015). “The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin”, p.15, ISF Publishing

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• Christian scholars often say that Sufi theories are close to those of Christianity. Many Moslems maintain that they are essentially derived from Islam. The resemblance of many Sufi ideas to those of several religious and esoteric systems are sometimes taken as evidence of derivation. The Islamic interpretation is that religion is of one origin, differences being due to local or historical causes.

  Idries Shah

  Christian, Religious, Taken

  Idries Shah (1974). “The Elephant in the Dark”, p.6, Octagon Press Ltd

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

  Idries Shah

  Moments, Trusting Someone, Realising

  Idries Shah (1990). “Sufi Thought and Action”, p.9, Octagon Press Ltd

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• Prescribing hard work for the soft, or easy work for the hardy, is generally nonsense. What is always needed in any aim is right effort, right time, right people, right materials.

  Idries Shah

  Hard Work, People, Effort

  Idries Shah (1983). “Reflections”, p.74, Octagon Press Ltd

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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

  Believe, Past, People

  Idries Shah (1988). “Caravan of Dreams”, p.227, Octagon Press Ltd

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• A man who believes the word of a donkey in preference to my word does not deserve to be lent anything.

  Idries Shah

  Believe, Men, Doe

  Idries Shah (1983). “The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin”, p.43, Octagon Press Ltd

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• A king who feared wasps once decreed that they were abolished. As it happened, they did him no harm. But he was eventually stung to death by scorpions.

  Idries Shah

  Kings, Fear, Scorpions

  Idries Shah (1983). “Reflections”, p.22, Octagon Press Ltd

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• The Sufi is One who does not care when something is taken from him, but who does not cease to seek for what he has not.

  Idries Shah

  Taken, Doe, Care

  Idries Shah (1978). “Learning how to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way”, p.126, Octagon Press Ltd

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• The Way of the Sufis cannot be understood by means of the intellect or by ordinary book learning.

  Idries Shah

  Book, Mean, Ordinary

  Idries Shah (1999). “The Sufis”, p.9, Octagon Press Ltd

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• Like the bat, the Sufi is asleep to 'things of the day' - the familiar struggle for existence which the ordinary man finds all-important - and vigilant while others are asleep. In other words, he keeps awake the spiritual attention dormant in others. That 'mankind sleeps in a nightmare of unfulfillment' is a commonplace of Sufi literature

  Idries Shah

  Spiritual, Struggle, Sleep

  Idries Shah (1964). “The Sufis”, Anchor Books

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• The sufis believe that they can experience something more complete.

  Idries Shah

  Believe, Sufi, Sufism

  Idries Shah (1999). “The Sufis”, p.36, Octagon Press Ltd

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• It is not enough that there is a collection of people with the common aim of working in unison towards an objective... Aspiration and desire only are not enough.

  Idries Shah

  People, Desire, Common

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• People who speak or act in an ordinary fashion are most likely to be those who have been the recipients of higher experiences. But because they do not rage around, wild-eyed, people think that they are very ordinary folk and therefore not aware of anything unknown to the general run of man.

  Idries Shah

  Running, Fashion, Men

  Idries Shah (1983). “Reflections”, p.15, Octagon Press Ltd

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• None should say: 'I can trust' or 'I cannot trust' until he is a master of the option, of trusting or not trusting.

  Idries Shah

  Should, Masters, Not Trusting

  Idries Shah (1983). “Reflections”, p.12, Octagon Press Ltd

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• Dramatic. A well developed sense of the dramatic has values beyond what people usually imagine. One of these is to realise the limitations of a sense of the dramatic.

  Idries Shah

  People, Imagine, Dramatic

  Idries Shah (1983). “Reflections”, p.5, Octagon Press Ltd

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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

  Spiritual, School, Thinking

  "The Commanding Self".

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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.

  Idries Shah

  Men, Doe, Admiration

  Idries Shah (1971). “Thinkers of the East: Studies in Experientialism”, p.198, Octagon Press Ltd

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• Advice is priceless: when it becomes interference it is preposterous.

  Idries Shah

  Advice, Priceless, Interference

  Idries Shah (1983). “Reflections”, p.60, Octagon Press Ltd

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• We view Sufism not as an ideology that molds people to the right way of belief or action, but as an art or science that can exert a beneficial influence on individuals and societies, in accordance with the needs of those individuals and societies ... Sufi study and development gives one capacities one did not have before.

  Idries Shah

  Art, Views, People

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• Many things which are called 'secrets' are only things withheld from people until they can understand or effectively experience them.

  Idries Shah

  People, Secret

  Idries Shah (1978). “Learning how to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way”, p.64, Octagon Press Ltd

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• 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.

  Idries Shah

  Struggle, Ideas, People

  Idries Shah (1983). “Reflections”, p.54, Octagon Press Ltd

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• Premature independence is the daughter of conceit.

  Idries Shah

  Daughter, Independence, Conceit

  Idries Shah (1978). “Learning how to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way”, p.109, Octagon Press Ltd

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• 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

  Hate, Men, Forgiving

  Idries Shah (1988). “Caravan of Dreams”, p.226, Octagon Press Ltd

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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

  Kindness, Mean, Exercise

  Idries Shah (1978). “Learning how to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way”, p.91, Octagon Press Ltd

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