Idries Shah Quotes

The union of the mind and intuition which brings about illumination, and the development which the Sufis seek, is based upon love.

~ Idries Shah

Good. Show me a man who thinks that he knows what 'good' is, and I will probably be able to show you a horror of a person. Show me a person who really knows what 'good' is, and I will show you that he almost never uses the word.

~ Idries Shah

Instant Reading. A certain famous Fakir was claiming in the village that he could teach an illiterate person to read by a lightning technique. Nasrudin stepped out of the crowd: 'Very well, teach me – now.' The Fakir touched the Mulla's forehead, and said: 'Now go home immediately and read a book.' Half an our later Nasrudin was back in the market-place, clutching a book. The Fakir had gone on his way. 'Can you read now, Mulla?' the people asked him. 'Yes, I can read – but that is not the point. Where is that charlatan?' 'How can he be a charlatan if he has caused you to read without learning?' 'Because this book, which is authoritative, says: “All Fakirs are frauds”.

~ Idries Shah

The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk.

~ Idries Shah

But one may say something and yet not be able to do it. Try, for instance, lifting yourself up by the bootstraps.

~ Idries Shah

Self-mortification, far from producing liberation from material things, is far more likely to cause either an unhinged mind, delusions or a masochistic taste for more suffering, experienced, of course, as joy.

~ Idries Shah

Have you noticed how many people who walk in the shade curse the Sun?

~ Idries Shah

People cannot handle prejudice because they try to deal with the symptom. Prejudice is the symptom, wrong assumptions are the cause.'Prejudice is the daughter of assumption.

~ Idries Shah

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

A motto of the human race: Let me do as I like, and give me approval as well.

~ 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

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

~ Idries Shah

People today are in danger of drowning in information; but, because they have been taught that information is useful, they are more willing to drown than they need be. If they could handle information, they would not have to drown at all.

~ Idries Shah

People used to play with toys.Now the toys play with them.

~ Idries Shah