Sufis Quotes

Sufism, they say, is that which enables one to understand religion, irrespective of its current outward form.

~ Idries Shah

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

~ Idries Shah

The lightning said to the oak tree: ‘Stand aside, or take what is coming to you!

~ Idries Shah

However fast you run, or however skilfully, you can’t run away from your own feet.

~ Idries Shah

Most of the supposedly Sufi organizations, exercises and “orders” are in fact only of archaeological interest.

~ Idries Shah

The Sufi is one who does what others do – when it is necessary. He is also one who does what others cannot do – when it is indicated.

~ Idries Shah

if... says: 'Do not be greedy, be generous', you may inwardly interpret this in such a manner that you will develop a greed for generosity

~ Idries Shah

Greed harms you: generosity helps you. This is why it has been said: 'Greed is the mother of incapacity'.

~ Idries Shah

Remember the proverb: 'A sign is enough for the alert, but a thousand counsels are not enough for the negligent.

~ Idries Shah

Laziness is always your fault. It is the sign that a man has persevered in uselessness for too long.

~ Idries Shah

One of the great Sufis said: 'A saint is a saint unless he knows that he is one.

~ Idries Shah

Premature independence is the daughter of conceit.

~ Idries Shah

There can be no spirituality, according to the Sufi masters, without psychology, psychological insight and sociological balance.

~ Idries Shah

When humility is exercised, people begin to realise that they do not, as it were, exist at all.

~ Idries Shah

Sufis are those who have expunged from their minds the human tendencies of envy and enmity.

~ Idries Shah

RemedyYour medicine is in you, and you do not observe it. Your ailment is from yourself, and you do not register it.Hazrat Ali

~ Idries Shah

When you realise the difference between the container and the content, you will have knowledge.

~ Idries Shah

The stupidest man I ever met had a favourite saying. It was: 'What do you think I am, stupid, or something?

~ Idries Shah

When you realise the difference between the container and the content, you will have knowledge

~ Idries Shah

Sufism expresses what I have found to be Real.

~ Efrat Cybulkiewicz

When Fortune knocks, open the door,' they say. But why should one make fortune knock, by keeping the door shut?

~ Idries Shah

To be a Sufi is to detach from fixed ideas and from preconceptions, and not to try to avoid what is your lot.

~ Idries Shah

Show me a person who really knows what 'good' is, and I will show you that he almost never uses the word.

~ Idries Shah

One should not pray if that prayer is vanity.

~ Idries Shah

TeachingOne hour's teaching is better than a whole night of prayer.

~ Idries Shah

A worshipper perceives that he is near to God because he is awake all night worshipping God. But after worship, your prayers are for health, long life, wealth, and for the damsels and slaves of the Paradise. Ponder! Did you ever pray to God, ‘O’ God, I desire from Thee nothing but Thee’?

~ Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi

Q: What is a fundamental mistake of man's?A: To think that he is alive, when he has merely fallen asleep in life's waiting-room.

~ Idries Shah

Real generosity is anonymous to the extent that a man should be prepared even to be considered ungenerous rather than explain it to others.

~ Idries Shah

Deep in the sea are riches beyond compare. But if you seek safety, it is on the shore.

~ Idries Shah

Opportunity's precious, and time is a sword.

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the ProphetInk and BloodThe ink of the learned is holier than the blood of the martyr.

~ Idries Shah

Learn about hornets from those who have been stung by them.

~ Idries Shah

Progress comes through capacity to learn, and is irresistible.

~ Idries Shah

The real generosity is when a man does something generous when nobody knows about it.

~ Idries Shah

...action is in fact knowledge in operation. Right action stems from right knowledge. Right knowledge is acquired through the teacher.

~ Idries Shah

Why did I do such-and-such a thing?' is all very well. But what about 'How otherwise could I have done it?

~ Idries Shah

All approaches to a study or an individual may start with a desire for attention. However they start, they must never end up in this manner.

~ Idries Shah

You have come a long way, and you do not know it. You have a long way to do, and you do know what that means.

~ Idries Shah

They say: 'Seek wisdom while you have the strength, or you may lose the strength without gaining wisdom.

~ Idries Shah

The person that you feel yourself to be, according to the Sufis, is a false person, which has no true reality.

~ Idries Shah