Idries Shah, Thinkers Of The East Quotes

It is not Sufism if it does not perform its function for you. A cloak is no longer a cloak if it does not keep a man warm.

People change and needs change. So what was Sufism once is Sufism no more.

Never follow any impulse to teach, however strong it might be. The command to teach is not felt as an impulsion.

You will always have doubts, but only discover them at a useful time for your weakness to point them out.

When you feel least interested in following the Way which you have entered, this may be the time when it is most appropriate for you.

If you forsake a path, it is because you were hoping for conviction from it. You seek conviction, not self-knowledge.

Do not dwell upon whether you will put yourself into the hands of a teacher. You are always in his hands.

Debating whether one trusts or not is a sign that one does not want to trust at all, and therefore is still incapable of it.

Sufism is that which succeeds in bringing to man the High Knowledge.

What you are pleased to call Sufism is merely the record of past method.

WisdomSufian said: 'The wisdom which is invisible but which sustains is a hundred times better than the appearance of wisdom, for that has itself to be sustained.