Idries Shah Quotes

The sort of man who, throwing a stone upon the ground, would miss.

Better the demon which makes you improve than the angel who threatens.

As Ibn Arabi says: ‘Absolute existence is the source of all existence’.

Be kind to the hawk and harm the sparrow.

One day the cub will become a wolf, even if it has been reared among the sons of man.

Each flies with its own kind: pigeon with pigeon, hawk with hawk.

MAGHRIBI: Learning is in activity. Learning through words alone is minor activity.

I ask about the sky, but the answer is about a rope.

Much smoke has been seen, and caused great fear of fire — even when no fire ensued.

Man has less than he suspects of: Time, Friends, Hopes, Qualities.Proverb

A stolen kiss is not easily returned.

You will never reach Mecca, I fear: for you are on the road to Turkestan.

It will pass, whatever it is.

You make me a sinner if you stop me giving you hospitality.

Take the straight path, even if it is long: marry no widow, even if she is a houri.

What goes into a salt-mine becomes salt.

The power of Allah: no sound, no shape, no form. But when it manifests, none can resist it.

SENTENCES OF THE KHAJAGANRUDBARI : Heart to heart is an essential means of passing on the secrets of the Path.

No colour comes after black.

Sufism is experience, and hence not to be defined – imprisoned – in perennial, static categories.

Sufism is, in fact, not a mystical system, not a religion, but a body of knowledge.

Learning without action is like wax without honey.(Anwar-i-Suhaili)

Even if false gold makes a man happy:At the mint it will be identified.

A loan is the scissors of friendship.A man's own tongue may cut his throat.The cage has no value without the bird.

What do I sing, and what does my tambourine sing?

Dye your hair, certainly. But what can you do for your face?

EPITAPH OF JALALUDIN RUMIWhen we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men.

THE HEAVENSTo the mallet of the Highest MindThe heavens are the smallest possible ball.(Akhlaq-i-Mohsini)

THE BIRD AND THE WATERA bird which has not heard of fresh waterDips his beak in salt-water year after year.(Anwar-i-Suhaili)

You may be able to get the bone down your throat But if it reaches your stomach it will tear your navel.(Gulistan)

Knowledge. How curious that a man who closes his hand upon air so often thinks that he has a ruby within his grasp.

When there is a true or useful thing, there is sure to be a counterfeit.

Miracles, to the Sufi, are not evidential, they are instrumental.

Eat what you desire, but dress like other people.

Continuously, in commemoration of the FriendWe drank wine, even before the creation of the vine.

Whoever knows God, does not (any longer) say “God”.

He is the completed Man who, from his completeness, performs, with his Mastership, the work of a slave.

Everyone does not know the secrets of TruthThe States of Truth are not evidential.

Sufism is always systematised only for limited or transitory periods: because Sufism is primarly instrumental, not for enjoyment or display.

To Him who has sense, a sign is enoughFor the heedless, however, a thousand expositions are not enough.

Whoever has taught me one letter has made me his slave.

The bird which has no knowledge of pure water, has his beak in salt water all year round.

Rust through washing never became white.

If you cannot sit on a throne like a king, seize, like a tent-pitcher, the rope of the Royal tent.

Those who can’t, try: those who can, don’t have to.

Give and TakeThe Chief takes less than he is givenAnd gives more than he has taken.

Give and TakeThe Chief takes less than he is givenAnd gives more than he has taken

No surgeon can treat the wounds of the tongue.

None meets harm who knows his capacity.

Now that I have found thee, I know that in the first step I took, I moved away from thee.