Quotes By Author: idries shah

“Religion, for instance, cannot be accepted or rejected out of hand, until the student knows exactly what religion means.”

“Sufism,” according to the Sufi, “is an adventure in living, necessary adventure.”

“Man (and woman) has an infinite capacity for self-development. Equally, he has an infinite capacity for self-destruction. A human being may be clinically alive and yet, despite all appearances, spiritually dead.”

“Three ThingsThree things cannot be retrieved:The arrow once sped from the bowThe word spoken in hasteThe missed opportunity.(Ali the Lion, Caliph of Islam, son-in-law of Mohammed the Prophet),”

“Knowledge is something which you can use.Belief is something which uses you.”

“Opinion is usually something which people have when they lack comprehensive information.”

“Recognizing a ‘True Master’ is possible only when the postulant, man or woman, is what we call ‘sincere’.”

“Man is the microcosm, creation the macrocosm — the unity. All comes from One.”

“The intellect is not sovereign: knowledge is.”

“Put your dough into the oven when it is hot:After making sure that it is in fact dough.”

“People generally deal with situations by means of assumptions.”

“No problem is too difficult to be solved by a theoretician.”

“If wine is the enemy of religion, I shall devour the enemy of religion.”

“Haste is from the Devil.”

“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.”