Idries Shah

The tongue is the best masseur of furrowed brows.

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

Enlightenment must come little by little - otherwise it would overwhelm.

Sometimes a pessimist is only an optimist with extra information.

The impatient man is his own enemy; he slams the door on his own progress.

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.

From time to time ponder whether you are unconsciously saying Truth is what I happen to be thinking at this moment.

The laziness of adolescence is a rehearsal for the incapacity of old age.

Because sugar is not arsenic, many graves are full.

The door of illumination is open to those for whom other doors are closed.

A donkey eats a melon it remains a donkey

People dont get the gurus they deserve they get the gurus they manufacture.

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

Saying of the prophet reflection the faithful are mirrors, one to the other.

To copy a virtue in another is more copying than it is virtue. Try to learn what that virtue is based upon.

Premature independence is the daughter of conceit.

You fear tomorrow yet yesterday is just as dangerous.

If you give what can be taken, you are not really giving. Take what you are given, not what you want to be given. Give what cannot be taken.

One of the tragedies of modern times is that people have come to believe that something said by someone in the past, perhaps for illustrative or provocation purposes, actually represents that person's beliefs at the time.

It is the message, not the man, which is important to the Sufis.

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

The way of the Sufis cannot be understood by means of the intellect or by ordinary book learning.

A real secret is something which only one person knows.

Saying of the prophet tasks whoever makes all his tasks one task, God will help him in his other concerns.

Enlightenment must come little by little otherwise it would overwhelm.

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