List of Idries Shah Quotes

Talking About Straws And Camels' Backs Is Just One Way Of Approaching Things. If You Have Enough Camels, No Backs Need Be Broken.

We View Sufism Not As An Ideology That Molds People To The Right Way Of Belief Or Action, But As An Art Or Science That Can Exert A Beneficial Influence On Individuals And Societies, In Accordance With The Needs Of Those Individuals And Societies ... Sufi Study And Development Gives One Capacities One Did Not Have Before.

Better To Be Safe Than To Be Sorry' Is A Remark Of Value Only When These Are The Actual Alternatives.

Dramatic. A Well Developed Sense Of The Dramatic Has Values Beyond What People Usually Imagine. One Of These Is To Realise The Limitations Of A Sense Of The Dramatic.

People Who Speak Or Act In An Ordinary Fashion Are Most Likely To Be Those Who Have Been The Recipients Of Higher Experiences. But Because They Do Not Rage Around, Wild-eyed, People Think That They Are Very Ordinary Folk And Therefore Not Aware Of Anything Unknown To The General Run Of Man.

A King Who Feared Wasps Once Decreed That They Were Abolished. As It Happened, They Did Him No Harm. But He Was Eventually Stung To Death By Scorpions.

A Certain Person May Have, As You Say, A Wonderful Presence; I Do Not Know. What I Do Know Is That He Has A Perfectly Delightful Absence.

The Impatient Man Is His Own Enemy; He Slams The Door On His Own Progress.

... When We Are Talking About 'christians' And 'moslems' We Must First Make Sure That We Are Talking About People Who Have An Idea, Which Should Be More Or Less Correct, As To What The Other Is Supposed To Believe And What He Is Expected To Do As A Consequence Of That Belief.

An Egocentric Pessimist Is A Person Who Thinks He Hasn't Changed, But That Other People Are Behaving Worse Than Before.

The Human Being, Whether He Realises It Or Not, Is Trusting Someone Or Something Every Moment Of The Day.

Exercise Power By Means Of Kindness, And You May Be Causing More Damage Than You Could By Cruelty. Neither Approach Is Correct.