Idries Shah

The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk.

To 'see both sides' of a problem is the surest way to prevent its complete solution. Because there are always more than two sides.

You have not forgotten to remember; You have remembered to forget. But people can forget to forget. That is just as important as remembering to remember - and generally more practical.

Banality is like boredom: bored people are boring people, people who think that things are banal are themselves banal. Interesting people can find something interesting in all things.

Prescribing hard work for the soft, or easy work for the hardy, is generally nonsense. What is always needed in any aim is right effort, right time, right people, right materials.

To be obsessed by the idea of freedom, for instance, is itself a form of slavery. Such people are in the chains of the hope of freedom, and are therefore able to do little else than struggle with them.

The proverb says that 'The answer to a fool is silence'. Observation, however, indicates that almost any other answer will have the same effect in the long run.

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

If, from time to time, you give up expectation, you will be able to perceive what it is you are getting.

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

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