Idries Shah: Frases en inglés

“You need not wonder whether you should have an unreliable person as a friend. An unreliable person is nobody's friend.”

“One cannot learn from someone whom one distrusts.”

“Have you noticed how many people who walk in the shade curse the Sun?”

“Please, not again what you studied, how long you spent at it, how many books you wrote, what people thought of you - but: what did you learn?”

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

“Right time, right place, right people equals success.
Wrong time, wrong place, wrong people equals most of the real human history.”

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

“You must empty out the dirty water before you fill the pitcher with clean.”

“Sometimes a pessimist is only an optimist with extra information.”

“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.”

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

“The sufis believe that they can experience something more complete.”

“Q: What is a fundamental mistake of man's?
A: To think that he is alive, when he has merely fallen asleep in life's waiting-room.”

“Materialism, attachment to things of the world, includes pride. Many religious people suffer from pride: taking pleasure or even delight in being good, or religious.”

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

“Study the assumptions behind your actions. Then study the assumptions behind your assumptions.”

“Real generosity is anonymous to the extent that a man should be prepared even to be considered ungenerous rather than explain it to others.”

“A motto of the human race: Let me do as I like, and give me approval as well.”

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