Quote

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.

Idries Shah

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Idries Shah
Age: 72 †
Born: 1924
Born: June 16
Died: 1996
Died: November 23
Author
Collector Of Fairy Tales
Teacher
Writer
Simla
Arkon Daraul
Presence
Wonderful
Certain
May
Persons
Person
Delightful
Perfectly
Absence

More quotes by Idries Shah

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Exercise power by means of kindness, and you may be causing more damage than you could by cruelty. Neither approach is correct.
Idries Shah
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The laziness of adolescence is a rehearsal for the incapacity of old age.
Idries Shah
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The secret of Sufism is that it has no secret at all'.
Idries Shah
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Sometimes a pessimist is only an optimist with extra information.
Idries Shah
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The learned person who only talks will never Penetrate to the inner heart of humans.
Idries Shah
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The impatient man is his own enemy he slams the door on his own progress.
Idries Shah
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The chicken had his wish, and was magically transformed into a fox. Then he found that he could not digest grain.
Idries Shah
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Knowledge is not gained, it is there all the time. It is the veils which have to be dissolved in the mind.
Idries Shah
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He that is purified by love is pure and he that is absorbed in the Beloved and hath abandoned all else is a Sufi.Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah.
Idries Shah
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Many things which are called 'secrets' are only things withheld from people until they can understand or effectively experience them.
Idries Shah
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The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk.
Idries Shah
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If your desire for 'good' is based on greed, it is not good, but greed.
Idries Shah
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There is a succession of experiences which together constitute the educational and developmental ripening of the learner, according to the Sufis. People who think that each gain is the goal itself will freeze at any such stage, and cannot learn through successive and superseding lessons.
Idries Shah
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One cannot learn from someone whom one distrusts.
Idries Shah
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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.
Idries Shah
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People today are in danger of drowning in information but, because they have been taught that information is useful, they are more willing to drown than they need be. If they could handle information, they would not have to drown at all.
Idries Shah
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The Path is not to be found anywhere except in human service
Idries Shah
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You are adrift while you still think that a means is an end.
Idries Shah
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If, from time to time, you give up expectation, you will be able to perceive what it is you are getting.
Idries Shah
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It is not only a matter of not caring who knows - it is also a matter of knowing who cares.
Idries Shah