Share
×
Inspirational Quotes
Authors
Professions
Topics
Tags
Quote
It is not important to have said a thing first, or best - or even most interestingly. What is important is to say it on the right occasion.
Idries Shah
Share
Change background
T
T
T
Change font
Original
TAGS & TOPICS
Idries Shah
Age: 72 †
Born: 1924
Born: June 16
Died: 1996
Died: November 23
Author
Collector Of Fairy Tales
Teacher
Writer
Simla
Arkon Daraul
Best
Firsts
First
Right
Important
Even
Interestingly
Thing
Occasion
Occasions
More quotes by Idries Shah
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
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.
Idries Shah
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
Like the bat, the Sufi is asleep to 'things of the day' - the familiar struggle for existence which the ordinary man finds all-important - and vigilant while others are asleep. In other words, he keeps awake the spiritual attention dormant in others. That 'mankind sleeps in a nightmare of unfulfillment' is a commonplace of Sufi literature
Idries Shah
The learned person who only talks will never Penetrate to the inner heart of humans.
Idries Shah
Advice is priceless: when it becomes interference it is preposterous.
Idries Shah
The secret of Sufism is that it has no secret at all'.
Idries Shah
People used to play with toys. Now the toys play with them.
Idries Shah
Many things which are called 'secrets' are only things withheld from people until they can understand or effectively experience them.
Idries Shah
Learn to be as analytical about things of which you are credulous as you are of those which you criticise.
Idries Shah
Sometimes a pessimist is only an optimist with extra information.
Idries Shah
From time to time ponder whether you are unconsciously saying: 'Truth is what I happen to be thinking at this moment.
Idries Shah
The laziness of adolescence is a rehearsal for the incapacity of old age.
Idries Shah
You are adrift while you still think that a means is an end.
Idries Shah
Exercise power by means of kindness, and you may be causing more damage than you could by cruelty. Neither approach is correct.
Idries Shah
History is not usually what has happened. History is what some people have thought to be significant.
Idries Shah
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
Opinion is usually something which people have when they lack comprehensive information.
Idries Shah
If you can turn a murderer into a mere thief, you are making progress.
Idries Shah
Have you noticed how many people who walk in the shade curse the Sun?
Idries Shah