Quote

A generous person may not have wisdom: but, unlike others, he has the means to gain it.

Idries Shah

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

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
Person
Generous
Mean
Gain
Gains
Wisdom
Means
Others
May
Unlike
Persons
Generosity

More quotes by Idries Shah

Image
But one may say something and yet not be able to do it. Try, for instance, lifting yourself up by the bootstraps.
Idries Shah
Image
Opinion is usually something which people have when they lack comprehensive information.
Idries Shah
Image
Have you noticed how many people who walk in the shade curse the Sun?
Idries Shah
Image
The laziness of adolescence is a rehearsal for the incapacity of old age.
Idries Shah
Image
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
Image
Exercise power by means of kindness, and you may be causing more damage than you could by cruelty. Neither approach is correct.
Idries Shah
Image
If you can turn a murderer into a mere thief, you are making progress.
Idries Shah
Image
Many things which are called 'secrets' are only things withheld from people until they can understand or effectively experience them.
Idries Shah
Image
The impatient man is his own enemy he slams the door on his own progress.
Idries Shah
Image
Effort makes some great men famous. Even greater effort enables other great men to remain unknown.
Idries Shah
Image
If, from time to time, you give up expectation, you will be able to perceive what it is you are getting.
Idries Shah
Image
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.
Idries Shah
Image
The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk.
Idries Shah
Image
If you give what can be taken, you are not really giving. Take what you are given, not what you want to be given. Give what cannot be taken.
Idries Shah
Image
Do not try to be humble: learn humility.
Idries Shah
Image
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
Image
You are adrift while you still think that a means is an end.
Idries Shah
Image
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
Image
If you are uninterested in what I say, there's an end to it. If you like what I say, please try to understand which previous influences have made you like it. If you like some of the things I say, and dislike others, you could try to understand why. If you dislike all I say, why not try to find out what formed your attitude?
Idries Shah
Image
Advice is priceless: when it becomes interference it is preposterous.
Idries Shah