Quote

Anyone can see that an ass laden with books remains a donkey. A human being laden with the undigested results of a tussle with thoughts and books, however, still passes for wise.

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
Results
Donkey
Books
Laden
Anyone
Passes
Stills
Ass
Still
Remains
Human
However
Humans
Thoughts
Book
Wise
Undigested

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The impatient man is his own enemy he slams the door on his own progress.
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The Path is not to be found anywhere except in human service
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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.
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History is not usually what has happened. History is what some people have thought to be significant.
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The laziness of adolescence is a rehearsal for the incapacity of old age.
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Right time, right place, right people equals success. Wrong time, wrong place, wrong people equals most of the real human history.
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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.
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When the Higher Man does something worthy of admiration, it is an evidence of his Mastership, not the object of it.
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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.
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Trying to force something is the best way to stop it happening.
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There is a Persian proverb: 'To test that which has been tested is ignorance.' To try to test something without the means of testing is even worse.
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You are adrift while you still think that a means is an end.
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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.
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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.
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A generous person may not have wisdom: but, unlike others, he has the means to gain it.
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If you can turn a murderer into a mere thief, you are making progress.
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A man who believes the word of a donkey in preference to my word does not deserve to be lent anything.
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People used to play with toys. Now the toys play with them.
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Opinion is usually something which people have when they lack comprehensive information.
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Effort makes some great men famous. Even greater effort enables other great men to remain unknown.
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