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

More quotes by 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.
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When a belief becomes more than an instrument, you are lost. You remain lost until you learn what 'belief' is really for.
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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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Have you noticed how many people who walk in the shade curse the Sun?
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When you realize the difference between the container and the content, you will have knowledge.
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Better to be safe than to be sorry' is a remark of value only when these are the actual alternatives.
Idries Shah
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You are adrift while you still think that a means is an end.
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The impatient man is his own enemy he slams the door on his own progress.
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The word 'choice' is a fraud while people choose only what they have been taught to choose.
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When tomorrow comes, think tomorrow's thoughts.
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None should say: 'I can trust' or 'I cannot trust' until he is a master of the option, of trusting or not trusting.
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You need not wonder whether you should have an unreliable person as a friend. An unreliable person is nobody's friend.
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Many things which are called 'secrets' are only things withheld from people until they can understand or effectively experience them.
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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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The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk.
Idries Shah
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Advice is priceless: when it becomes interference it is preposterous.
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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Trying to force something is the best way to stop it happening.
Idries Shah
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One cannot learn from someone whom one distrusts.
Idries Shah
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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.
Idries Shah