Quote

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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Idries Shah
Age: 72 †
Born: 1924
Born: June 16
Died: 1996
Died: November 23
Author
Collector Of Fairy Tales
Teacher
Writer
Simla
Arkon Daraul
May
Damage
Mean
Cruelty
Kindness
Neither
Exercise
Approach
Means
Causing
Power
Correct

More quotes by Idries Shah

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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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The sufis believe that they can experience something more complete.
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Have you noticed how many people who walk in the shade curse the Sun?
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Learn to be as analytical about things of which you are credulous as you are of those which you criticise.
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The secret of Sufism is that it has no secret at all'.
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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?
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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.
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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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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.
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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.
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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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When tomorrow comes, think tomorrow's thoughts.
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When you realize the difference between the container and the content, you will have knowledge.
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The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk.
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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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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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Worry is a cloud which rains destruction.
Idries Shah
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Opinion is usually something which people have when they lack comprehensive information.
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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.
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But one may say something and yet not be able to do it. Try, for instance, lifting yourself up by the bootstraps.
Idries Shah