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The impatient man is his own enemy he slams the door on his own progress.

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
Impatient
Door
Doors
Progress
Enemy
Men
Slams
Slam

More quotes by Idries Shah

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If you can turn a murderer into a mere thief, you are making progress.
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To 'see both sides' of a problem is the surest way to prevent its complete solution. Because there are always more than two sides.
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People used to play with toys. Now the toys play with them.
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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.
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The learned person who only talks will never Penetrate to the inner heart of humans.
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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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A generous person may not have wisdom: but, unlike others, he has the means to gain it.
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The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk.
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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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Effort makes some great men famous. Even greater effort enables other great men to remain unknown.
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The secret of Sufism is that it has no secret at all'.
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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
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The laziness of adolescence is a rehearsal for the incapacity of old age.
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Do not try to be humble: learn humility.
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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.
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The Path is not to be found anywhere except in human service
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Advice is priceless: when it becomes interference it is preposterous.
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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
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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
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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.
Idries Shah