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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
Slams
Slam
Impatient
Door
Doors
Progress
Enemy
Men

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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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 word 'choice' is a fraud while people choose only what they have been taught to choose.
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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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Effort makes some great men famous. Even greater effort enables other great men to remain unknown.
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The laziness of adolescence is a rehearsal for the incapacity of old age.
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The Path is not to be found anywhere except in human service
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When the ignorant have become numerous or powerful enough, they have been referred to by a special name. This names is 'the Wise'.
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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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Many things which are called 'secrets' are only things withheld from people until they can understand or effectively experience them.
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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.
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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.
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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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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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One cannot learn from someone whom one distrusts.
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Have you noticed how many people who walk in the shade curse the Sun?
Idries Shah
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When the lion had eaten its fill, and the jackals had taken their share, the ants came along and finished up the meat from the bones of the haughty stag.
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You are adrift while you still think that a means is an end.
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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