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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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Idries Shah
Age: 72 †
Born: 1924
Born: June 16
Died: 1996
Died: November 23
Author
Collector Of Fairy Tales
Teacher
Writer
Simla
Arkon Daraul
Lifting
Instance
May
Able
Trying
Something
Bootstraps

More quotes by 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.
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Have you noticed how many people who walk in the shade curse the Sun?
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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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From time to time ponder whether you are unconsciously saying: 'Truth is what I happen to be thinking at this moment.
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Worry is a cloud which rains destruction.
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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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Do not try to be humble: learn humility.
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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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The sufis believe that they can experience something more complete.
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One cannot learn from someone whom one distrusts.
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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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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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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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The learned person who only talks will never Penetrate to the inner heart of humans.
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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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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.
Idries Shah
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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.
Idries Shah
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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.
Idries Shah
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The word 'choice' is a fraud while people choose only what they have been taught to choose.
Idries Shah
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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.
Idries Shah