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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

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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
Worse
Ignorance
Means
Proverb
Without
Persian
Mean
Testing
Even
Tested
Trying
Test
Something
Tests

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Opinion is usually something which people have when they lack comprehensive information.
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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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The laziness of adolescence is a rehearsal for the incapacity of old age.
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When tomorrow comes, think tomorrow's thoughts.
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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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Have you noticed how many people who walk in the shade curse the Sun?
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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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If you want to make an ordinary man happy, or think that he is happy, give him money, power, flattery, gifts, honours. If you want to make a wise man happy - improve yourself!
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The sufis believe that they can experience something more complete.
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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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Do not try to be humble: learn humility.
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You are adrift while you still think that a means is an end.
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The secret of Sufism is that it has no secret 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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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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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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Trying to force something is the best way to stop it happening.
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When the Higher Man does something worthy of admiration, it is an evidence of his Mastership, not the object of it.
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