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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'.

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
Ignorant
Name
Wise
Special
Names
Powerful
Become
Referred
Enough
Numerous

More quotes by Idries Shah

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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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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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You are adrift while you still think that a means is an end.
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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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When tomorrow comes, think tomorrow's thoughts.
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It is not only a matter of not caring who knows - it is also a matter of knowing who cares.
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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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The Path is not to be found anywhere except in human service
Idries Shah
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Effort makes some great men famous. Even greater effort enables other great men to remain unknown.
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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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When the Higher Man does something worthy of admiration, it is an evidence of his Mastership, not the object of it.
Idries Shah
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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.
Idries Shah
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From imperial, economic and ideological causes, many cultures are the inheritors, and hence the prisoners, of attitudes of scorn and disdain for other faiths – outlooks which are not ennobling to anyone.
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Better to be safe than to be sorry' is a remark of value only when these are the actual alternatives.
Idries Shah
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The chicken had his wish, and was magically transformed into a fox. Then he found that he could not digest grain.
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.
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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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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Worry is a cloud which rains destruction.
Idries Shah
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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?
Idries Shah