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People today are in danger of drowning in information but, because they have been taught that information is useful, they are more willing to drown than they need be. If they could handle information, they would not have to drown at all.

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
Today
Drown
Need
Drowning
Needs
Useful
Would
Handle
People
Danger
Willing
Taught
Information

More quotes by 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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The secret of Sufism is that it has no secret at all'.
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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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Trying to force something is the best way to stop it happening.
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The Path is not to be found anywhere except in human service
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Do not try to be humble: learn humility.
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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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Sometimes a pessimist is only an optimist with extra information.
Idries Shah
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If you can turn a murderer into a mere thief, you are making progress.
Idries Shah
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It is not only a matter of not caring who knows - it is also a matter of knowing who cares.
Idries 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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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.
Idries Shah
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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.
Idries Shah
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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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The learned person who only talks will never Penetrate to the inner heart of humans.
Idries Shah
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People used to play with toys. Now the toys play with them.
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.
Idries Shah
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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.
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.
Idries Shah
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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
Idries Shah