Quotes by Idries Shah

About Idries Shah:

Idries Shah was an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition who wrote over three dozen books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies.
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Sufi secrets are perceived, not understood by words.

Idries Shah

People who cannot trust are themselves not trustworthy, and therefore cannot be entrusted with important things.

Idries Shah

A Sufi is alive to the value of time, and is given, every moment, to what that moment demands.

Idries Shah

The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk. As Prince Dara Shikoh says, in a Persian poem: Do you wish to be included with the Lords of Sight? From speech (then) pass on to experience. By saying 'Unity', you do not...

Idries Shah

The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk.

Idries Shah

One cannot learn from someone whom one distrusts.

Idries Shah

The Sufis are unanimous that a Guide (Sheikh) is absolutely essential, though never available on demand: 'the Sufis are not merchants'.

Idries Shah

If the path has been laid down, why the successive appearance of different teachers? Why would anyone reinvent the wheel, if everything were as cosy and sequential as primitive longing so easily convinces us?

Idries Shah

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

Miracles, to the Sufi, are not evidential, they are instrumental.

Idries Shah

Form is useful, but it is secondary.

Idries Shah

Sufism, they say, is that which enables one to understand religion, irrespective of its current outward form.

Idries Shah

Los secretos Sufis son percibidos, no entendidos a través de palabras.

Idries Shah

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

Quien es purificado por el amor, es puro; y quien es absorbido en el Amado y ha abandonado todo lo demás, es un Sufi. Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah

Idries Shah

La gente que no puede confiar son ellos mismos no confiables, y por lo tanto, no se les puede confiar cosas importantes.

Idries Shah

Eat what you desire, but dress like other people.

Idries Shah

El Sufi está vivo al valor del tiempo, y es dado, a cada momento, lo que ese momento demanda.

Idries Shah

Come lo que desees, pero vístete como el resto.

Idries Shah

Continuously, in commemoration of the Friend We drank wine, even before the creation of the vine.

Idries Shah

Continuamente, en conmemoración del Amigo, bebimos vino, incluso antes de la creación de la vid.

Idries Shah

Author Bio

  • NameIdries Shah
  • DescriptionWriter and Sufi teacher
  • BornJune 16, 1924
  • DiedNovember 23, 1996
  • CountryUnited Kingdom
  • ProfessionWriter