Quotes From "Reflections" By Idries Shah

Right time, right place, right people equals success. Wrong time, wrong place, wrong people equals most of the real human history. Idries Shah

History is not usually what has happened. History is what some people have thought to be significant. Idries Shah

The existence of relative truth does not prove the non-existence of universal truth. Idries Shah

Two people can illustrate crudity to you. The first is the crude man, whom you see perceiving the diamond as a stone. The other is the refined man, who makes clear to you the crudity of the first one. Idries Shah

Almost every day I am reminded of Saadi's reflection that there is no senseless tyranny like that of subordinates. Idries Shah

Causes: As important a fact as any individual cause on earth is the vital incapacity of the human individual to distinguish between genuine cause and one which is foisted upon him by pressure, environment, propaganda, conditioning. If people had the sense they pretend to have, they would seek this fundamental distinction perceptible. Hardly anyone makes this effort. This is partly because it is an invisible but powerful part of their culture to teach that conditioned emotionality and ‘causes’ whose necessity, urgency or rightness is only conditioned into them, are necessarily, right. . Idries Shah

You say that this society will come to an end, because societies always have done so. I wonder whether they have ended because they were not really societies at all. Idries Shah

Presence and AbsenceA 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

EXPECTATION If, from time to time, you give up expectation, you will be able to perceive what it is you are getting. Idries Shah

None should say: ‘I can trust, ’ or ‘I cannot trust’ until he is master of the option, of trusting or not trusting. Idries Shah

The lightning said to the oak tree: ‘Stand aside, or take what is coming to you! Idries Shah

The stupidest man I ever met had a favourite saying. It was: 'What do you think I am, stupid, or something? Idries Shah

The word 'choice' is a fraud while people choose only what they have been taught to choose. Idries Shah

Someday, the people we know, are acquainted to become the people we knew. They leave. They leave to pursue the opportunities laid down in their paths and they leave on account of misunderstandings. Their absence causes a vacuum, a space, an incompleteness which we believe no one can fill. But someday, someone eventually does and that someone rekindles our hopes for companionship, until the circle continues and is ultimately intervened by the permanence of death. The future is alarming, as atrocious as the past. And the friendship, the love, the memories either remain in our hearts cherished or are forgotten like an undeserving dream. Everything eventually fades away, either for the better or worse. Someday, the people we know, are acquainted to become the people we knew. But then again, that someday is not today and so we must be a little more appreciative, for the moment, for the times, for the present because someday everything is going to change. . Chirag Tulsiani

The laziness of adolescence is a rehearsal for the incapacity of old age. Idries Shah

Knowledge is something which you can use. Belief is something which uses you. Idries Shah

If a Manx cat tells you that it is trying to preserve its long, beautiful tail, you don't have to believe it - especially if you have eyes. Idries Shah

None should say: 'I can trust' or 'I cannot trust' until he is a master of the option, of trusting or not trusting. Idries Shah