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

Please, not again what you studied, how long you spent at it, how many books you wrote, what people thought of you - but: what did you learn? 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

Because there is a word for perfection, people will always imagine that they know it. Idries Shah

Enemies are often former or potential friends who have been denied - or think that they have been denied - something. Idries Shah

To drown in treacle is just as unpleasant as to drown in mud. People today are in danger of drowning in information; but because they have been taught 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. The lightning said to the oak tree: 'Stand aside, or take what is coming to you! Idries Shah

When the human being says:' It is not true...' He may mean:' I don't know about it, so I think it is untrue.' Or:' I don't like it. Idries Shah

You can keep going on much less attention than you crave. Idries Shah

Advice is priceless: when it becomes interference it is preposterous. Idries Shah

A man is deficient in understanding until he perceives that there is a whole cycle of evolution possible within himself: repeating endlessly, offering opportunities for personal development. Idries Shah

Anyone can see that an ass laden with books remains a donkey. A human being laden with the undigested results of a tussle with thoughts and books, however, still passes for wise. Idries Shah

Talent is the presence of ability and absence of understanding about the source and operation of knowledge. Idries Shah

People are always trying to understand. There is only one way to do that. It is to discover < + i + >why< + i + > you want to understand. Idries Shah

We are adjured not to burn the candle at both ends. But how many people have verified that physically possible? Idries Shah

A real secret is something which only one person knows. Idries Shah

People think that they think things, and they also think that they know things. They could usefully give some attention to the question of whether they know what they think and know what they think they know. Idries Shah

Teach honesty by all means - you do know what it is, don't you? Idries Shah

From time to time ponder whether you are unconsciously saying:' Truth is what I happen to be thinking at this moment. Idries Shah

The proverb says that 'The answer to a fool is silence'. Observation, however, indicates that almost any other answer will have the same effect in the long run. Idries Shah

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

Humility cannot be taught by propaganda, though slavery can. Shouting for humility is a form of arrogance. One of my most abiding recollections is of a priest at a religious occasion once roaring, in the most threatening way imaginable: ‘O our Lord God, we most humbly pray…! ’ Real humility is not always the same as apparent humility. Remember that fighting against self-conceit is still fighting: and that it will tend to suppress it temporarily. It does not cure anything. Remember, too, that humility itself does not bring an automatic reward: it is a means to an end. It enables a person to operate in a certain manner. . Idries Shah

Sometimes a pessimist is only an optimist with extra information. Idries Shah

It is not 'Have I got a chance?' It is more often: 'Have I seen my chance? Idries Shah

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

People who speak or act in an ordinary fashion are most likely to be those who have been the recipients of higher experiences. But because they do not rage around, wild-eyed, people think that they are very ordinary folk and therefore not aware of anything unknown to the general run of man. Idries Shah

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

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. Idries Shah

The Seeking of the Master. Musa Najib was asked why he charged a fee from those who came to his sessions; and why he often did not even address his audience. He said: 'I charge for this object lesson: people believe that knowledge must be given freely, and consequently mistake everything which is free for knowledge. I do not always lecture because, among Sufis, “The Master finds the pupil.” The pupil has to be physically present: but he may be absent in every other sense. When I discern that a pupil is “present” then I “find” him, for then his inner call is audible to me, even if it is silent to him.' 'Seek and you will be found. Idries Shah

You are still adrift while you still think that a means is an end. Idries Shah

I have heard all that you have had to say to me on your problems. You ask me what to do about them. It is my view that your real problem is that you are a member of the human race. Face that one first. Idries Shah

If you want to strengthen an enemy and make him exult - hate him. Idries Shah