Idries Shah Quotes.

1. "Self-mortification, far from producing liberation from material things, is far more likely to cause either an unhinged mind, delusions or a masochistic taste for more suffering, experienced, of course, as joy."
- Idries Shah, Sufi Thought and Action

2. "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, Sufi Thought and Action

3. "The Sufis are unanimous that a Guide (Sheikh) is absolutely essential, though never available on demand: 'the Sufis are not merchants'."
- Idries Shah, Sufi Thought and Action

4. "Sufis aim to refine human consciousness. This is Sufi mysticism: not mystification or magic, but a specific Path."
- Idries Shah, Sufi Thought and Action

5. "If wine is the enemy of religion, I shall devour the enemy of religion."
- Idries Shah, Sufi Thought and Action

6. "Inheritance and culture obscure people’s higher capacities."
- Idries Shah, Sufi Thought and Action

7. "Too much kindness towards the fox may mean doom for the rabbit."
- Idries Shah, Sufi Thought and Action

8. "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 become a monotheist; The mouth does not become sweet from the word 'Sugar"
- Idries Shah, Sufi Thought and Action

9. "Eat what you desire, but dress like other people."
- Idries Shah, Sufi Thought and Action

10. "A Sufi is alive to the value of time, and is given, every moment, to what that moment demands."
- Idries Shah, Sufi Thought and Action