If your desire for 'good' is based on greed, it is not good, but greed. Idries Shah More Quotes by Idries Shah More Quotes From Idries Shah When tomorrow comes, think tomorrow's thoughts. Idries Shah tomorrow thinking 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 long book people 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 causes attitude culture Effort makes some great men famous. Even greater effort enables other great men to remain unknown. Idries Shah great-men effort men 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 silence running long Enemies are often former or potential friends who have been denied - or think that they have been denied - something. Idries Shah originality enemy thinking The more you look at 'common knowledge', the more you realise that it is more likely to be common than it is to be knowledge. No real knowledge is common. Idries Shah real common looks Worry is a cloud which rains destruction. Idries Shah rain worry clouds The Path is not to be found anywhere except in human service Idries Shah human-service path found Prescribing hard work for the soft, or easy work for the hardy, is generally nonsense. What is always needed in any aim is right effort, right time, right people, right materials. Idries Shah effort hard-work people It is not only a matter of not caring who knows - it is also a matter of knowing who cares. Idries Shah who-cares knowing caring There is a Persian proverb: 'To test that which has been tested is ignorance.' To try to test something without the means of testing is even worse. Idries Shah ignorance trying mean When a belief becomes more than an instrument, you are lost. You remain lost until you learn what 'belief' is really for. Idries Shah instruments belief lost 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 two-sides problem way The sufis believe that they can experience something more complete. Idries Shah sufi sufism believe A generous person may not have wisdom: but, unlike others, he has the means to gain it. Idries Shah generosity may mean If you give what can be taken, you are not really giving. Take what you are given, not what you want to be given. Give what cannot be taken. Idries Shah taken want giving It is the message, not the man, which is important to the Sufis. Idries Shah important messages men 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 believe people past You have not forgotten to remember; You have remembered to forget. But people can forget to forget. That is just as important as remembering to remember - and generally more practical. Idries Shah remembers-you remember-you people
