“ EXPECTATION If, from time to time, you give up expectation, you will be able to perceive what it is you are getting. Idries Shah
“ A Sufi school comes into being in order to flourish and disappear, not to leave traces in mechanical ritual, or anthropologically survivals. Idries Shah
“ Disappointment cannot exist without expectation. “The expected apricot is never as sweet when it reaches the mouth. Idries Shah
“ Certain levels of human understanding cannot be attained, it is claimed, until the brain can work in more than one way. Idries Shah
“ The basic urge toward mysticism is never, in the unaltered man, clear enough to be recognized for what it is. Idries Shah
“ It is as true as anything else which can be spoken to say that all knowledge is really available everywhere. Idries Shah
“ The would-be Sufi needs guidance precisely because books, texts, while telling you what is needed, do not tell you when. Idries Shah
“ Why do people always wonder whether books are any good, without wondering whether they are themselves in a state to profit from them? Idries Shah
“ Rumi speaks of people who rely upon the written word as sometimes being no more than donkeys laden with books. 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
