The Sufis Quotes

The Sufis Quote of the day

Trying to force something is the best way to stop it happening.

Study the assumptions behind your actions. Then study the assumptions behind your assumptions.

When tomorrow comes, think tomorrow's thoughts.

The Way of the Sufis cannot be understood by means of the intellect or by ordinary book learning.

The secret of Sufism is that it has no secret at all'.

Worry is a cloud which rains destruction.

When a belief becomes more than an instrument, you are lost. You remain lost until you learn what 'belief' is really for.

The Path is not to be found anywhere except in human service

The colour of the water seems to be the colour of the glass into which it has been poured'.

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

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.

Premature independence is the daughter of conceit.

The more wakeful a man is to the things which surround him, the more asleep is he, and his waking is worse than his sleep.

Do not try to be humble: learn humility.

No practice exists in isolation.

Anybody or anything may stand between you and knowledge if you are unfit for it.

Better to be safe than to be sorry' is a remark of value only when these are the actual alternatives.

When the Higher Man does something worthy of admiration, it is an evidence of his Mastership, not the object of it.

If your desire for 'good' is based on greed, it is not good, but greed.

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

Many things which are called 'secrets' are only things withheld from people until they can understand or effectively experience them.

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.

Exercise power by means of kindness, and you may be causing more damage than you could by cruelty. Neither approach is correct.

He who is fortunately enlightened [the Sufi]Knows that sophistry is from the devil and love from Adam.

A Sufi is one who is not bound by anything nor does he bind anything

Those who say ‘I am ready to learn’, or ‘I am not ready to learn’ are as often mistaken as they are correct in their surmise.

The aspirant has to be guided by a mentor. The stage at which this guidance can take effect is seldom, if ever, perceptible to the learner.

All forms are limited. Some of the limitations are time, place, culture, language.

Careful preparation is necessary before people can perceive something which is there all the time.

Debating whether one trusts or not is a sign that one does not want to trust at all, and therefore is still incapable of it.

Sandals. The Sufi teacher Ghulam-Shah was asked what pattern he used in formulating his courses for disciples. He said: 'Barefoot until you can get sandals, sandals until you can manage boots.

Do not dwell upon whether you will put yourself into the hands of a teacher. You are always in his hands.

If you forsake a path, it is because you were hoping for conviction from it. You seek conviction, not self-knowledge.

Understanding and knowledge are completely different sensations in the realm of Truth than they are in the realm of society.

Angels are the powers hidden in the faculties and organs of man

Unbelief and belief are both marching on His road, while both are saying, ‘He is one and He has no associates’.

He who sleeps on the Road will lose either his hat or his head.

Before the antidote arrives from Iraq The man with snake-bite will be dead.

The bowl is warmer than the soup.

The secret protects itself. It is found only in the spirit and practice of the Work.

There are as many paths to Truth as there are souls of men.

When you feel least interested in following the Way which you have entered, this may be the time when it is most appropriate for you.

Sufism is the essence of all religions.

The worst of sages is a visitor of princes

SOVEREIGNTYSovereignty is a wind of change. (Hariri)

The hearts of the noble are the graves of confidences.

Ibn El-Arabi wrote, ‘The Teacher is he who hears you, then unveils you to yourself

And Rumi tells us, ‘Soul receives from soul that knowledge, therefore not by book nor from tongue’.

The totality of life cannot be understood, so runs Sufi teaching, if it is studied only through the methods which we use in everyday living.

The selection and following of a spiritual guide is the most important duty of a Sufi.