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

What is humanity? To feel pain at the sorrows of our neighbours, to feel humiliated at the humiliation of fellow-beings.

Our heads are filled with ‘knowledge’, a knowledge that in some areas pre-empts our seeing anything at all.

Certain levels of human understanding cannot be attained, it is claimed, until the brain can work in more than one way.

The process of learning is the process of discovering what really exists.

Most of the supposedly Sufi organizations, exercises and “orders” are in fact only of archaeological interest.

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

We and all our existences are non-entities. Thou art the absolute being whose appearance is transitory.

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

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

At His door, what is the difference between Moslem and Christian, virtuous and guilty? At his door all are seekers and He the sought.

Prayer is not meant to be a burden or used as a badge of holiness. Instead, it is a gift of God that when used properly should yield great victory in our lives.

You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read.

One who is caught in thought loses one's original nature. All he knows are words and descriptions. When he sees the actual thing, he fails to perceive it.

The artist will have had his revenge for being made to wait, A revenge not only necessary but right and clever-- Simply to leave him out of the scene forever.

I want to know living love. And I don't want to wait for it.

Society certainly encourages women to be victims in every way. I mean if we want approval, we have to sing the blues, even as singers we sing the blues.

There comes a certain point in life when you have to stop blaming other people for how you feel or the misfortunes in your life. You can't go through life obsessing about what might have been.

When you write songs, you try to tap into something that isn't straightforward in your head. Whatever you're feeling most strongly about usually comes out in your writing.

It is more difficult to fight poverty in a rich country than in a poor one.

It takes one minute to tell a lie, and an hour to refute it.