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"Sufism is, in operation, pragmatic."
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"The really essential factors of success in any undertaking are money and opportunity, and as a rule, the man who can make the first can make the second."

"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines."

"Georgie, stop trying to resurrect the shoes. They were never alive in the first place."

"It is better to be a pragmatist than a lunatic."

"Idealism that makes no distinction between areas where our national interest lies and those from which it is remote does no good for America. The weariness of the post-Versailles, post-Korea, post-Vietnam eras is never far from the national mood."

"Fair play is all well and good. But knowing how to kick 'em in the balls can get you out of a jam 9 times out of 10."

"Spirituality cannot be an excuse for not making money!!! Just a justification for failure!"

"Her philosophy was, if it had a pulse, it could be killed. I didn't really have a philosophy, but I could see how talking with the school director would be difficult for her. If he said something she didn't like, chopping him to tiny pieces wouldn't exactly help me get into the school."

"Over a lifetime of dealing with difficult women, I have learned it is often better to give into their demands immediately."

"We must consult our means rather than our wishes."
Explore more quotes by Idries Shah


"Sufism is always systematised only for limited or transitory periods: because Sufism is primarly instrumental, not for enjoyment or display."


"Good. Show me a man who thinks that he knows what 'good' is, and I will probably be able to show you a horror of a person. Show me a person who really knows what 'good' is, and I will show you that he almost never uses the word."


"Materialism, attachment to things of the world, includes pride. Many religious people suffer from pride: taking pleasure or even delight in being good, or religious."
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