Idries Shah

If you want to make an ordinary man happy, or think that he is happy, give him money, power, flattery, gifts, honours. If you want to make a wise man happy - improve yourself!
-Idries Shah, Reflections

You must empty out the dirty water before you fill the pitcher with clean.
-Idries Shah

If, from time to time, you give up expectation, you will be able to perceive what it is you are getting.
-Idries Shah, Reflections

A 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

You need not wonder whether you should have an unreliable person as a friend. An unreliable person is nobody's friend.
Idries Shah, Reflections

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, Reflections

Enemies are often former or potential friends who have been denied - or think that they have been denied - something.
-Idries Shah, Reflections

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.
-Idries Shah, Sufi Thought and Action