“The function of a nutrient is to become transmuted, not to leave unaltered traces.”

“Fettered feet in the presence of friends is better than living in a garden with strangers.”

“It is axiomatic that the attempt to become a Sufi through a desire for personal power as normally understood will not succeed.”

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

“Take the wheat, not the measure in which it is contained”

“I am an idol worshipper; for I understand what idol worship means, and the idolater does not.”

“The ego is like a clever monkey, which can co-opt anything, even the most spiritual practices, so as to expand itself. (155)”

“Ego like bile over taste buds. Get it out or hold it in. It's the suspension will drive you nuts, churn your gut.”

“War within ourselves is always a prelude to war outside ourselves. All war starts within our own hearts. When our egos are inflated or our desires insatiable, we go to war with the other for the sa...”

“My father used to tell me that stories offer the listener a chance to escape but, more importantly, he said, they provide people with a chance to maximize their minds. Suspend ordinary constraints,...”

“Fettered feet in the presence of friends is better than living in a garden with strangers.”

“Any society which enjoins its members to adhere to both of these (politeness and truth) is a fraud.”

“Q: How can I help myself?A: By remembering the proverb: The Path is not to be found anywhere except in human service, from Saadi.”

“Q: How can I help myself?A: By remembering the proverb: ‘The Path is not to be found anywhere except in human service’, from Saadi.”