Like the bat, the Sufi is asleep to 'things of the day' - the familiar struggle for existence which the ordinary man finds all-important - and vigilant while others are asleep. In other words, he keeps awake the spiritual attention dormant in others. That 'mankind sleeps in a nightmare of unfulfillment' is a commonplace of Sufi literature

The word 'choice' is a fraud while people choose only what they have been taught to choose.

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.

An egocentric pessimist is a person who thinks he hasn't changed, but that other people are behaving worse than before.

A generous person may not have wisdom: but, unlike others, he has the means to gain it.

People today are in danger of drowning in information; but, because they have been taught that information is useful, they are more willing to drown than they need be. If they could handle information, they would not have to drown at all.

Sometimes a pessimist is only an optimist with extra information.