When people have a hard task to do - one which stretches them - they become less concerned with trivial matters.

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.

Banality is like boredom: bored people are boring people, people who think that things are banal are themselves banal. Interesting people can find something interesting in all things.

The learned person who only talks will never Penetrate to the inner heart of humans.

If you can turn a murderer into a mere thief, you are making progress.

There is a succession of experiences which together constitute the educational and developmental ripening of the learner, according to the Sufis. People who think that each gain is the goal itself will freeze at any such stage, and cannot learn through successive and superseding lessons.

Better to be safe than to be sorry' is a remark of value only when these are the actual alternatives.