It is not enough that there is a collection of people with the common aim of working in unison towards an objective... Aspiration and desire only are not enough.

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

Do not try to be humble: learn humility.

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

Talking about straws and camels' backs is just one way of approaching things. If you have enough camels, no backs need be broken.

Anyone can see that an ass laden with books remains a donkey. A human being laden with the undigested results of a tussle with thoughts and books, however, still passes for wise.

We view Sufism not as an ideology that molds people to the right way of belief or action, but as an art or science that can exert a beneficial influence on individuals and societies, in accordance with the needs of those individuals and societies ... Sufi study and development gives one capacities one did not have before.