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

Three things cannot be retrieved:
The arrow once sped from the bow
The word spoken in haste
The missed opportunity.

Ali, the Lion of Islam.

The object of Sufi preparatory study, however, being to illustrate, expose and out-manoeuvre superficial ambition.

In a village where everyone has only one leg, the biped will hop about more lamely than anyone else, if he knows what is good for him.

The human being, whether he realises it or not, is trusting someone or something every moment of the day.

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