To become like an angel is not very difficult; to be material is very easy; but to live in the world, in all the difficulties and struggles of the world, and to be human at the same time, is very difficult.

It (the Sufi way) is not only a spiritual development, it is the culture of humanity: in what relation man stands to his neighbor or friend, to those who depend upon him, to strangers unknown to him; how he should feel and act through life and yet keep on progressing towards the goal which is the goal for every soul in the world.

What is most necessary is to connect the outward action with the inward journey.

In order to understand this struggle one must see that there are three sides to it: struggle with oneself, struggle with others, and struggle with circumstances ....What is needed is that all three should be studied and learnt, and one must be able to manage the struggle in all three directions.

It is as important to think about the development of personality as it is to think about spirituality.

Delicate ideas such as this (respect and consideration) are most difficult to learn and practice in life, and today many wonder if they are not weaknesses; but something that can only be practiced by mastering oneself can never be a weakness.

Failure in life does not matter; the greatest misfortune is standing still.

If one meditates somewhat there will be much work done, and better done, and with it will be happiness and peace. I do not preach the denial of things of the world, nor do I condemn worldly accomplishment. I preach only that with the things we must do here in the material world there must also be real attainment in the world of the spirit.

If we become very spiritual we lose the world; and if we were not meant to live in this world we would not have been sent here.

The end and the sum total of all mysticism, philosophy, and meditation, of everything one learns and develops, is to be a better servant to humanity ....If there were two people before me, one with great power of wonder-working ..., and another humble and kind and gentle and willing to do anything he could for his fellow men, I would prefer this last man. I would say: the first is wonderful; but the other is a sage.

The realization that the whole life must be give and take is the realization of the spiritual truth and fact of true democracy; not until this spirit is formed in the individual can the whole world be elevated to the higher grade.

To become cold from the coldness of the world is weakness; to become broken by the hardness of the world is feebleness; but to live in the world and yet to keep above it is like walking on the water.

As the sunshine from without lightens the whole world, so the sunshine from within, if it were raised up, would illuminate the whole life, in spite of all seeming wrongs and all limitations.

It is not necessary for us to be great or good, pious or spiritual. The first and most necessary thing is that we become observant.

Nothing in the world could give man the strength that is needed to live a life on the earth, if there were no blessing from heaven reaching him from time to time, and of which he is so little aware.

When a person looks for evil then he can see nothing but evil in every person. In this way he grows so accustomed to it that his world becomes full of evil. He has contemplated it and looked for it and created it.

The progress, happiness, and peace of each individual depends upon the progress, happiness, and peace of all. This is the central theme of the Sufi Message. For some time during the present age man has thought that might was right; but time will always prove that, on the contrary, right alone is might. There are different ways by which people are striving to bring about better conditions in the world. Although every sincere thought given to this object and every action done towards its accomplishment is of value, and in this way all must contribute something toward the ideal spoken of above, yet, principally, the thing most necessary just now is to awaken in humanity the spirit of what we call in Sufi terms tauhid, meaning the oneness of the whole human being, which is the key to the present problem of humanity, and it is this key that has, it seems, been lost.


Hazrat Inayat Khan


Sufi Order International, Toronto, Ontario, Canada/ Teachings/ Quotes: Hazrat Inayat Khan



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