Idries Shah Quotes

Sylvia loved secrets and even if she didn't have any secrets she made sure that you thought she did. Amelia had no secrets, Amelia knew nothing. When she grew up she planned to know everything and to keep it all a secret.

...And you're the only one who knows.

There is very seldom any true secret.

So this was how secrets got started, I thought to myself. People constructed them little by little.

The first rule in keeping secrets is nothing on paper.

A person may be very secretive and yet have no secrets.

Possession of a secret is no guarantee of its truth.

There is nothing we like to communicate to others as much as the seal of secrecy together with what lies under it.

The secret of masonry is to keep a secret.

Not all things are to be discovered; many are better concealed.

Don’t let the cat out of the bag.

There's something so delicious about holding onto a secret; it's something just for you.

Everyone has secrets. Especially me.

If a secret is revealed, the person who has confided it to another is to be blamed.

Some secrets are better left at that -as secrets.

It is wonderful how well men can keep secrets they have not been told.

Everyone has a secret. Right? Of course I have a secret. I think maybe you too?

Secrets have power, and that power diminishes when they are shared, so they are best kept and kept well. Sharing secrets, real secrets, important ones, with even one other person, will change them.

...there are no secrets unless you keep them to yourself, and this was the greatest secret I had ever had to keep in my life so far.

The best way of keeping a secret is to pretend there isn't one.

It almost makes the secrets more important, those few things you actually do choose to keep to yourself.

No, I don’t have to tell a soul about this, I promised myself. When you are a kid, you don’t know yet that a secret, like an animal, can evolve. Like an animal, a secret can develop a self-preserving intelligence. Shaglike, mute and thick, a knowledge with a fur: your secret.

Everyone agrees that a secret should be kept intact, but everyone does not agree as to the nature and importance of secrecy. Too often we consult ourselves as to what we should say, what we should leave unsaid. There are few permanent secrets, and the scruple against revealing them will not last forever.

There are some secrets you want to keep to yourself, even if they don't matter. They might only matter if you keep them secret.

I have some state secrets I will take with me to paradise.