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About Sufi Aphorisms & Other Sayings
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concept/statement that most often works on many levels. Originally they come
from Arabic mystic traditions. Similar aphorisms are also
found in Jewish, Hindu, Zen Buddhist, Confucianism, Existentialism,
Neoplatonic and western literature. Mark Twain can give any of
these sufi aphorisms a run for their money --as you will
see below... A philosopher is one who, being a lover of truth, occupies a place between one who is ignorant and the perfected sage. People who sit around thinking these things up are often called "dervishes". They can also be thought of as philosophers and/or sages. Dervishes, are a group of Sufis who perform various feats to earn their salvation (so they think). Some of them whirl around until they just fall into a stupor. Others simply torture themselves. They will eat nails and even break light bulbs to chew and swallow the jagged pieces. Sometimes they will take a sword and plunge it through their cheeks and into their mouth, or pierce their flesh with sharp instruments, torturing themselves in order to reach a higher level of ecstasy. They blindly think these things will somehow earn them salvation. Just as a Muslim thinks killing a non-believer will earn them instant salvation --they only deceive themselves, and make the world a better place --only for Satan and his demons... Some dervishes will give away everything they own and wander as mendicants, with bowls hung around their necks, begging for food from house to house. A mendicant depends on alms for a living. They live a life of begging. Much like Buddhist priests and early Christian missionaries. Think
of a Sufi Aphorism as a literary "gem" of wisdom. They can be
epigrams, anecdotes, aphorisms, metaphors, analogies, poetic
thoughts--or even combinations of these. For the Sufis all things
and events perceived by the senses are interrelated, connected, and
are but different aspects or manifestations of the same ultimate
reality.
"Clothes make the man.
Naked people have little or no influence on society."-- Mark
Twain
“One father is more than a hundred
schoolmasters.” – George Herbert
“In Hollywood if you don’t have happiness you
send out for it.” – Rex Reed
"An army of asses led by
a lion is vastly superior to an army of lions led by an ass." --
George Washington "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity." ---Albert Einstein “If we knew what we were doing it wouldn’t be research.” – Albert Einstein
"If you lack joy, your Christianity must be leaking somewhere" -
Billy Sunday
"Success
is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If
you love what you are doing, then you will be successful"
-Albert Schweitzer
The essence of being
a liberal: “The absolute conviction that there is one set of
rules for you, and another, completely different set of rules
for everyone else.”
- Ann Coulter “Man is neither angel nor beast; and the misfortune is that he who would act the angel acts the beast.” - Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) “It is often wise to reveal that which cannot be concealed for long." – Friedrich von Schiller "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Winston Churchill Islamic terrorism and liberals: "The Times was rushing to assure its readers that 'prominent Islamic scholars and theologians in the West say unequivocally that nothing in Islam countenances the Sept. 11 actions.' (That's if you set aside Muhammad's many specific instructions to kill nonbelievers whenever possible)" - Ann Coulter "Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted." - Groucho Marx "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know." - Ralph Waldo Emerson "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." - Benjamin Franklin -"Plan for the future because that's where you are going to spend the rest of your life." - Mark Twain "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." - Mark Twain "Great people are those who make others feel that they, too, can become great." - Mark Twain
"The report of my
death was greatly exaggerated" - Mark Twain "Always do the right thing. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest." -Mark Twain "But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most?" -Mark Twain "Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone you may still exist, but you have ceased to live." -Mark Twain "It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt." -Mark Twain "When in doubt, tell the truth." -Mark Twain "Good breeding consists in concealing how much we think of ourselves and how little we think of the other person." -Mark Twain "Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear -- not absence of fear." -Mark Twain "It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress." -Mark Twain "Let your secret sympathies and your compassion be always with the under dog in the fight -- this is magnanimity; but bet on the other one -- this is business." -Mark Twain "Where prejudice exists it always discolors our thoughts." -Mark Twain "Whatever satisfies the soul is truth." -Walt Whitman "Only the dead have seen the end of war" -Plato "Re-examine all that you have been told... dismiss that which insults your soul." -Walt Whitman “We simply rob ourselves when we make presents to the dead.” -Publilius Syrus, Moral Sayings, First Century B.C. “As men, we are all equal in the presence of death.” -Publilius Syrus, Moral Sayings, First Century B.C. “Do not fear death so much, but rather the inadequate life.” -Bertolt Brecht, The Mother, 1932 “After I’m dead I’d rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one.” -Cato the Elder (234-149 B.C.) "Sometimes when you feel little, useless, beaten down and depressed; always remember that you were once the fastest and the most victorious sperm in your group." Unknown author "Even a broken clock is right twice a day". Unknown author "The people who count the votes decide everything" Joseph Stalin "The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted." Psalm 12.8 (KJV) "Just because you're an old guy, you don't need to sit around sucking your thumb drooling in the corner," says 85 year old former U.S. President George H.W. Bush
“Even if you’re on the
right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there,” –
Will Rogers
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Other Great Links at Bible Probe
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Figure the Odds Read: Muhammad, Terrorist or Prophet? Real
Miracles and Angel Visits The Exodus Happened
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PLEASE EMAIL YOUR APHORISMS or WORDS OF WISDOM
please include author's name