Someone once asked Inayat Khan – founder of the Sufi Order International (now The Inayati Order) and beloved Murshid (or Teacher) to many – “Are you a pessimist?”

“No,” Pir-o-Murshid replied. “An optimist, but with open eyes.”

* * * * * * *

Someone said to Murshid, “I heard them talk against you.”

“Did they?” said he. “Have you also heard anyone speak kindly of me?”

“Yes,” the person exclaimed.

“Then,” said Murshid, “this is the light and shade to life’s portrait, making the picture complete.”

* * * * * * *

A pupil said to Murshid, “But you also make mistakes.”

“Yes,” replied Murshid, “if I had not made mistakes I would not be able to teach you.”

* * * * * * *

Somebody asked, “Have you any faults, Murshid?”

“Yes, many more than you may think.”

* * * * * * *

A friend said to Murshid, “Somebody told me bad things about you.”

“What?” asked Murshid.

“He told me so and so and so.”

“Is that all?” said Murshid. “I can be much worse than that.”

* * * * * * *

A person seeing a ring on Murshid’s finger asked, “What mystical signification does your ring convey?”

“It says that those whose hearts are not yet open to the ever-revealing life around them, they look for mystery in me.”

* * * * * * *

A woman said to Murshid, on hearing his lecture on faith, “Murshid, I have lost everything I had by having faith in an unworthy person.”

“But you have not lost your faith, I suppose,” asked Murshid.

The woman said, “Yes, I have lost faith.”

“If you had lost all save faith, it would be worth as much as the price you had to pay for it, and even more than that,” Murshid replied.

* * * * * * *

“Murshid, when I come to you I come with a thousand complaints to make. Why is it that the power of your presence disarms me?”

Murshid: “Because I have disarmed myself.”

* * * * * * *

A lady asked Inayat Khan in a ballroom: “Do you ever take interest in such a frivolous thing as dancing?”

Inayat Khan said: “Yes, I too feel inclined to dance when I am with little children.”

* * * * * * *

In all stages of his evolution, progress and work, one thing never left Inayat Khan through all joys and sorrows and it was a sense of mirth. He mostly used this sense of mirth in his everyday life, in speaking and writing, but frequently by an inner power, he played and amused himself.

(Source)

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