Idries Shah

The ordinary man writes a letter with little thought for the state of the person who reads it; and much regard for his own state.The thoughtful man writes a letter bearing in mind what he thinks will be the mind of the person who reads it.The learned man writes few letters, in case he cannot anticipate the state of the recipient.The Sufi writes no letter until he can know exactly what will be the state of mind in the man who receives it.The Adept writes any letter which has to be written.The Arif (gnostic) has no need of writing nor receiving letters.But such is the confusion of mankind that:If the Arif does not write, he will be thought very great or perhaps very heedless. The Adept, writing a necessary letter, will be judged as if he was an emotionalist or propangandist. The Sufi,divining the state of mind of the recipient, will be thought to write unsuitable letters. The learned man will be thought, from his paucity of letters, to be more occupied in something else. The thoughtful man will not be able to communicate well, in case something he writes gives offense. The ordinary man, writing all kinds of letters, may have them collected and selected. If he writes enough, people will choose those which seem to them valuable. On the basis of these, he can be erroneously styled a saint.

~as collected by Idries Shah