' The ego feeds on weakness '...

There is a false ego in man, which the Sufis call nafs, and this ego
feeds on weakness.

This ego feels vain when one says, “I cannot bear
it, I do not like it,” it feeds the ego, the vanity.

It thinks,“I am better than
others,” and thereby this ego becomes strong.

But the one who can
discriminate, distinguish, choose, while at the same time having
everything under control, and who although enjoying sweet things can
yet drink a bowl of something bitter, that person has reached mastery.



Hazrat Inayat Khan
Mastery Through Accomplishment
Omega Press, 1978