one of the most remarkable men in history

Charles Daly King

He is the only person ever met by the writer who gave the indubitable impression that all his responses, mental, emotional and practical, were mutually in balance and thus the further impression that everyone else was out of step, but not this man himself.

The writer has no hesitation in calling him (Gurdjieff) one of the hundred, perhaps fifty, most remarkable men known to us in our history. Although he did not claim personally to have discovered all of it, the mere range of his knowledge was so far beyond that of other as to make comparisons not merely invidious but impossible.

His methods of instructing his pupils were highly individual and highly unusual and one of his principles seems to be to guard against their acquirement of too much knowledge prematurely. A corresponding degree of understanding was to be demanded and, until it had been attained, additional knowledge was inadvisable.

The States of Human Consciousness