Rumi

"Little by little, wean yourself. This is the gist of what I have to say. From an embryo, whose nourishment comes in the blood, move to an infant drinking milk, to a child on solid food, to a searcher after wisdom, to a hunter of more invisible game. Think how it is to have a conversation with an embryo. You might say, "The world outside is vast and intricate. There are wheatfields and mountain passes, and orchards in bloom. At night there are millions of galaxies, and in sunlight the beauty of friends dancing at a wedding." You ask the embryo why he, or she, stays cooped up in the dark with eyes closed. Listen to the answer. There is no "other world." I only know what I've experienced. You must be hallucinating."

"He whose intellect overcomes his desire is higher than the angels; he whose desire overcomes his intellect is less than an animal."

"The fault is in the one who blames. Spirit sees nothing to criticize."

"This discipline and rough treatment are a furnace to extract the silver from the dross. This testing purifies the gold by boiling the scum away."

"Fortunate is he who does not carry envy as a companion."

"The idol of your self is the mother of all idols. To regard the self as easy to subdue is a mistake."

"If you wish mercy, show mercy to the weak."

"If you dig a pit for others to fall into, you will fall into it yourself."

"Many of the faults you see in others, dear reader, are your own nature reflected in them."

"The lion who breaks the enemy's ranks is a minor hero compared to the lion who overcomes himself."

"Whoever gives reverence receives reverence."

"Were there no men of vision, all who are blind would be dead."

"If you are wholly perplexed and in straits, have patience, for patience is the key to joy."

"If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?"

"Anyone in whom the troublemaking self has died, sun and cloud obey. As his heart is afire with knowledge and love, the sun cannot burn him."

"If you wish to shine like day, burn up the night of self-existence. Dissolve in the Being who is everything."

"There is no worse sickness for the soul, O you who are proud, than this pretense of perfection. The heart and eyes must bleed a lot before self-complacency falls away."

"God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites, so that you will have two wings to fly, not one."

"When the remedy you have offered only increases the disease, then leave him who will not be cured, and tell your story to someone who seeks the truth."

"Whoever enters the Way without a guide will take a hundred years to travel a two-day journey."

"Whoever undertakes a profession without a master becomes the laughingstock of city and town."

"Even though you're not equipped, keep searching: equipment isn't necessary on the way to the Lord."

"If an ant seeks the rank of Solomon, don't smile contemptuously upon its quest. Everything you possess of skill, and wealth and handicraft, wasn't it first merely a thought and a quest?"

"Come, seek, for search is the foundation of fortune: Every success depends upon focusing the heart."

"That which God said to the rose, and caused it to laugh in full-blown beauty, He said to my heart, and made it a hundred times more beautiful."

"Many have been led astray by the Qur'an: by clinging to that rope many have fallen into the well. There is no fault in the rope, O perverse man, for it was you who had no desire to reach the top."

"Some Hindoos were exhibiting an elephant in a dark room, and many people collected to see it. But as the place was too dark to permit them to see the elephant, they all felt it with their hands, to gain an idea of what it was like. One felt its trunk, and declared that the beast resembled a water-pipe; another felt its ear, and said it must be a large fan; another its leg, and thought it must be a pillar; another felt its back, and declared the beast must be like a great throne. According to the part which each felt, he gave a different description of the animal. One, as it were, called it "Dal," and another "Alif.""

"The eye of outward sense is as the palm of a hand, The whole of the object is not grasped in the palm. The sea itself is one thing, the foam another; Neglect the foam, and regard the sea with your eyes."

"When you see anyone complaining of such and such a person's ill-nature and bad temper, know that the complainant is bad-tempered, forasmuch as he speaks ill of that bad-tempered person, because he alone is good-tempered who is quietly forbearing towards the bad-tempered and ill-natured."

"Everyone sees the unseen in proportion to the clarity of his heart, and that depends upon how much he has polished it. Whoever has polished it more sees more — more unseen forms become manifest to him."

"Love is the ark appointed for the righteous, Which annuls the danger and provides a way of escape. Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment. Cleverness is mere opinion, bewilderment intuition."

"Reason is like an officer when the King appears; The officer then loses his power and hides himself. Reason is the shadow cast by God; God is the sun."

"How can these works and this earning in the way of righteousness be accomplished without a master, O father? Can you practice the meanest profession in the world without a master's guidance?"

"Are you fleeing from Love because of a single humiliation? What do you know of Love except the name? Love has a hundred forms of pride and disdain, and is gained by a hundred means of persuasion. Since Love is loyal, it purchases one who is loyal: it has no interest in a disloyal companion. The human being resembles a tree; its root is a covenant with God: that root must be cherished with all one's might."

"If in thirst you drink water from a cup, you see God in it. Those who are not in love with God will see only their own faces in it."

"The lower self does not want anyone to receive anything from anybody else, and if it is aware of something receiving a special boon, it seeks to destroy it."

"Whatever possessions and objects of its desires the lower self may obtain, it hangs on to them, refusing to let them go out of greed for more, or out of fear of poverty and need."

"I died as a mineral and became a plant, I died as plant and rose to animal, I died as animal and I was Man. Why should I fear? When was I less by dying? Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soar With angels blest; but even from angelhood I must pass on: all except God doth perish. When I have sacrificed my angel-soul, I shall become what no mind e'er conceived. Oh, let me not exist! for Non-existence Proclaims in organ tones, 'To Him we shall return.'"

"This is what is signified by the words Anā l-Ḥaqq, "I am God." People imagine that it is a presumptuous claim, whereas it is really a presumptuous claim to say Ana 'l-'abd, "I am the slave of God"; and Anā l-Ḥaqq, "I am God" is an expression of great humility. The man who says Ana 'l-'abd, "I am the servant of God" affirms two existences, his own and God's, but he that says Anā l-Ḥaqq, "I am God" has made himself non-existent and has given himself up and says "I am God", that is, "I am naught, He is all; there is no being but God's." This is the extreme of humility and self-abasement."

"The branch might seem like the fruit's origin: In fact, the branch exists because of the fruit."

""There's no courage", The Prophet said, "before the war has begun." Drunkards vaunt their bravery when you speak of war. But in the blaze of battle they scatter like mice. I'm astonished by the man who wants purity And yet trembles when the harshness of polishing begin... When a man beats a carpet again and again It's not the carpet he's attacking, but the dirt in it."

"Love is the path and road of our Prophet We were born from Love and Love was our mother. O you who are our mother, you are hidden within veils, Concealed from our disbelieving natures"

"The fire of Love cooks me Every night it drags me to the Tavern. It seats me with the People of the Tavern So that no one except the People of the Tavern will know me."

"By eating meagerly, you become clever and aware. And by eating gluttonously, you become foolish and idle. Your being full of misery is entirely from your gluttony. You will become less miserable if you become a sparse eater."

"If you dwell with unaware people, you will be cold, But if you dwell with aware ones, you will be a true man Go, and build your hermit cell inside a furnace, like gold If you go out of the furnace, you will be frozen solid"

"Dwell in the place where your companions are spiritual heroes, So that they may wash the foul soot from your [heart] Don't think about their faults, for they Will know about it before you think."

"I am so happy, I cannot be contained in the world; But like a spirit, I am hidden from the eyes of the world. If the foot of the trees were not tied to earth, they would be pursuing me; For I have blossomed so much, I am the envy of the gardens."

"Study me as much as you like, you will not know me, for I differ in a hundred ways from what you see me to be. Put yourself behind my eyes and see me as I see myself, for I have chosen to dwell in a place you cannot see."

"We have a way from this visible world to the Unseen, for we are the companions of religion's messenger. We have a way from the house to the garden, we are the neighbor of the cypress and jasmine. Every day we come to the garden and see a hundred blossoms. In order to scatter them among the lovers, we will our robes to overflowing... Behold our words! They are the fragrance of those roses--we are the rosebush of certainty's rosegarden."

"Our caravan leader is the pride of the world, Mustafa [Muhammad]."