All Quotes

"It is on account of their sweet voices That choice parrots and nightingales are prisoned in cages; Ugly owls and crows are never prisoned in cages, Such a thing was never heard of in history."

"Thou fanciest thyself near to God, Saying ‘The maker of the dish is not far from the dish,’ Knowest thou not that the nearness of saints to God Involves the power to do mighty works and signs? Iron was as wax in the hands of David, Wax in thy hands is as iron."

"Thou art a darling bosom friend, thou art always behind the secret veil, Why dost thou make thy dwelling-place in this perishable abode, Regard thine own state, go forth and journey From the prison of the Formal world to the meadow of Ideas."

"God has enjoined this servitude upon us, We say not this merely on our own authority; We enjoy life on condition of doing His will; If He bids us, we sow our seed upon the sand."

"He is like Pharaoh and his body like Moses, He runs abroad crying ‘Where is my foe?’ While lust is in his house, which is his body, He bites his finger in spite against strangers."

"Enter the hearts of my servants To gain the paradise of beholding me, O fearer of God."

"Enter houses by the doors And trace effects to their causes."

"He is the perfect world, yet He is single, He holds in hand the writing of the whole of existence, Wherefore all forms and colours of beauty cry out, ‘Good news! good news! lo! the spring is at hand!’"

"Whoever may put off to sow seed in spring Ignores the true value of time’s swiftest wing, Let each one take refuge in mercy of God Who grace manifold on our souls has bestowed, Then shalt thou find shelter, when shelter thou needest, Fire’s, water’s protection thou’lt have as thou heedest."

"Prize not at all life that has passed without love, Love is the water of life: receive it in thy heart and soul."

"The people of love are hidden among the peoples As a liberal encompassed by the contumely of the base."

"No mountain-pass as this life’s progress is so steep, Let envy not increase thy load; thou canst but creep, The flesh a hot-bed is of envy and of strife These soil the soil; for envy’s bane of mortal life."

"Thorn-eating camel truly is this world of ours, Ahmed then came and mounted; him that camel bears. O camel, on thy back thou bear’st a vase of rose, On thee from thence have sprouted rose-buds as God knows, Thy tastes lead thee to camel-thorn and wastes of sand, To thee the thorn’s a rose; the wilderness, rich land."

"Seek the pearl, O brother, in the shell, And seek for skill among the learned."

"Though you have no feet, choose to journey in yourself, Like the ruby-mine receive a print from the sunbeams, Make a journey out of self into self, O master, For by such a journey earth becomes a quarry of gold."

"If the sun did not fare by foot and wing every night, How would the world be illuminated at morning tide? And if the salt water did not go up from the sea to the sky Whence would the garden be quickened by river and rain?"

"O Ali! out of all forms of religious service Choose thou the shadow of that dear friend of God! Do thou seek refuge in the shadow of the wise man That thou mayest escape thy fierce secret foes, Of all forms of service this is fittest for thee Thou shalt surpass all who were before thee."

"The idea that eroticism and spirituality should be separated is a travesty of both...Or read the great Persian poet Rumi...All mystical poetry is erotic, uses erotic language, because it desires fusion with God...all lovers see the beloved’s face and body as divine."

"That person one night was crying ‘O Allah!’ That his mouth might be sweetened thereby, And Satan said to him ‘Be quiet, O austere one! How long wilt thou babble O man of many words? No answer comes to thee from nigh the throne, How long wilt thou cry “Allah!” with harsh face?’ That person was sad at heart and hung his head And then beheld Khizr present before him in a vision Who said to him ‘Ah! thou hast ceased to call upon God, Wherefore repentest thou of calling upon Him?’ The man said ‘The answer “Here am I” came not, Wherefore I fear that I am repulsed from the door.’ Khizr replied to him ‘God has given me this command Go to him and say “O much tried one! That calling ‘Allah’ of thine was my ‘Here am I;’ And that pain and longing and ardour of thine was my messenger; Thy struggles and strivings for assistance Were My attractions and originated thy prayer. Thy fear and thy love are the covert of My mercy, Each ‘O Lord!’ of thine contains many ‘Here am I’s’.’"

"One I seek, one I know, one I see, one I call. He is the first, He is the last, He is the outward, He is the inward."

"One said ‘The world would be a pleasant place, If death never set foot within it’; Another answered ‘If there were no death, The complicated world would not be worth a jot. It would be a crop raised in the desert Left neglected and never threshed out.’"

"One impulse from God is better than a hundred efforts."

"Society with saints no doubt’s of great avail To piety it leads; ‘God’s fear shall never fail.’ Thou wast a very rock, a worthless pebble-stone, By saints’ communion fined, a pearl of price thou’st shone."

"Seek sweet syrup in the garden of love, For nature is a seller of vinegar and a crusher of unripened grapes."

"From thy good thoughts are born the boys of Paradise and the houris, From thy evil thoughts is born the great demon (Iblis), See how the secret thought of the geometrician has become a castle or a palace, See how the hidden Providence without beginning has become this mighty universe."

"Apparently thou art the ruler of thy wife like water over fire, In reality thou art ruled by and suppliant to her."

"Serpents’ poison is life to serpents, In relation to mankind it is death."

"From the moment you came into the world of being A ladder was placed before you that you might escape, First you were mineral, later you turned to plant, Then you became animal: how should this be a secret to you? Afterwards you were made man, with knowledge, reason, faith, Behold the body which is a portion of the dust-pit, how perfect it has grown! When you have travelled on from man, you will doubtless become an angel, After that you are done with this earth; your station is in heaven."

"Thou mouldest of foul and fair the form of a man That he may flee two leagues from the odour of foulness; Thou mak’st him a morsel of dust that he may become pure herbage, He is free from filth when Thou hast breathed into him a soul."

"I will not shun thy blow, for very crude Is the heart that ne’er burned in the fire of thine affliction, To thy praise and praisers there is no end, What atom but is reeling with thy praise?"

"Let not a weakling like you censure me; What seems night to you is broad day to me, What seems a prison to you is a garden to me, Busiest occupation is rest to me, Your feet are in the mire, to me mire is rose, What to you is funeral wailing is marriage drum to me."

"Opposite shows up opposite as a Frank a negro."

"Welcome soul-producing sun! when a single ray of thine hath appeared, Thousands of human souls shoot forth from black (barren) clay."

"My heart is weary of these weak-spirited companions, I desire the Lion of God (Ali) and Rustam son of Zal, Filings of beauty are in the possession of every one that exists, I desire that quarry and that mine of exquisite loveliness."

"I still am dark compared to the sun Though I am light compared to the dark souls of men, Therefore is my light weak that you may bear it, For you are not strong enough to bear the dazzling sun, I have, as it were, mixed honey with vinegar, To succour the sweetness of your hearts."

"The strength of strongest man can merely split a stone, The power that informs man’s soul can cleave the moon."

"Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving — it doesn't matter, Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vow a hundred times, Come, come again, come."

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it."

"Whenever we manage to love without expectations, calculations, negotiations, we are indeed in heaven."

"We carry inside us the wonders we seek outside us."

"I once saw in an office a plaque that suggested that before we open our mouths to speak, we should make our words pass through three gates: Is it true, is it kind, and is it necessary?"

"Strange as it may seem to our Western egoism, the prospect of sharing in the general, impersonal immortality of the human soul kindles in the Sufi an enthusiasm as deep and triumphant as that of the most ardent believer in a personal life continuing beyond the grave. Jalaluddin, after describing the evolution of man in the material world and anticipating his further growth in the spiritual universe, utters a heartfelt prayer — for what? — for self-annihilation in the ocean of the Godhead."

"Reynold A. Nicholson, Selected Poems from the Divani Shamsi Tabriz (Cambridge UP, 1898)"

"Camille and Kabir Helminski, Rumi Daylight: A Daybook of Spiritual Guidance (1990)"

"Camille and Kabir Helminski, Jewels of Remembrance: A Daybook of Spiritual Guidance (1996)"

"Coleman Barks, The Essential Rumi (HarperCollins, 1995)"

"James Fadiman and Robert Frager, Essential Sufism (HarperSanFrancisco, 1997)"

"Fatemeh Keshavarz, Reading Mystical Lyric: The Case of Jalal al-Din Rumi (1998)"

"Shahram Shiva, Hush, Don't Say Anything to God: Passionate Poems of Rumi (Jain Publishing, 1999)"

"Andrew Harvey, Teachings of Rumi (Shambhala, 1999)"