“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.”
As quoted in Path for Greatness : Spiritualty at Work (2000) by Linda J. Ferguson, p. 51
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Famous Rumi Quotes
As quoted in Marry Your Muse : Making a Lasting Commitment to Your Creativity (1997) by Jan Phillips, p. 75
Rumi Quotes about love
“Gamble everything for love,
if you are a true human being.”
"On Gambling" Ch. 18 : The Three Fish, p. 193
Disputed, The Essential Rumi (1995)
Rumi Quotes about God
“There is no reality but God,
says the completely surrendered sheik, who is an ocean for all beings.”
"The Grasses" in Ch. 4 : Spring Giddiness, p. 44
Disputed, The Essential Rumi (1995)
“This is how Hallaj said, I am God,
and told the truth!”
As quoted in Head and Heart : A Personal Exploration of Science and the Sacred (2002) by Victor Mansfield
Context: He says, "There’s nothing left of me.
I’m like a ruby held up to the sunrise.
Is it still a stone, or a world
made of redness? It has no resistance
to sunlight." This is how Hallaj said, I am God,
and told the truth!The ruby and the sunrise are one. Be courageous and discipline yourself.
Completely become hearing and ear, and wear this sun-ruby as an earring.
III, 4129
Jewels of Remembrance (1996)
“God's joy moved from unmarked box to unmarked box,
from cell to cell.”
Disputed, The Essential Rumi (1995)
Commenting on the famous expression of Mansur al-Hallaj, for which al-Hallaj was executed as a blasphemer, in The Mathnawí of Jalálu'ddín Rúmí, Vol. 4, part 7, edited by Reynold Alleyne Nicholson (1940) p. 248
Variant translation: People imagine that it is a presumptive claim, whereas it is really a presumptive claim to say "I am the slave of God"; and "I am God" is an expression of great humility. The man who says "I am the slave of God" affirms two existences, his own and God's, but he that says "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.
Context: 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.
Rumi: Trending quotes
“Silence
is an ocean. Speech is a river.”
"The Three Fish" Ch. 18 : The Three Fish, p. 196
Variant translations or adaptations:
Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.
As quoted in Teachers of Wisdom (2010) by Igor Kononenko, p. 134
Silence is an ocean. Speech is a river. Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation.
As quoted in "Rumi’s wisdom" (2 October 2015) http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2015/10/02/character-of-the-week-rumi/, by Paulo Coelho
The Essential Rumi (1995)
Context: Silence
is an ocean. Speech is a river.When the ocean is searching for you, don't walk
into the language-river. Listen to the ocean,
and bring your talky business to an end Traditional words are just babbling
in that presence, and babbling is a substitute
for sight.
“Gratitude is the wine for the soul. Go on. Get drunk.”
https://twitter.com/wise_chimp/status/1488946174321205253?s=21
Rumi Quotes
“I always thought that
I was me — but no,
I was you
and never knew it.”
Hush Don't Say Anything to God (1999)
Source: Anonymous reader point out that quote appears on internet from 2015. Rumi, having died in the 1200s, when the first mention of this quote was around 2015.
“The branch might seem like the fruit's origin:
In fact, the branch exist because of the fruit.”
Mathnawi
Teachings of Rumi (1999)
“You knock at the door of Reality. You shake your thought wings, loosen your shoulders, and open.”
"The Gift of Water" Ch. 18 : The Three Fish, p. 200
The Essential Rumi (1995)
“Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul?
I cannot stop asking.”
"Who says words with my mouth?" in Ch. 1 : The Tavern, p. 2
The Essential Rumi (1995)
Context: Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul?
I cannot stop asking.
If I could taste one sip of an answer,
I could break out of this prison for drunks.
I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way.
Whoever brought me here, will have to take me home.
“The fault is in the one who blames. Spirit sees nothing to criticize.”
As quoted in Rumi Wisdom: Daily Teachings from the Great Sufi Master (2000) by Timothy Freke
Variant: The fault is in the blamer — Spirit sees nothing to criticize.
“The beauty you see in me is a reflection of you.”
Appears in Rewards of Passion (Sheer Poetry) (1981), "The Beauty"
Also attributed to Rumi (persian mystic and poet).
Rewards of Passion (Sheer Poetry) (1981)
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I will meet you there.”
"The Great Wagon" Ch. 4 : Spring Giddiness, p. 36
Variant translations:
Between wrongness and rightness there is a field. I will meet you there.
As quoted in Counselling Psychology : Integration of Theory, Research and Supervised Practice (1998) by Petruska Clarkson
Out beyond the world of ideas of wrong doing and right doing, there is a field. I will meet you there.
As quoted in Lightning in a Bottle : Proven Lessons for Leading Change (2000) by David H. Baum
Out beyond ideas of right and wrong doing, there is a field. I will meet you there.
As quoted in Architects of Peace : Visions of Hope in Words and Images (2002) by Michael Collopy, p. 109
Out beyond ideas of rightdoing
and wrongdoing
There is a field.
I will meet you there.
Strategic Learning in a Knowledge Economy : Individual, Collective and Organizational Learning Processes (2000) by Robert L. Cross and Sam B. Israelit
The Essential Rumi (1995)
Context: Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field. I will meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass,
the world is too full to talk about
language, ideas, even the phrase each other
doesn't make any sense.
“Good and bad are mixed. If you don't have both,
you don't belong with us.”
Source: The Essential Rumi (1995), Ch. 19 : Jesus Poems
Context: The cure for pain is in the pain.
Good and bad are mixed. If you don't have both,
you don't belong with us.
Frequently quoted on social media, but was not written by Rumi in Persian.
Misattributed
“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”
https://twitter.com/wise_chimp/status/1488946174321205253?s=21
“Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence.”
"A Community of the Spirit" in Ch. 1 : The Tavern, p. 2
The Essential Rumi (1995)
Context: Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence. Flow down and down in always
widening rings of being.
“Christ is the population of the world,
and every object as well.”
Source: The Essential Rumi (1995), Ch. 19 : Jesus Poems, p. 204
Context: Christ is the population of the world,
and every object as well. There is no room
for hypocrisy. Why use bitter soup for healing
when sweet water is everywhere?
“Do not grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.”
"Unmarked boxes" /Ode#1937
Disputed, The Essential Rumi (1995)
“We carry inside us the wonders we seek outside us.”
Misattributed
Source: Frequently quoted on social media, but appears to be a misquote of Thomas Browne's "We carry within us the wonders we seek without us: there is all Africa and her prodigies in us" in Religio Medici (1643) pt. 1, sect. 15.
“Everything in the universe is within you. Ask all from yourself.”
https://twitter.com/wise_chimp/status/1488946174321205253?s=21
“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the World. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
https://twitter.com/wise_chimp/status/1488946174321205253?s=21
“Didn't I tell you
not to be satisfied with the veil of this world?”
Hush Don't Say Anything to God (1999)
Context: Didn't I tell you
not to be satisfied with the veil of this world?
I am the master illusionist,
it is me, who is the welcoming banner at the gate of your contentment.
Hush Don't Say Anything to God (1999)
Context: This is a gathering of Lovers.
In this gathering
there is no high, no low,
no smart, no ignorant,
no special assembly,
no grand discourse,
no proper schooling required.
There is no master,
no disciple.
This gathering is more like a drunken party,
full of tricksters, fools,
mad men and mad women.
This is a gathering of Lovers.
“Think how it is to have a conversation with an embryo.”
As quoted in The Enlightened Mind (1991), edited by Stephen Mitchell
Context: 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.
"I Died as a Mineral", as translated in The Mystics of Islam (1914) edited by Reynold Alleyne Nicholson, p. 125
Variant translation: Originally, you were clay. From being mineral, you became vegetable. From vegetable, you became animal, and from animal, man. During these periods man did not know where he was going, but he was being taken on a long journey nonetheless. And you have to go through a hundred different worlds yet.
As quoted in Multimind (1986) by Robert Ornstein
Context: 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.
“I can't stop pointing
to the beauty.Every moment and place says,
"Put this design in your carpet!"”
"Put This Design in Your Carpet" Ch. 11 : Union
The Essential Rumi (1995)
Mathnawi
Teachings of Rumi (1999)
Context: "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.
“The human body and the universe
grew from this, not this
from the universe and the human body.”
"This We Have Now" in Ch. 25 : Majesty. p. 262
The Essential Rumi (1995)
Context: This
that we are now
created the body, cell by cell,
like bees building a honeycomb. The human body and the universe
grew from this, not this
from the universe and the human body.
As translated in Masnavi I Ma'navi : The Spiritual Couplets of Maulána Jalálu-'d-Dín Muhammad Rúmí (1898) edited by Edward Henry Whinfield Book IV, Story IV : "Bayazid and his impious sayings when beside himself" <!-- also quoted in The Perennial Philosophy (1945) by Aldous Huxley -->
“The miracle of Jesus is himself, not what he said or did
about the future.”
Source: The Essential Rumi (1995), Ch. 19 : Jesus Poems, p. 205
Context: The miracle of Jesus is himself, not what he said or did
about the future. Forget the future.
I'd worship someone who could do that.
Source: The Essential Rumi (1995), Ch. 19 : Jesus Poems, p. 205
"In Baghdad, Dreaming of Cairo: In Cairo, Dreaming of Baghdad." Ch. 20 : In Baghdad, Dreaming of Cairo: More Teaching Stories, p. 206
Disputed, The Essential Rumi (1995)
“Masnavi-I Ma'navi, Book III, verses 1259–1270”
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."
If you give a candle to everyone, their differences will be gone,
Compare the sensual eye to the
hand of one that felt the elephant.
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.
The Masnavi, Book III, Story V, as translated in Masnavi I Ma'navi : The Spiritual Couplets of Maulána Jalálu-'d-Dín Muhammad Rúmí (1898) by Edward Henry Whinfield
“Our caravan leader is the pride of the world, Mustafa [Muhammad]”
As quoted in And Muhammad is his Messenger : The Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety (1985) by Annemarie Schimmel, p. 215
“Disputational knowing wants customers.
It has no soul.”
"The Sheikh who played with the Children" in Ch. 4 : Spring Giddiness, p. 46
Disputed, The Essential Rumi (1995)
Hush, Don't Say Anything to God: Passionate Poems of Rumi (2000)
Hush Don't Say Anything to God (1999)
Disputed, The Essential Rumi (1995)
