Djalâl ad-Dîn Rûmî citations

Page 5

“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.”

“The men of God are like fishes in the ocean; they pop up into view on the surface here and there and everywhere, as they please.”

“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.”

“From Hallaj, I learned to hunt lions, but I became something hungrier than a lion.”

“Even if you lose yourself in wrath
for a hundred thousand years,
at the end you will discover,
it is me, who is the culmination of your dreams.”

“I have endowed everyone with a temperament of his own, given everyone an idiom of his own; so that what is praise for him is blame for thee, what is honey for him is poison for thee, what is light for him is fire for thee, what is rose for him is thorn for thee, what is good for him is evil for thee, what is beautiful for him is ugly for thee. In the people of Hindustan the idiom of Hindustan is praiseworthy; in the people of Sind, the idiom of Sind is praiseworthy. I do not see the outward and the speech; I see the inward and the state [of feeling]. For the heart is the substance and speech an accident. So, the accident is subservient, the substance is the [real] object. The religion of love stands apart from all religions. For lovers the [only] religion and creed is God.”

“The place that Solomon made to worship in,
called the Far Mosque, is not built of earth
and water and stone, but of intention and wisdom
and mystical conversation and compassionate action.”

“We talk about this and that. There’s no rest except on these branching moments.”

“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.”

“All day I think about it, then at night I say it. Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing? I have no idea. My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that, and I intend to end up there.”

“Do not believe in an absurdity
no matter who says it.”

“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.”

“Let the lover be disgraceful, crazy, absent-minded.
Someone sober will worry about events going badly.
Let the lover be.”

“Come, seek, for search is the foundation of fortune:
every success depends upon focusing the heart.”

“There is a community of the spirit
Join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street,
and being the noise.”

“Come to the orchard in Spring.”

“There is a certain cloud,
impregnated with a
thousand lightnings.
There is my body,
in it an ocean formed of his glory,
all the creation,
all the universes,
all the galaxies,
are lost in it.”

“Love is best when mixed with anguish.
In our town,
we won't call you a Lover
if you escape the pain.
Look for Love in this way,
welcome it to your soul,
and watch you spirit fly away in ecstasy.”

“A hundred souls cried out, but
we are yours, we are yours, we are yours.
You are the light
that spoke to Moses and said
I am God, I am God, I am God.
I said Shams-e Tabrizi, who are you?
He said, I am you, I am you, I am you.”

“Dance until you shatter yourself.”

“Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.”

“Something opens our wings. Something makes boredom and hurt disappear. Someone fills the cup in front of us: We taste only sacredness.”

“Grief can be the garden of compassion. If you keep your heart open through everything, your pain can become your greatest ally in your life's search for love and wisdom.”

“Wear gratitude like a cloak, and it will feed every corner of your life.”

“I Love my friends neither with my heart nor with my mind. Just in case… Heart might stop. Mind can forget. I Love them with my Soul. Soul never stops or forgets.”

“Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop.”

“If you are looking for a friend who is faultless, you will be friendless.”