Rumi

Listen to this reed as it complains, telling the tale of separations.

Whoever is kept far from their origin longs again for the time of union.

O heart, sit only with one who truly understands the heart.

When Solomon began the building, it was pure like the Kaaba, blessed like Mina.

For paradise is not built from tools and matter, but is built from deeds and intention.

Counsel given through action is more compelling — it reaches the soul of the hearing and the deaf alike.

Teaching knowledge and skill to the ill-natured is like putting a sword in a highwayman's hand.

Knowledge, wealth, rank, and standing become a calamity in the hands of the ill-natured.

When authority falls into the hands of one who is lost, think of that rank as having fallen into a pit.

Fools have become masters, and out of fear, the wise have hidden their heads under blankets.

Hunger itself is the king of all remedies — do not see it in the soul as something so lowly.

All unpleasant things become pleasant through hunger; all pleasant things without hunger are worthless.

The wise one is the one who carries a torch — he is the guide and leader of the caravan.

The one who leads follows his own inner light; the one without self follows only himself in name.

O You who turned dust into gold, and turned another dust into the father of humankind.

Your work is the transformation and giving of essences; my work is only error, forgetting, and fault.

Since the second state is better than the first, seek passing away, and worship the One who transforms.

Take hold of the new and let go of the old, for each of your years now surpasses the three before.

This ebb and flow first came to me from You — otherwise this sea would be still, O Glorious One.

No one has a way into the court of Majesty until they pass away from themselves.

The tailor of pride cuts the silk of your life into pieces with the scissors of the months.

Do not see the stars as counterfeit coiners — see instead your own love for the one who forges hearts, O noble ones.

The luminous teacher makes you aware of the path, and joins light together with his speech.

Strive until you become intoxicated and full of light, so that light becomes the face of your very words.

Whatever you say will itself be full of light — for the sky never rains down anything but what is pure.

Water in a gutter is only borrowed; water in the cloud and the sea is its true nature.

Greed so humbled him that five hundred proofs were still not enough to save him from his own weakness.

See the house of the heart — disheveled by sorrow, yet swept clean by repentance without any sweeper.

In the heart there is a life that is the abode of eternity — what use is it if it will not come onto my tongue?

He took hold of him as a blind man takes hold of his guide, until through him he became seeing, capable, and great.

He had become refined and had come this far by beheading his own pride and his own ego.

Flee, O lord of death, from our disgrace — for you do not know how to become the color that we are.

First you must drink deep of the wine and grow intoxicated with joy; only once you lose yourself will you turn toward us.

Whoever drinks the red wine grows rich in fortune, and the heart's openness carries away the heaviness we bear.

From the lover's fire, O pure one, even hell itself grows weak and reasonable.

These discussions can be spoken only up to this point; whatever comes after this must remain hidden.

Up to the sea, the horse and saddle serve you; beyond this point, your only vessel is a wooden boat.

But the one whose wooden boat is broken and who sinks into the water — he himself becomes a fish.

Every silence that wearies you is, on its other side, love itself crying out.

So He made a being of deep heart to be a mirror unto His own kingship.

The morsel that props up this body is like armor — bread wards off the blade of hunger.

The command of Truth came to every town and village: do not let house and wall cast their shadow over you.

Do not stand as a barrier to rain and sun — it was for this that messengers were sent swiftly to the people.