Wisdom of Rumi

Rumi (September 30, 1207–December 17, 1273) was an Iranian poet, Islamic scholar, and Sufi mystic. His wisdom and spiritual writings are widely known throughout the Middle East, and he is one of the best-selling poets in the United States.

Below we list some words of wisdom from Rumi.

“I am neither of the East nor of the West, no boundaries exist within my breast.”

“Your depression is connected to your insolence and refusal to praise.”

“It may be that the satisfaction I need depends on my going away, so that when I've gone and come back, I'll find it at home.”

“Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.”

“When someone beats a rug, the blows are not against the rug, but against the dust in it.”

“Beg of God the removal of envy, that God may deliver you from externals, and bestow upon you an inward occupation, which will absorb you so that your attention is not drawn away.”

“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.”

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there.”

“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.”

“Love will find its way through all languages on its own.”

“That which is false troubles the heart, but truth brings joyous tranquility.”

“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.”

“Everything that is made beautiful and fair and lovely is made for the eye of one who sees.”

“Listen! Clam up your mouth and be silent like an oyster shell, for that tongue of yours is the enemy of the soul, my friend. When the lips are silent, the heart has a hundred tongues.”

“Plant the love of the holy ones within your spirit; don't give your heart to anything, but the love of those whose hearts are glad.”

“The way the Beloved can fit in my heart, two thousand lives could fit in this body of mine. One kernel could contain a thousand bushels, and a hundred worlds pass through the eye of the needle.”

“You know the value of every article of merchandise, but if you don't know the value of your own soul, it's all foolishness.”

“Through Love all that is bitter will be sweet, Through Love all that is copper will be gold, Through Love all dregs will become wine, through Love all pain will turn to medicine.”

“Sunlight fell upon the wall; the wall received a borrowed splendor. Why set your heart on a piece of earth, O simple one? Seek out the source which shines forever.”

“I have no companion but Love, no beginning, no end, no dawn. The Soul calls from within me: 'You, ignorant of the way of Love, set Me free.'”

“This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet.”

“Beauty surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it.”

“And so it is, that both the Devil and the angelic Spirit present us with objects of desire to awaken our power of choice.”

“Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.”

Copyright © Scott Petullo, Stephen Petullo