375+ Insightful Rumi Quotes on the Universe’s Beauty

“What you seek is seeking you.”

Updated 4 years ago, January 5, 2021

Rumi, also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad, is considered the greatest Persian poet and Sufi mystic ever lived. He is best known for his words of wisdom on love, life, and the magic and beauty of the universe. With the Persian and Arabic language in Rumi’s poems, he became a huge influence in the Muslim world. As the infamous poet that he is, we hope that these Rumi quotes will give some insight into the beauty and mystery of the universe.

Rumi became a popular 13th-century Persian poet after influence from both his father and a holy man named Shams. Baha’ al-Din Walad, Rumi’s father, was a noted theologian teacher who influenced Rumi to become the Islamic scholar that he was. Around 1244, Rumi met Shams al-Din. They grew close and lived together, and during that time, Shams taught Rumi a lot about beauty and divine majesty. Sham’s wisdom highly influenced Rumi’s work. After Sham mysteriously disappeared and was then murdered, Rumi dedicated and acknowledged him in many of his poems.

Legend states that Rumi was blessed by an ancient, Persian mystical poet, which could have been the spark that ignited the poet deep in his soul. Rumi quotes are used as inspiration and advice for lovers, writers, teachers, and anyone who needs a bit of light in their dark world. As a famed poet, he has inspired writers and lovers worldwide. His work has been translated into all the world’s languages so that everyone can fall in love with the beauty of his words.

We hope these beautiful Rumi quotes will bring you inner peace, an urge to live life the way you most desire, and faith in the mystery and beauty of the universe. Whether it be a quote about love, life, or having strength in a time of sorrow, let this infamous poet be a guiding light.

Rumi Quotes About Love and the Heart

Use some of these Rumi quotes to write in a love letter or a birthday card to your partner. These quotes will–for sure–put a smile on your loved one’s face.

“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.” –Rumi

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right-doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about.” –Rumi

“Only from the heart can you touch the sky.” –Rumi

“Lovers have heartaches that can’t be cured by drugs or sleep or games, but only by seeing their beloved.” –Rumi

“Lovers are patient and know that the moon needs time to become full.” –Rumi

“Do not worry if all the candles in the world flicker and die. We have the spark that starts the fire.” –Rumi

“Come out of the circle of time and into the circle of love.” –Rumi

“A thousand half-loves must be forsaken to take one whole heart home.” –Rumi

“If destiny comes to help you, love will come to meet you. A life without love isn’t a life.” –Rumi

“Tend to your vital heart, and all that you worry about will be solved.” –Rumi

“Why ever talk of miracles when you are destined to become infinite love.” –Rumi

“When we practice loving-kindness and compassion, we are the first ones to profit.” –Rumi

“If you love someone, you are always joined with them – in joy, in absence, in solitude, in strife.” –Rumi

“This is a subtle truth. Whatever you love, you are.” –Rumi

“My heart, sit only with those who know and understand you.” –Rumi

“There is a path from me to you that I am constantly looking for.” –Rumi

“I am yours. Don’t give myself back to me.” –Rumi

“Let yourself be drawn by the stronger pull of that which you truly love.” –Rumi

“Every moment is made glorious by the light of love.” –Rumi

“Those who don’t feel this love pulling them like a river, those who don’t drink dawn like a cup of spring water or take in sunset like a supper, those who don’t want to change, let them sleep.” –Rumi

“When all your desires are distilled; You will cast just two votes – to love more and be happy.” –Rumi

“In your light, I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.” –Rumi

“Now I am sober, and there’s only the hangover and the memory of love.” –Rumi

“This sky where we live is no place to lose your wings, so love, love, love.” –Rumi

“The only lasting beauty is the beauty of the heart.” –Rumi

“Truth lifts the heart like water refreshes thirst.” –Rumi

“Our greatest strength lies in the gentleness and tenderness of our heart.” –Rumi

“Let your teacher be love itself.” –Rumi

“Would you become a pilgrim on the road of love? The first condition is that you make yourself humble as dust and ashes.” –Rumi

“If you wish to be a mine of jewels, open the deep ocean within your heart.” –Rumi

“The very center of your heart is where life begins. The most beautiful place on earth.” –Rumi

“Whoever finds love beneath hurt and grief disappears into emptiness with a thousand new disguises.” –Rumi

“There is nothing I want but your presence. In friendship, time dissolves.” –Rumi

“Whoever has heart’s doors wide open, could see the sun itself in every atom.”

“The message behind the words is the voice of the heart.” –Rumi –Rumi

“Laugh as much as you breathe. Love as long as you live.”

“Be drunk with love, for love is all that exists.” –Rumi –Rumi

“Wherever you are, and whatever you do, be in love.” –Rumi

“Love risks everything and asks for nothing.” –Rumi

“Your light is more magnificent than sunrise or sunset.” –Rumi

“When I am with you, we stay up all night. When you’re not here, I can’t go to sleep.” –Rumi

“May these vows and this marriage be blessed.”

“I am a child whose teacher is love; surely my master won’t let me grow to be a fool.” –Rumi

“My dear heart, never think you are better than others. Listen to their sorrows with compassion. If you want peace, don’t harbor bad thoughts, do not gossip, and don’t teach what you do not know.” –Rumi

“Love is the water of life; jump into this water.” –Rumi

“There is no salvation for the soul but to fall in love. Only lovers can escape out of these two worlds.” –Rumi

“This is what love does and continues to do. It tastes like honey to adults and milk to children.” –Rumi

“In your light, I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.” –Rumi

“I once had a thousand desires. But in my one desire to know you, all else melted away.” –Rumi

“Without love, all worship is a burden, all dancing is a chore, all music is mere noise.” –Rumi

“I have found the heart and will never leave this house of light.” –Rumi

“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.’” –Rumi

“On the path of love, we are neither masters nor the owners of our lives. We are only a brush in the hand of the master painter.” –Rumi

“Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.” –Rumi

“In their seeking, wisdom and madness are one and the same. On the path of love, friend and stranger are one and the same.” –Rumi

“Whatever happens, just keep smiling and lose yourself in love.” –Rumi

“You have within you more love than you could ever understand.” –Rumi

“Your heart knows the way. Run in that direction.” –Rumi

“Why are you knocking at every door? Go, knock at the door of your own heart.” –Rumi

“If I love myself, I love you. If I love you, I love myself.” –Rumi

“The minute I heard my first love story, / I started looking for you, not knowing / how blind that was. / Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. / They’re in each other all along.” –Rumi

“Close your eyes, fall in love, stay there.” –Rumi

“If you want to win hearts, sow the seeds of love. If you want heaven, stop scattering thorns on the road.” –Rumi

“When you seek love with all your heart, you shall find its echo in the universe.” –Rumi

“This turning toward what you deeply love saves you.” –Rumi

“The very center of your heart is where life begins – the most beautiful place on earth.” –Rumi

“Two there are who are never satisfied – the lover of the world and the lover of knowledge.” –Rumi

“The time has come to turn your heart into a temple of fire.” –Rumi

“Love sometimes wants to do us a great favor: hold us upside down and shake all the nonsense out.” –Rumi

“Be soulful. Be kind. Be in love.” –Rumi

“Dance, and make joyous the love around you. Dance and your veils which hide the Light shall swirl in a heap at your feet.” –Rumi

“Your heart is the size of an ocean. Go find yourself in its hidden depths.” –Rumi

“Discard yourself and thereby regain yourself. Spread the trap of humility and ensnare love.” –Rumi

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

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

“If light is in your heart, you will find your way home.” –Rumi

“The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.” –Rumi

“Let the lover be disgraceful, crazy, absentminded. Someone sober will worry about things going badly. Let the lover be.” –Rumi

“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.” –Rumi

“Reason is powerless in the expression of love.” –Rumi

“Gamble everything for love, if you are a true human being. If not, leave this gathering. Half-heartedness doesn’t reach into majesty.” –Rumi

“Love is the bridge between you and everything.” –Rumi

Rumi Quotes About God, Religion, and the Universe

“Everything in the universe is within you. Ask all from yourself.” –Rumi

“Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.” –Rumi

“I searched for God and found only myself. I searched for myself and found only God.” –Rumi

“You have forgotten the One who doesn’t care about ownership, who doesn’t try to turn a profit from every human exchange.” –Rumi

“Ways of worshipping are not to be ranked as better or worse than one another… It’s all praise, and it’s all right.” –Rumi

“We are all the same… all the same… longing to find our way back… back to the One… back to the only One!” –Rumi

“Why, when God’s world is so big, did you fall asleep in a prison, of all places?” –Rumi

“Stay in the spiritual fire. Let it cook you.” –Rumi

“All religions. All this singing. One song. Peace be with you.” –Rumi

“God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites so that you will have two wings to fly, not one.” –Rumi

“I am in the House of Mercy, and my heart is a place of prayer.” –Rumi

“The universe and the light of the stars come through me.” –Rumi

“When the world pushes you to your knees, you’re in the perfect position to pray.” –Rumi

“It is certain that an atom of goodness on the path of faith is never lost.” –Rumi

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

“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean, in a drop.” –Rumi

“Sit quietly and listen for a voice that will say, “Be more silent.” As that happens, your soul starts to revive.” –Rumi

“The whole universe is contained within a single human being– you.” –Rumi

“We carry inside us the wonders we seek outside us.” –Rumi

“Silence is the language of God; all else is poor translation.” –Rumi

“There are many ways to the Divine. I have chosen the ways of song, dance, and laughter.” –Rumi

“Each moment contains a hundred messages from God.” –Rumi

“Whosoever knoweth the power of the dance, dwelleth in God.” –Rumi

“If you wish to shine like day, burn up the night of self-existence. Dissolve in the Being who is everything.” –Rumi

“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.” –Rumi

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

“Shine like the whole universe is yours.” –Rumi

“There is a loneliness more precious than life. There is a freedom more precious than the world. Infinitely more precious than life and the world is that moment when one is alone with God.” –Rumi

“To become spiritual, you must die to self, and come alive in the Lord. Only then will the mysteries of God fall from your lips. To die to self through self-discipline causes suffering but brings you everlasting life.” –Rumi

“The beauty you see in me is a reflection of you.” –Rumi

“Don’t you know yet? It is your Light that lights the worlds.” –Rumi

“If you could get rid of yourself just once, the secret of secrets would open to you. The face of the unknown, hidden beyond the universe, would appear on the mirror of your perception.” –Rumi

“The sky will bow down to your beauty if you do.” –Rumi

“The garden of the world has no limits except in your mind.” –Rumi

“Patience with small details makes perfect a large work, like the universe.” –Rumi

“Knock, and He’ll open the door. Vanish, and He’ll make you shine like the sun. Fall, and He’ll raise you to the heavens. Become nothing, and He’ll turn you into everything.” –Rumi

“Make peace with the universe. Take joy in it.” –Rumi

“Now be silent. Let the One who creates the words speak. He made the door. He made the lock. He also made the key.” –Rumi

“Till man destroys “self” he is no true friend of God.” –Rumi

“Do not feel lonely; the entire universe is inside you.” –Rumi

Rumi Quotes About Life and Gratitude

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

“Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.” –Rumi

“What you seek is seeking you.” –Rumi

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

“The garden of the world has no limit except in your mind.” –Rumi

“Who could be so lucky? Who comes to a lake for water and sees the reflection of moon.” –Rumi

“All people on the planet are children, except for a very few. No one is grown up except those free of desire.” –Rumi

“Do you pay regular visits to yourself? Start now.” –Rumi

“I learned that every mortal will taste death. But only some will taste life.” –Rumi

“With life as short as a half-taken breath, don’t plant anything but love.” –Rumi

“There is a life in you; search that life, search the secret jewel in the mountain of your body.” –Rumi

“You were born with wings. Why prefer to crawl through life?” –Rumi

“Be grateful for your life, every detail of it, and your face will come to shine like a sun, and everyone who sees it will be made glad and peaceful.” –Rumi

“The illuminated life can happen now, in the moments left. Die to your ego, and become a true human being.” –Rumi

“Today, let us swim wildly, joyously in gratitude.” –Rumi

“Thankfulness brings you to the place where the beloved lives.” –Rumi

“Keep silent because the world of silence is a vast fullness.” –Rumi

“This being human is a guest house. Every morning is a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor… Welcome and entertain them all. Treat each guest honorably. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.” –Rumi

“Travel brings power and love back into your life.” –Rumi

“Let silence take you to the core of life.” –Rumi

“Why should I be wary when every cell of my body is bursting with life?” –Rumi

“Life is a balance of holding on and letting go.” –Rumi

“Live life as if everything is rigged in your favor.” –Rumi

“Gratitude is the wine for the soul. Go on. Get drunk.” –Rumi

“Let yourself be drawn by the strange pull of what you love. It will not lead you astray.” –Rumi

“Be grateful for whoever comes because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.” –Rumi

Rumi Quotes About Sorrow and Joy

If you have recently lost a loved one or know someone who has, let these quotes serve as a reminder that sorrow and grief don’t last forever. Joy is just around the corner, so take comfort in these Rumi quotes.

“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.” –Rumi

“Whenever sorrow comes, be kind to it. For God has placed a pearl in sorrow’s hand.” –Rumi

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

“Patience is the key to joy.” –Rumi

“The wound is the place where the light enters you.” –Rumi

“Wherever water flows, life flourishes: wherever tears fall, divine mercy is shown.” –Rumi

“If you are seeking, seek us with joy / For we live in the kingdom of joy. / Do not give your heart to anything else / But to the love of those who are clear joy, / Do not stray into the neighborhood of despair. / For there are hopes: they are real, they exist –Do not go in the direction of darkness – I tell you: suns exist.” –Rumi

“Joy lives concealed in grief.” –Rumi

“My head is bursting with the joy of the unknown. My heart is expanding a thousandfold.” –Rumi

“When you feel a peaceful joy, that’s when you are near truth.” –Rumi

“Brother, stand the pain; Escape the poison of your impulses. The sky will bow to your beauty if you do. Learn to light the candle. Rise with the sun. Turn away from the cave of your sleeping. That way, a thorn expands to a rose. A particular glows with the universal.” –Rumi

“Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” –Rumi

“Peaceful is the one who’s not concerned with having more or less. Unbound by name and fame, he is free from sorrow from the world and mostly from himself.” –Rumi

“All that you think is rain is not. Behind the veil, angels sometimes weep.” –Rumi

“What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is your candle.” –Rumi

“Don’t get lost in your pain; know that one day your pain will become your cure.” –Rumi

“Ignore those that make you fearful and sad, that degrade you back towards disease and death.” –Rumi

“If something makes you happy in this world, you should think of what will happen to you if that thing were taken away.” –Rumi

“But listen to me. For one moment, quit being sad. Hear blessings dropping their blossoms around you.” –Rumi

“This place is a dream. Only a sleeper considers it real. Then death comes like dawn, and you wake up laughing at what you thought was your grief.” –Rumi

“Everyone is overridden by thoughts; that’s why they have so much heartache and sorrow.” –Rumi

“Don’t dismiss the heart, even if it’s filled with sorrow. God’s treasures are buried in broken hearts.” –Rumi

“Why should I be unhappy? Every parcel of my being is in full bloom.” –Rumi

“Whatever lifts the corners of your mouth, trust that.” –Rumi

“Don’t turn away. Keep your gaze on the bandaged place. That’s where the light enters you.” –Rumi

“Achieve some perfection yourself so that you may not fall into sorrow by seeing the perfection in others.” –Rumi

“Suffering is a gift; in its hidden mercy.” –Rumi

“Caught by our own thoughts, we worry about everything.” –Rumi

“Be full of sorrow, that you may become hill of joy; weep, that you may break into laughter.” –Rumi

“Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place.” –Rumi

“Be empty of worrying. Think of who created thought! Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?” –Rumi

Rumi Quotes About The Soul

“My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that, and I intend to end up there.” –Rumi

“The soul has been given its own ears to hear things the mind does not understand.” –Rumi

“There is a life-force within your soul; seek that life. There is a gem in the mountain of your body; seek that mine. O traveler, if you are in search of that, don’t look outside, look inside yourself, and seek that.” –Rumi

“Wherever you stand, be the soul of that place.” –Rumi

“A divine dance appears in the soul and the body at the time of peace and union. Anyone can learn the dance, just listen to the music.” –Rumi

“Prayer clears the mist and brings back peace to the soul.” –Rumi

“Join the community of saints and know the delight of your own soul. Enter the ruins of your heart and learn the meaning of humility.” –Rumi

“Do good to the people for the sake of God or for the peace of your own soul that you may always see what is pure and save your heart from the darkness of hate.” –Rumi

“Dancing is when you rise above both worlds, tearing your heart to pieces and giving up your soul.” –Rumi

“I have neither a soul nor a body, for I come from the very soul of all souls.” –Rumi

“Oh soul, you worry too much. You have seen your own strength. You have seen your own beauty. You have seen your golden wings. Of anything less, why do you worry? You are in truth the soul, of the soul, of the soul.” –Rumi

“Oh! Joy for he who has escaped from this world of perfumes and color! For beyond these colors and these perfumes, these are other colors in the heart and the soul.” –Rumi

“The desire to know your own soul will end all other desires.” –Rumi

“One of the marvels of the world: The sight of a soul sitting in prison with the key in its hand.” –Rumi

“I have been a seeker, and I still am, but I stopped asking the books and the stars. I started listening to the teaching of my soul.” –Rumi

“Daylight, full of small dancing particles and the one great turning, our souls are dancing with you, without feet, they dance. Can you see them when I whisper in your ear?” –Rumi

“Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul, there is no such thing as separation.” –Rumi

“O, happy the soul that saw its own faults.” –Rumi

“What hurts the soul? To live without tasting the water of its own essence.” –Rumi

“Everything is emptiness. Everything else, accidental. Emptiness brings peace to your loving. Everything else, disease. In this world of trickery, emptiness is what your soul wants.” –Rumi

“Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone’s soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd.” –Rumi

“The soul is here for its own joy.” –Rumi

“What matters is how quickly you do what your soul directs.” –Rumi

“What is planted in each person’s soul will sprout.” –Rumi

“Conventional opinion is the ruin of our souls.” –Rumi

“Your breath touched my soul, and I saw beyond all limits.” –Rumi

“When you do things from the soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.” –Rumi

“There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled. There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled. You feel it, don’t you?” –Rumi

Rumi Quotes About Strength, Hope, and Fear

“If reason dominates in man, he rises higher than angels. If lust overpowers man, he descends lower than the beast.” –Rumi

“Put your thoughts to sleep, do not let them cast a shadow over the moon of your heart. Let go of thinking.” –Rumi

“Be empty of worrying. Think of who created thought.” –Rumi

“‎Dancing is not just getting up painlessly, like a leaf blown on the wind; dancing is when you tear your heart out and rise out of your body to hang suspended between the worlds.” –Rumi

“Where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure.” –Rumi

“Be patient where you sit in the dark. The dawn is coming.” –Rumi

“When you go through a hard period, when everything seems to oppose you when you feel you cannot even bear one more minute, never give up! Because it is the time and place that the course will divert!” –Rumi

“I know you’re tired but come; this is the way.” –Rumi

“On what is fear: Non-acceptance of uncertainty. If we accept that uncertainty, it becomes an adventure!” –Rumi

“One day, your heart will take you to your Lover. One day your soul will carry you to the Beloved. Don’t get lost in your pain; know that one day your pain will become your cure.” –Rumi

“Looking up gives light, although at first, it makes you dizzy.” –Rumi

“Don’t be sad! Because God sends hope in the most desperate moments. Don’t forget; the heaviest rain comes out of the darkest clouds.” –Rumi

“Move, but don’t move the way fear makes you move.” –Rumi

“The Prophets accept all agony and trust it. For the water has never feared the fire.” –Rumi

“Travelers, it is late. Life’s sun is going to set. During these brief days that you have strength, be quick, and spare no effort of your wings.” –Rumi

“There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground; there are a thousand ways to go home again.” –Rumi

“Whatever happens to you, don’t fall in despair. Even if all the doors are closed, a secret path will be there for you that no one knows. You can’t see it yet, but so many paradises are at the end of this path…Be grateful! It is easy to thank after obtaining what you want, thank before having what you want.” –Rumi

“Don’t make yourself miserable with what is to come or not to come.” –Rumi

“In the blackest of your moments, wait with no fear.” –Rumi

“Every need brings what’s needed. Pain bears its cure like a child. Having nothing produces provisions. Ask a difficult question, and the marvelous answer appears.” –Rumi

“Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think, and twice as beautiful as you’d ever imagined.” –Rumi

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

“When the world pushes you to your knees, you’re in the perfect position to pray.” –Rumi

“You were born with potential. You were born with goodness and trust. You were born with ideals and dreams. You were born with greatness. You were born with wings. You are not meant for crawling, so don’t. You have wings. Learn to use them and fly.” –Rumi

“Run from what’s comfortable. Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious. I have tried prudent planning long enough. From now on, I’ll be mad.” –Rumi

“If all you can do is crawl, start crawling.” –Rumi

“Become the sky. Take an ax to the prison wall. Escape.” –Rumi

“Don’t sit and wait. Get out there, feel life. Touch the sun, and immerse in the sea.” –Rumi

“Everything you possess of skill, and wealth, and handicraft, wasn’t it first merely a thought and a quest?” –Rumi

“The cure for pain is in the pain.” –Rumi

“Dance, when you’re broken open. Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you’re perfectly free.” –Rumi

“I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think.” –Rumi

Rumi Quotes on Wisdom and Learning

hange the world today by putting these Rumi quotes in a classroom. These quotes about wisdom, perseverance, and the power of words can inspire and motivate anyone.

“Words are a pretext. It is the inner bond that draws one person to another, not words.” –Rumi

“As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.” –Rumi

“Wisdom tells us we are not worthy; love tells us we are. My life flows between the two.” –Rumi

“Let silence be the art you practice.” –Rumi

“Anything which is more than our necessity is poison. It may be power, wealth, hunger, ego, greed, laziness, love, ambition, hate, or anything.” –Rumi

“Open your hands if you want to be held.” –Rumi

“If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?” –Rumi

“Seek the wisdom that will untie your knot. Seek the path that demands your whole being.” –Rumi

“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.” –Rumi

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

“Let the waters settle, and you will see the moon and the stars mirrored in your own being.” –Rumi

“Let’s rise above this animalistic behavior and be kind to one another.” –Rumi

“These pains you feel are messengers. Listen to them.” –Rumi

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” –Rumi

“Silence gives answers.” –Rumi

“You have no need to travel anywhere– journey within yourself. Enter a mine of rubies and bathe in the splendor of your own light.” –Rumi

“The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don’t go back to sleep.” –Rumi

“Start a huge, foolish project, like Noah… it makes absolutely no difference what people think of you.” –Rumi

“The wealth within you, your essence, is your kingdom.” –Rumi

“There is a voice that doesn’t use words, listen.” –Rumi

“Take someone who doesn’t keep score, who’s not looking to be richer, or afraid of losing, who has not the slightest interest even in his own personality: he’s free.” –Rumi

“I should be suspicious of what I want.” –Rumi

“A little while alone in your room will prove more valuable than anything else that could ever be given to you.” –Rumi

“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment. Cleverness is mere opinion. Bewilderment brings intuitive knowledge.” –Rumi

“Be with those who help your being.” –Rumi

“In silence, there is eloquence. Stop weaving and see how the pattern improves.” –Rumi

“Why are you so enchanted by this world when a mine of gold lies within you?” –Rumi

“Seek the sound that never ceases. Seek the sun that never sets.” –Rumi

“Inside any deep asking is the answering.” –Rumi

“Silence is an ocean. Speech is a river. When the ocean is searching for you, don’t walk into the river. Listen to the ocean.” –Rumi

“Maybe you are searching among the branches, for what only appears in the roots.” –Rumi

“There is a moon inside every human being. Learn to be companions with it.” –Rumi

“This silence, this moment, every moment, if it’s genuinely inside you, brings what you need. There’s nothing to believe. Only when I stopped believing in myself did I come into this beauty. Sit quietly, and listen for a voice that will say, ‘Be more silent.’ Die and be quiet. Quietness is the surest sign that you’ve died. Your old life was a frantic running from silence. Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking. Live in silence.” –Rumi

“By God, when you see your beauty, you will be the idol of yourself.” –Rumi

“It’s your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.” –Rumi

“When will you begin that long journey into yourself?” –Rumi

“Friendship of the wise is good; a wise enemy is better than a foolish friend.” –Rumi

“Be kind to yourself, dear– to our innocent follies. Forget any sounds or touch you knew that did not help you dance. You will come to see that all evolves us.” –Rumi

“The moment you accept what troubles you’ve been given, the door will open.” –Rumi

“You were born with wings; why prefer to crawl through life?” –Rumi

“Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.” –Rumi

“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.” –Rumi

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

Other Insightful Rumi Quotes

“Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. It doesn’t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, yet again, come, come.” –Rumi

“Sit, be still, and listen.” –Rumi

“How do I know who I am or where I am? How could a single wave locate itself in an ocean.” –Rumi

“Why struggle to open a door between us when the whole wall is an illusion?” –Rumi

“Clean out your ears, don’t listen for what you already know.” –Rumi

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

“With every breath, I plant the seeds of devotion; I am a farmer of the heart.” –Rumi

“Anyone who genuinely and consistently with both hands looks for something will find it.” –Rumi

“Greed makes man blind and foolish, and makes him an easy prey for death.” –Rumi

“A wealth you cannot imagine flows through you. Do not consider what strangers say. Be secluded in your secret heart-house, that bowl of silence.” –Rumi

“I lost my hat while gazing at the moon, and then I lost my mind.” –Rumi

“Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don’t claim them. Feel the artistry moving through and be silent. Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.” –Rumi

“On a day when the wind is perfect, the sail just needs to open, and the world is full of beauty. Today is such a day.” –Rumi

“Look at the moon in the sky, not the one in the lake.” –Rumi

“To me, nothing in the world is as precious as a genuine smile, especially from a child.” –Rumi

“If you want money more than anything, you’ll be bought and sold your whole life.” –Rumi

“Friend, our closeness is this: anywhere you put your foot, feel me in the firmness under you.” –Rumi

“Listen to the unstruck sounds and what sifts through that music.” –Rumi

“When I run after what I think I want, my days are a furnace of distress and anxiety; If I sit in my own place of patience, what I need flows to me, and without any pain. From this, I understand that what I want also wants me, is looking for me and attracting me. There is a great secret in this for anyone who can grasp it.” –Rumi

“We can’t help being thirsty, moving toward the voice of water.” –Rumi

“Be kind and honest, and harmful poisons will turn sweet inside you.” –Rumi

“There is one way of breathing that is shameful and constricted. Then, there’s another way: a breath of love that takes you all the way to infinity.” –Rumi

“In order to understand the dance, one must be still. And in order to truly understand stillness, one must dance.” –Rumi

“When you lose all sense of self, the bonds of a thousand chains will vanish.” –Rumi

“Whether one moves slowly or with speed, the one who is a seeker will be a finder.” –Rumi

“Dance where you can break yourself up to pieces and totally abandon your worldly passions.” –Rumi

“When a man makes up a story for his child, he becomes a father and a child together, listening.” –Rumi

“When I am silent, I fall into a place where everything is music.” –Rumi

“The source of now is here.” –Rumi

“Everything about yesterday has gone with yesterday. Today, it is needed to say new things.” –Rumi

“Your radiance shines in every atom of creation, yet our petty desires keep it hidden.” –Rumi

“All your anxiety is because of your desire for harmony. Seek disharmony; then you will gain peace.” –Rumi

“The world is a mountain, in which your words are echoed back to you.” –Rumi

“Stop, open up, surrender the beloved blind silence. Stay there until you see you’re looking at the light with infinite eyes.” –Rumi

“Poetry can be dangerous, especially beautiful poetry because it gives the illusion of having had the experience without actually going through it.” –Rumi

“I am a drunkard from another kind of tavern. I dance to a silent tune. I am the symphony of stars.” –Rumi

“Stay with friends who support you in these. Talk with them about sacred texts, and how you are doing, and how they are doing, and keep your practices together.” –Rumi

“The intelligent desire self-control; children want candy.” –Rumi

“Always search for your innermost nature in those you are with, as rose oil imbibes from roses.” –Rumi

“Study me as much as you like; you will never know me. For I differ a hundred ways from what you see me to be.” –Rumi

“Let go of your mind and then be mindful. Close your ears and listen.” –Rumi

“Whatever purifies you is the right path; I will not try to define it.” –Rumi

“When water gets caught in habitual whirlpools, dig a way out through the bottom of the ocean.” –Rumi

“My words are like a ship, and the sea is their meaning. Come to me, and I will take you to the depths of spirit. I will meet you there.” –Rumi

“Work. Keep digging your well. Water is there somewhere.” –Rumi

“You are not meant for crawling, so don’t. You have wings. Learn to use them and fly.” –Rumi

“You are not one; you are a thousand. Just light your lantern.” –Rumi

“Half-heartedness doesn’t reach into majesty.” –Rumi

“Grace comes to forgive and then forgive again.” –Rumi

“Be like the sun for grace and mercy. Be like the night to cover others’ faults. Be like running water for generosity. Be like death for rage and anger. Be like the Earth for modesty. Appear as you are. Be as you appear.” –Rumi

“Concentrate on the essence, concentrate on the light.” –Rumi

“A warm, rainy day-this is how it feels when friends get together. Friend refreshes friend then, as flowers do each other, in a spring rain.” –Rumi

“My friend, the Sufi, is the friend of the present moment. To say tomorrow is not our way.” –Rumi

“Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.” –Rumi

“Let yourself become living poetry.” –Rumi

“We came whirling out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust… The stars made a circle, and in the middle, we dance.” –Rumi

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

“The lion is most handsome when looking for food.” –Rumi

“Very little grows on jagged rock. Be ground. Be crumbled, so wildflowers will come up where you are.” –Rumi

“Whenever they rebuild an old building, they must, first of all, destroy the old one.” –Rumi

“Be melting snow. Wash yourself of yourself.” –Rumi

“Dance until you shatter yourself.” –Rumi

“In each moment the fire rages, it will burn away a hundred veils. And carry you a thousand steps toward your goal.” –Rumi

“Be an empty page, untouched by words.” –Rumi

“The spirit is so near that you can’t see it! But reach for it… don’t be a jar, full of water, whose rim is always dry. Don’t be the rider who gallops all night and never sees the horse that is beneath him.” –Rumi

“I am not this hair; I am not this skin; I am the soul that lives within.” –Rumi

“This is a subtle truth: whatever you love, you are.” –Rumi

“Death has nothing to do with going away. The sun sets. The moon sets. But they are not gone.” –Rumi

“To praise the sun is to praise your own eyes.” –Rumi

“Beyond the rightness or wrongness of things, there is a field; I’ll meet you there.” –Rumi

“Either give me more wine or leave me alone.” –Rumi

“Respond to every call that excites your spirit.” –Rumi

“When someone is counting out gold for you, don’t look at your hands or the gold. Look at the giver.” –Rumi

“The rose’s rarest essence lives in the thorns.” –Rumi

Rumi Quotes from His Poems

“Love came and became like blood in my body. / It rushed through my veins and encircled my heart.” –Rumi

“I was dead, then alive. / Weeping, then laughing. / The power of love came into me, / and I became fierce like a lion, / then tender like the evening star.” –Rumi

“I choose to love you in silence, for in silence, I find no rejection. / I choose to love you in loneliness, for in loneliness, no one owns you but me. / I choose to adore you from a distance. For distance will shield me from pain. / I choose to kiss you in the wind, for the wind is gentler than my lips. / I choose to hold you in my dreams, for me in dreams, you have no ends.” –Rumi

“I have lived on the lip of insanity, / wanting to know reasons, / knocking on a door. / It opens. / I’ve been knocking from the inside.” –Rumi

“You think of yourself / as a citizen of the universe. / You think you belong / to this world of dust and matter. / Out of this dust / you have created a personal image, / and have forgotten / about the essence of your true origin.” –Rumi

“There is a candle in your heart, / ready to be kindled. / There is a void in your soul, / ready to be filled. / You feel it, don’t you?” –Rumi

“Study me as much as you like; you will never know me, for I differ a hundred ways from what you see me to be. Put yourself behind my eyes, and see me as I see myself, for I have chosen to dwell in a place you cannot see.” –Rumi

“Knowledge that is acquired is not like this. Those who have it worry if/ audiences like it or not. / It’s a bait for popularity. / Disputational knowing wants customers. / It has no soul… / The only real customer is God. / Chew quietly / your sweet sugarcane God-Love, and stay / playfully childish.” –Rumi

“This poetry. I never know what I’m going to say. / I don’t plan it. / When I’m outside the saying of it, / I get very quiet and rarely speak at all.” –Rumi

“Which is worth more, a crowd of thousands, / or your own genuine solitude? / Freedom, or power over an entire nation? / A little while alone in your room / will prove more valuable than anything else / that could ever be given you.” –Rumi

“This is how it always is when I finish a poem. / A great silence overcomes me / and I wonder why I ever thought to use language.” –Rumi

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