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Rumi Quotes

Browse 183 quotes about Rumi.

Rumi Quotes

“Caution not spirit, let it roam wild; for in that natural state dance embraces divine frequency.”

“Through synergy of intellect, artistry and grace came into existence the blessing of a dancer.”

“Life is an affair of mystery; shared with companions of music, dance and poetry.”

“Notice how each particle moves. Notice how everyone has just arrived here from a journey. Notice how each wants a different food. Notice how the stars vanish as the sun comes up, and how all streams stream toward the ocean. Look at the chefs preparing special plates for everyone, according to what they need. Look at this cup that can hold the ocean. Look at those who see the face. Look through Shams’ eyes into the Water that is entirely jewels.”

“You know how it goes: at some point in your life, you fell in love with someone and had a glimpse of God. Then you abandoned life and lover and started celebrating your love for God.”

“What else are mirrors meant for then But so each knows himself from other men!’ Your mirrors show the husk and not the kernel; The soul-revealing mirror is eternal: This mirror for the soul is the saint’s face, The one who is beyond all time and space— ‘Heart, seek a mirror of this type!’ I’d scream, ‘Reach for the ocean, and not a mere stream!”

“What else are mirrors meant for then 95 But so each knows himself from other men!’ Your mirrors show the husk and not the kernel; The soul-revealing mirror is eternal: This mirror for the soul is the saint’s face, The one who is beyond all time and space— ‘Heart, seek a mirror of this type!’ I’d scream, ‘Reach for the ocean, and not a mere stream!”

“And I was your moon because I shined brighter than any other star in your universe and you were my darkness. Without you I could not see the depth of my light and with you I could set the night a glow. So we needed one another—the dark and the light. Your fear. My courage. Connected, but separated. Different, but the same. A synergy that made no sense, but every bit of sense. We were neither a beginning, nor an end. We were somewhere in between our madness at sunset and the reality we awakened to with each sunrise. We were the ghosts of timing and fate. We were neither fantasy, nor reality--- we were a purpose somewhere in between.”

“A woman isn't something to be used for as long as she has flavor, then tossed aside when your taste for her is gone. There's got to be some promise, some agreement that you'll be around." Marjan's embarrassment had reached combustible levels. "Isn't Father Mahoney waiting for you?" She threw her sister an icy glance. "Don't want to be late for your lesson." Julian did not seem at all perturbed by Bahar's interrogation. In fact, he seemed to be rather enjoying it. "I couldn't agree with you more. 'The Beloved is all, the Lover just a veil.'" Bahar shook her head. "It'll take a lot more than poetry to impress. Every schoolkid knows his Rumi." "Ah, but 'whatever is in the heart will come up to the tongue.' Isn't that what the old Persians used to say?”

“The Prodigal Son They gave the deep end of their heart--a hue of crimson red, They whispered their desire and offered up their bed, Yet he prayed for the spirit in the wind and God’s mysteries to find, And in the end it was her transparent heart that stole his restless mind, It really was no contest, not a question or even a doubt, But that is not where love ends or even what true love is all about, You see there was one other that rose above the rest, She was not like these women but still she was God’s very best, So the moral goes: A child answered the call to this man's wandering heart, And that is how the story ends you see... she became his favorite part, And what happened to the virtuous woman who put his mind in hell, She became the whisper in his music and a mystery to tell.”

“He actually does know everything by Rumi, too, without the two of us ever having spent time together leafing through the poetry volumes that he bought me for our engagement, though that was what I always wanted us to do. I wanted to share it with him, the rustle of the pages, the effect of every word, and now I'm the one who doesn't dare pick up the books, fearing that they might have lost their power somewhere between Tehran, Istanbul, East Berlin, and here.”

“Circulation of Song after Rumi Once again I'm climbing the mountain Circle on circle like a winding rose Below me the mountains fall away like rose-petals I wish to be at the centre of the mystic rose Where I shall meet Him He shall greet me: Beloved! So long in coming -- He shall be the lonely pine tree On the flattened promontory And I, the spider clinging to Him by a mere thread, against the sun and the wind Each dawn the sunrise tinting gold the burnt Sienna houses Each dusk the alpine rosy glow on the mountain Each afternoon such darkness in the glen Fold on fold in a foliage all the shades of green: They have crept into my dream He is the air I breathe Purest mountain-air: I'm cleaned He is the lark's descant And in the evening, the nightingale He is the star's ascent and the moon's cloud-hiding He is all the circles and in this circulation of song: I read you / you read me circulating In my blood from head to heel He is the fruit of my unfulfilled life The peach pooped with juice And running with the Argentine waters, the pear In the Chinese nectarine flecked like a child's cheek with red And in the sour loquat and the sweet cherry In the fragrance of the jasmine of India And the Shiraz rose that makes the bee mad for them In the grape that becomes wine to suffuse my cheek In the olive that becomes a lamp to shine through my cupped hands In these and not only in these does He circulate Pouring from the sun at 5' o'clock as if at noon Dancing on the lake, pure honey And all the chatter over tea! But in the quiet you find me out You find me out Plucking myself from Me So that I become you The breath in my nape-nerve Sweetly saying: I bow to the God in you”