Soul of all souls, life of all life
you are That.

Seen and unseen, moving and unmoving
you are That.

The road that leads to the City is endless;
Go without head or feet
and you'll already be there.

What else could you be? --
you are that.

~ Rumi

Why are you so afraid of silence,
silence is the root of everything.
If you spiral into its void
a hundred voices will thunder messages
you long to hear.

~ Rumi

First, lay down your head
then one by one
let go of all distractions.
Embrace the light and let it guide you
beyond the winds of desire.
There you will find a spring and
nourished by its sweet waters
like a tree you will bear fruit forever.

~ Rumi
[Hidden Music - Translated by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi]

Vain, boastful talk repels acts of kindness and tears the branch of
mercy from the trunk of the tree. Speak honestly or else be silent,
and then behold grace and delight in it.

~ Rumi

Each moment contains a hundred messages
from God: To every cry of "Oh Lord," He
answers a hundred times, "I am here."

~ Rumi

Pass beyond form, escape from names!
Flee titles and names toward meaning!

~ 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

You are the truth
from foot to brow.
Now, what else
would you like to know?

~ Rumi

There is a desert
I long to be walking,
a wide emptiness,
peace beyond any
understanding of it.

~ Rumi

Since cleverness is your pride
and fills you with wind,
become a simpleton so that
your heart may remain healthy.
Not a simpleton warped by buffoonery,
but one distraught and bewildered in God.

~ Rumi

The great scholars of the age split hairs
in all the sciences.
They have gained total knowledge and
complete mastery of things
that have nothing to do with them.
But that which is important and
closer to him than anything else,
namely his own self,
this your great scholar does not know.

~ Rumi

Never try to be a guide, stay a mere disciple.
To guide others is only an obstacle on the way.

~ Rumi

You are my face: no wonder I don't see You:
such closeness is a mystifying veil.
You are my reason: it's no wonder I don't see You,
because of all this perplexity of thought.
You are nearer to me than my jugular vein.

~ Rumi

O seeker,
These thoughts have such power over you.
From nothing you become sad.
From nothing you become happy.

You are burning in the flames
but I will not let you out
until you are fully baked,
fully wise and fully yourself.

~ Rumi

Water says to the dirty one, "Come here."
The dirty one says, "But I am so ashamed."
Water says, "How will you be made clean without me."

~ Rumi

[Mathnawi II, 1366-7]

I've lived on the lip of insanity, wanting to know reasons, knocking on a door. It opens. I've been knocking from the inside.

~ Rumi

Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.

~ Rumi

No sound of clapping comes from only one hand. The thirsty man is moaning, "O delicious water!" The water is calling, "Where is the one who will drink me?" This thirst in our souls is the magnetism of the water: we are its and it is ours.

~ 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

Beyond this world and life we know
there is Someone watching over us.
To know Him is not in our power.
But once in a glimpse I saw
that we are His shadow
and our shadow is
the world.

~ Rumi