Rumi

Rumi (1207-1273), original name Jalil al-Din, was a Persian Sufi poet known for his mystic verses. He was founder of Mevlevi Order of dervishes. He was born in Balkh, and his father Baha ud-Din Walad was also a famous Sufi preacher. His famous works include Divan-i-Shams-i Tabriz and Masnavi. Masnavi is a long religious poem that Persians call the Persian Quran.

Wisdom & Quotes

• The testing of good and bad is in order that the gold may boil and bring the scum to the top.
• Life's picture is constantly undergoing change. The spirit beholds a new world every moment.
• Whenever they rebuild an old building, they must first of all destroy the old one.
• If reason dominates in man, he rises higher than angels.

If lust overpowers man, he descends lower than the beast.

• The world is a playground, and death is the night.
• I died as mineral and became a plant

I died as plant and rose as an animal,
I died as animal and I was a Man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?

• There cannot be self-restraint in the absence of desire :

When there is no adversary, what avails thy courage?
Hark, do not castrate thyself, do not become a monk:
Chastity depends on the existence of lust.

• Pour out wine till I become a wanderer from myself;

For in selfhood and existence I have felt only fatigue.
- attributed , Divani Shamsi Tabriz

• Achieve some perfection ( excellence ) yourself, so that you may not fall into sorrow by seeing the perfection in others.
• Come back, come back, even if you have broken your repentance a thousand times.

- lines written on the mausoleum of Rumi

• He who tastes not, knows not.
• Flattery's fire is hidden. Its sweet taste is apparent, but the smoke is bound to come out at last.
• Greed makes man blind and foolish, and makes him an easy prey for death.
• If something makes you happy in this world, you should think of what will happen to you if that thing were taken away.
• Discard yourself and thereby regain yourself. Spread the trap of humility to ensnare love.
• To teach the evil-natured man knowledge and skill is to put a sword in the hand of a brigand.
• Intellect in its effort to explain love got stuck in the mud like an ass. Love alone could explain love and loving.
• A lover's life lies in death. You shall not find a heart without losing the heart.
• Love possesses seven hundred wings, and each one extends from the highest heaven to the lowest earth.
• Close the eyes that see falsely, and open the intellectual eye.

- attributed , Divani Shamsi Tabriz

• Be full of sorrow, that you may become full of joy; weep, that you may break into laughter.
• Snake's poison is life to the snake; it is in relation to man that it means 'death'.
• For the water animals, the ocean is like a garden; for the land animals, it is death and pain.
• In Winter the bare boughs that seem to sleep

Work covertly, preparing for their Spring.

• You have mourned over others; now sit down for a while and weep over your own self.
• ‘Tis easy to break an idol, very easy: to regard the self as easy to subdue is folly, folly.
• Place a padlock on your throat and hide the key.
• Does not thou know that the light of the sun is the reflection of the Sun beyond the veil?
• Iron was black and sheenless, but cleansing and polishing washed away its blackness.
• The Past, the Future, O dear, is from you; you should regard both these as one.
• Friendship of the wise is good; a wise enemy is better than a foolish friend.

Mechthild of Magdeburg