34 quotes
The place that Solomon made to worship in,
called the Far Mosque, is not built of earth
and water and stone, but of intention and wisdom
and mystical conversation and compassionate action.
The Essential Rumi (1995)
Every tree and plant in the meadow seemed to be dancing, those which average eyes would see as fixed and still.
The Essential Rumi (1995)
Observe the wonders as they occur around you.
Don't claim them. Feel the artistry
moving through, and be silent.
The Essential Rumi (1995)
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.
The Essential Rumi (1995)
This
that we are now
created the body, cell by cell,
like bees building a honeycomb.
The human body and the universe
grew from this, not this
from the universe and the human body.
The Essential Rumi (1995)
Lovers think they are looking for each other,
but there is only one search: wandering
This world is wandering that, both inside one
transparent sky. In here
there is no dogma and no heresy.
The Essential Rumi (1995)
All day I think about it, then at night I say it. Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing? I have no idea. My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that, and I intend to end up there.
The Essential Rumi (1995)
God's joy moved from unmarked box to unmarked box,
from cell to cell.
The Essential Rumi (1995)
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.
The Essential Rumi (1995)
This dance is the joy of existence. I am filled with you.
Skin, blood, bone, brain, and soul.
There's no room for lack of trust, or trust.
Nothing in this existence but that existence.
The Essential Rumi (1995)
Come to the orchard in Spring.
There is light and wine, and sweethearts in the pomegranate flowers.
If you do not come, these do not matter.
If you do come, these do not matter.
The Essential Rumi (1995)
Who looks out with my eyes? What is the soul?
I cannot stop asking.
If I could taste one sip of an answer,
I could break out of this prison for drunks.
I didn't come here of my own accord, and I can't leave that way.
Whoever brought me here, will have to take me home.
The Essential Rumi (1995)
He says, "There’s nothing left of me.
I’m like a ruby held up to the sunrise.
Is it still a stone, or a world
made of redness? It has no resistance
to sunlight."
This is how Hallaj said, I am God,
and told the truth!
The ruby and the sunrise are one.
Be courageous and discipline yourself.
Completely become hearing and ear,
and wear this sun-ruby as an earring.
The Essential Rumi (1995)
Silence
is an ocean. Speech is a river.
When the ocean is searching for you, don't walk
into the language-river. Listen to the ocean,
and bring your talky business to an end
Traditional words are just babbling
in that presence, and babbling is a substitute
for sight.
The Essential Rumi (1995)