340 quotes
Why should a falcon not fly from the quarry towards the King
When it hears by drum and drum-stick the notice of 'Return?'
Why should not every Sufi begin to dance like a mote,
In the sun of eternity that it may deliver him from decay.
Attributed A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
When, O spiritual one, thou hast become thy own fortune
Then, being thyself thy fortune, thou wilt never lose it
How, O fortunate one, cans't thou ever lose thyself
When thy real self is thy treasure and thy kingdom.
Attributed A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
O brave friend, grasp His skirt,
Who is removed alike from the world above and below;
Who will abide with thee in the house and abroad
When thou lackest house and home
He will bring forth peace out of perturbations
And when thou art afflicted, will keep His promise.
Attributed A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
There is a tradition ‘The heart is like a feather
In the desert, which is borne captive by the winds;
The wind drives it everywhere at random,
Now to right and now to left in opposite directions.’
Attributed A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
David said ‘O Lord, since Thou hast no need of us,
Say then, what wisdom was there in creating the two worlds?’
God said to him ‘O temporal man, I was a hidden treasure;
I sought that that treasure of loving kindness and bounty should be revealed.’
Attributed A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
O the many pure heads scattered beneath the clay,
That thou mayest know the head depends on that other head;
That original head hidden, and this derived head manifest,
Forasmuch as behind this world lies the infinite universe.
Attributed A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
The philosopher denies the existence of the Devil
At the same time he is the Devil’s laughing-stock.
If thou hast not seen the Devil, look at thyself,
Without demon’s aid how came that blue turban on thy brow.
Attributed A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
Though thy nurse may frighten thee away from water
Do thou fear not, but haste on into the ocean;
Thou art a duck, and flourishest on land and water,
And dost not like a domestic fowl dig up the house.
Attributed A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
All the seventy and two heresies lurk in you,
Have a care lest one day they prevail over you;
He in whose breast the leaf of true faith is grown
Must tremble as a leaf from fear of such a catastrophe.
Attributed A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
Nuts in plenty but no kernel in any of them,
Relish is needed for devotions to bear fruit,
Kernels are needed that seeds may yield trees,
How can seeds without kernels become trees?
Form without life is only a dream.
Attributed A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
I’ll be the very slave of him who at each stage
Will not suppose the goal ’tis of his pilgrimage;
Before the traveller reach the home he bears in mind
How many stages are there must be left behind!
Attributed A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
If death be a human being say to him ‘Draw near
That I may closely fold him in a fond embrace,
From him I extort by force eternal life,
Whilst he but snatches from me the dervish’s party-coloured dress.’
Attributed A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
O base one, behold a hundred thousand souls
Dancing towards the deadly sword of his love,
Behold water in a pitcher; pour it out;
Will that water run away from the stream?
When that water joins the water of the stream
It is lost therein and becomes itself the stream.
Attributed A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
The lamp of the heart that is a timid trader
Acquires neither loss nor gain by its ventures,
Nay it acquires loss, for it is precluded from gain,
’Tis the lamp that takes fire that acquires light.
Attributed A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
No mountain-pass as this life’s progress is so steep,
Let envy not increase thy load; thou canst but creep,
The flesh a hot-bed is of envy and of strife
These soil the soil; for envy’s bane of mortal life.
Attributed A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
My heart is weary of these weak-spirited companions,
I desire the Lion of God (Ali) and Rustam son of Zal,
Filings of beauty are in the possession of every one that exists,
I desire that quarry and that mine of exquisite loveliness.
Attributed A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
Where should the ignoble lament and pray,
If Thou didst only accept the good, O merciful One?
Go, do not commit sin, for even our good deeds
Appear as sin in the sight of our Beloved.
Attributed A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
On the day that you entered upon existence
You were first fire, or earth, or air,
If you had continued in that your original state,
How could you have arrived at this dignity of humanity.
Attributed A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
Thou hast come to draw men to union with Me,
Not to drive them far away from Me,
So far as possible, engage not in dissevering;
‘The thing most repugnant to Me is divorce.’
Attributed A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)
The prophets chose the better part, futurity.
The foolish chose the worst, the world's fatuity.
Each bird will flock with birds of its own feather still
The cock well knows his mate and follows where she will.
Attributed A Dictionary of Oriental Quotations (1911)