Jalaluddin Rumi

"If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?"

"You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life?"

"This place is a dream. Only a sleeper considers it real. Then death comes like dawn, and you wake up laughing at what you thought was your grief."

"You were born with potential. You were born with goodness and trust. You were born with ideals and dreams. You were born with greatness. You were born with wings. You are not meant for crawling, so don't. You have wings. Learn to use them and fly."

"I am yours. Don't give myself back to me."

"In the slaughterhouse of love, they kill only the best, none of the weak or deformed. Don't run away from this dying. Whoever's not killed for love is dead meat."

"When someone beats a rug,the blows are not against the rug, but against the dust in it."

"If in thirst you drink water from a cup, you see God in it. Those who are not in love with God will see only their own faces in it."

"Gamble everything for love, if you're a true human being."

"I choose to love you in silence…For in silence I find no rejection,I choose to love you in loneliness…For in loneliness no one owns you but me,I choose to adore you from a distance…For distance will shield me from pain,I choose to kiss you in the wind…For the wind is gentler than my lips,I choose to hold you in my dreams…For in my dreams, you have no end."

"Love comes with a knife, not some shy question, and not with fears for its reputation!"

"Like This If anyone asks youhow the perfect satisfactionof all our sexual wantingwill look, lift your faceand say,Like this. When someone mentions the gracefulnessof the nightsky, climb up on the roofand dance and say,Like this. If anyone wants to know what "spirit" is,or what "God’s fragrance" means,lean your head toward him or her. Keep your face there close. Like this. When someone quotes the old poetic imageabout clouds gradually uncovering the moon,slowly loosen knot by knot the stringsof your robe. Like this. If anyone wonders how Jesus raised the dead,don’t try to explain the miracle. Kiss me on the lips. Like this. Like this. When someone asks what it meansto "die for love," pointhere. If someone asks how tall I am, frownand measure with your fingers the spacebetween the creases on your forehead. This tall. The soul sometimes leaves the body, the returns. When someone doesn’t believe that,walk back into my house. Like this. When lovers moan,they’re telling our story. Like this. I am a sky where spirits live. Stare into this deepening blue,while the breeze says a secret. Like this. When someone asks what there is to do,light the candle in his hand. Like this. How did Joseph’s scent come to Jacob?Huuuuu. How did Jacob’s sight return?Huuuu. A little wind cleans the eyes. Like this. When Shams comes back from Tabriz,he’ll put just his head around the edgeof the door to surprise us Like this."

"Remember. The way you make love is the way God will be with you."

"I am your moon and your moonlight too I am your flower garden and your water too I have come all this way, eager for you Without shoes or shawl I want you to laugh To kill all your worries To love you To nourish you."

"I was dead, then alive. Weeping, then laughing. The power of love came into me,and I became fierce like a lion,then tender like the evening star."

"That which God said to the rose, and caused it to laugh in full-blown beauty, He said to my heart, and made it a hundred times more beautiful."

"I know you're tired but come, this is the way."

"This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet."

"Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation."

"Let yourself be drawn by the stronger pull of that which you truly love."