Life Rumi Quotes & Sayings

The Law of Wonder rules my life at last,
... I burn each second of my life to Love
Each second of my life burns out in Love
In each leaping second Love lives afresh. — Rumi

To change, you must face the dragon of your appetites with another dragon: the life-energy of the soul. — Rumi

The poet Rumi said that "the price of kissing is your life." He was right, and he was offering us a carrot. What he did not mention is the stick: that the price of not kissing is your miserable unkissed life. — Anne Benvenuti

Wear gratitude like a cloak and it will feed every corner of your life. — Rumi

Live life as if its rigged in your favor. — Rumi

Your heart is the size of an ocean. Go find yourself in its hidden depths. — Rumi

Be grateful for your life, every detail of it,
and your face will come to shine like a sun,
and everyone who sees it will
be made glad and peaceful. — Rumi

To live without you
is to be robbed of love
and what is life without it?
To live without you
is death to me, my love
but some call it life. — Rumi

There's a path from me to you
I'm constantly looking for,
so I try to keep clear and still
as water does with the moon. — Rumi

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. — Rumi

There is a purpose to our lives, even if it is sometimes hidden from us, and even if the biggest turning points and heartbreaks only make sense as we look back, rather than as we are experiencing them. So we might as well live life as if - as the poet Rumi put it - everything is rigged in our favor. — Arianna Huffington

Love is the water of life, jump into this water. — Rumi

Someday our souls will be one and
our union will be forever.
I know that everything I give you comes back to me.
So I give you my life , hoping that you will come back to me. — Rumi

Allah made the illusion look real and the real an illusion. He concealed the sea and made the foam visible, the wind invisible, and the dust manifest. you see the dust whirling, but how can the dust rise by itself? you see the foam, but not the ocean. invoke Him with deeds, not words; for deeds are real and will save you in the infinite-life. — Rumi

What in your life is calling you, When all the noise is silenced, The meetings adjourned ... The lists laid aside, And the Wild Iris blooms By itself In the dark forest ... What still pulls on your soul? — Rumi

... the work of the (Muslim Sufi) dervish community
was to open the heart,
explore the mystery of union,
to fiercely search for and try to say the truth,
and to celebrate the glory and difficulty
in being in human incarnation. — Coleman Barks

Work on your strong qualities
and become resplendent like the ruby.
Practice self-denial and accept difficulty.
Always see infinite life in letting the self die.
Your stoniness will decrease; your ruby nature will grow.
The signs of self-existence will leave your body,
and ecstasy will take you over. — Rumi

There is a life-force within your soul, seek that life. — Rumi

From the beginning of my life
I have been looking for your face
but today I have seen it
Today I have seen
the charm, the beauty,
the unfathomable grace
of the face
that I was looking for — Rumi

Absorbed in this world, you've made it your burden. Rise above this world. There is another vision. All your life you've paid attention to your experiences, but never to your Self. Are you searching for your Soul? Then come out of your prision. Leave the stream and join the river that flows into the Ocean. It will not lead you astray. Let the beauty you seek be what you do. — Rumi

BISMILLAH
It's a habit of yours to walk slowly.
You hold a grudge for years.
With such heaviness, how can you be modest?
With such attachments, do you expect to arrive anywhere?
Be wide as the air to learn a secret.
Right now you're equal portions clay
and water, thick mud.
Abraham learned how the sun and moon and the stars all set. He said, No longer will I try to assign partners for God.
You are so weak. Give up to grace.
The ocean takes care of each wave
till it gets to shore.
You need more help than you know.
You're trying to live your life in open scaffolding.
Say Bismillah, In the name of God,
as the priest does with a knife when he offers an animal.
Bismillah your old self
to find your real name. — Rumi

Inside this new love, die. Your way begins on the other side ... . Die, and be quiet. Quietness is the surest sign that you've died. Your old life was a frantic running from silence. The speechless full moon comes out now. - RUMI — Tim Farrington

Love asks us to enjoy our life
For nothing good can come of death.
Who is alive? I ask.
Those who are born of love.
Seek us in love itself,
Seek love in us ourselves.
Sometimes I venerate love,
Sometimes it venerates me. — Rumi

The very center of your heart is where life begins. The most beautiful place on earth. — Rumi

Was dead
i came alive
i was tears
i became laughter
all because of love
when it arrived
my temporal life
from then on
changed to eternal — Rumi

To become spiritual, you must die to self, and come alive in the Lord. Only then will the mysteries of God fall from your lips. To die to self through self-discipline causes suffering but brings you everlasting life. — Rumi

Listen my love, illumination is eternal. Now is always evolving. As there are billions of stars, there are billions of steps. As there are billions of souls, there are billions of ways to grow. — Rumi

Where Ibn al-Arabi had written for the intellectual, Rumi was summoning all human beings to live beyond themselves, and to transcend the routines of daily life. The Mathnawi celebrated the Sufi lifestyle which can make everyone an indomitable hero of a battle waged perpetually in the cosmos and within the soul. The Mongol invasions had led to a mystical movement, which helped people come to terms with the catastrophe they had experienced at the deeper levels of the psyche, and Rumi was its greatest luminary and exemplar. — Karen Armstrong

Yesterday was glory and joy. Today, a blackened burn everywhere. On the record of my life, these two days will be put down as one — Rumi

Before leaving the hall for the stage, Rumi recited a poem, "With your grace, grief turns to joy. With your praise, life becomes infinite. Although love is a trouble, it is a joy. Though this wine is full of headaches, still it delights. Though being occupied with love is difficult, how sweet it is to trade hearts with you, oh beloved. — Elif Shafak

In every religion there is love, yet love has no religion. — Rumi

I am your lover, come to my side, I will open the gate to your love.
Come settle with me, let us be neighbors to the stars.
You have been hiding so long, endlessly drifting in the sea of my love.
Even so, you have always been connected to me.
Concealed, revealed, in the unknown, in the un-manifest.
I am life itself. You have been a prisoner of a little pond,
I am the ocean and its turbulent flood. Come merge with me,
leave this world of ignorance. Be with me, I will open the gate to your love. — Rumi

Wisdom tells us we are not worthy;
Love tells us we are.
My life flows between the two. — Rumi

Life Is Sweet
But Merging With You
Is Far Sweeter — Rumi

Travelers, it is late.
Life's sun is going to set.
During these brief days that you have strength,
be quick and spare no effort of your wings — Rumi

When God
wishes to help,
he lets us weep.
Wherever water flows,
life flourishes,
wherever tears fall
divine mercy is shown. — Rumi

Travel brings power and love back into your life. — Rumi

Love Dogs

One night a man was crying,
Allah! Allah!
His lips grew sweet with the praising,
until a cynic said,
"So! I have heard you
calling out, but have you ever
gotten any response?"

The man had no answer to that.
He quit praying and fell into a confused sleep.

He dreamed he saw Khidr, the guide of souls,
in a thick, green foliage.
"Why did you stop praising?"
"Because I've never heard anything back."
"This longing
you express is the return message."

The grief you cry out from
draws you toward union.

Your pure sadness
that wants help
is the secret cup.

Listen to the moan of a dog for its master.
That whining is the connection.

There are love dogs
no one knows the names of.

Give your life
to be one of them. — Jalaluddin Rumi

But love unexplained is clearer. When pen hasted to write, On reaching the subject of love it split in twain. When the discourse touched on the matter of love, Pen was broken and paper torn. In explaining it Reason sticks fast, as an ass in mire; Naught but Love itself can explain love and lovers! None but the sun can display the sun, If you would see it displayed, turn not away from it. Shadows, indeed, may indicate the sun's presence, But only the sun displays the light of life. Shadows induce slumber, like evening talks, But when the sun arises the "moon is split asunder." 3 In the world there is naught so wondrous as the sun, But the Sun of the soul sets not and has no yesterday. Though the material sun is unique and single, We can conceive similar suns like to it. But the Sun of the soul, beyond this firmament, No like thereof is seen in concrete or abstract.4 — Rumi

According to Islam, whenever we are struck by illness or misfortune or someone hurts us, there is a higher purpose behind it, which we may not understand at the time,' one of them said to me. 'That's where trust comes in. Through suffering, God helps us to better ourselves and make good our mistakes. It is a form of purification and also God's way of testing the strength of our faith and the goodness of our character.' Another lady suggested I look on the bright side.

'Suffering draws us closer to God and that is our aim in life,' she said. Then she quoted Rumi who had said, 'It is pain that draws man to his Lord, because when he is well, he doesn't remember the Lord.' I tried to look at the positive and believe that there was a higher, spiritual perspective on what I had just been through, and all the advice I was given helped me a lot. But it took quite a while for my heart to catch up with my mind. — Kristiane Backer

A moment of happiness,
you and I sitting on the verandah,
apparently two, but one in soul, you and I.
We feel the flowing water of life here,
you and I, with the garden's beauty
and the birds singing.
The stars will be watching us,
and we will show them
what it is to be a thin crescent moon.
You and I unselfed, will be together,
indifferent to idle speculation, you and I.
The parrots of heaven will be cracking sugar
as we laugh together, you and I.
In one form upon this earth,
and in another form in a timeless sweet land. — Rumi

If God said, 'Rumi pay homage to everything that has helped you enter my arms,' there would not be one experience of my life, not one thought, not one feeling, nor any act, I would not bow to. — Rumi

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

Why should I stay at the bottom of a well, when a strong rope is in my hand? — Rumi

A generous friend gives life for a friend let's rise above this animalistic behavior and be kind to one another — Rumi

To the mind there is such a thing as news, whereas to inner knowing, it's all in the middle of its happening. To doubters, this is a pain. To believers, it's gospel. To the lover and the visionary, it's life as it's being lived. — Rumi

If i can only recount
the story of my life
right out of my body
flames will grow — Rumi

But as Rumi said, "Through love all pain will turn to medicine," not most pain, or for other people; and the pain and failures grew me, helped slowly restore me to the person I was born to be. I had to learn that life was not going to be filling if I tried to scrunch myself into somebody else's idea of me, i.e., someone sophisticated enough to prefer dark chocolate. I like milk chocolate, like M&M's: so sue me. But I no longer have to stuff myself to the gills. — Anne Lamott

There is a Force within That gives you life Seek that. - Rumi — Jaggi Vasudev

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. — Rumi

WHISPERS OF LOVE
Lover whispers to my ear,
Better to be a prey than a hunter.
Make yourself My fool.
Stop trying to be the sun and become a speck!
Dwell at My door and be homeless.
Don't pretend to be a candle, be a moth,
so you may taste the savor of Life
and know the power hidden in serving. — Rumi

A life without LOVE isn't a life. — Rumi

I am the servant of the Qur'an as long as I have life. I am the dust on the path of Muhammad, the Chosen One. — Rumi

Let the beauty we love be what we do. There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground. — Rumi

God's purpose for man is to acquire a seeing eye and an understanding heart." "God gave you life and bestowed upon you his attributes; eventually you will return to him." "The rewards of life and devotion to God are love and inner rapture, and the capacity to receive the light of God. — Rumi

Make everything in you an ear, each atom of your being, and you will hear at every moment what the Source is whispering to you ... you are -we all are-the beloved of the beloved, and in every moment, in every event of your life , the Beloved is whispering to you exactly what you need to hear and know. Who can ever explain this miracle? It simply is. — Rumi

There is nothing I want but your presence.
In friendship, time dissolves.
Life is a cup. This connection
is pure wine. What else are cups for?
I used to have twenty thousand
different desires. — Rumi

Keep your intelligence white hot and your grief glistening
so your life will stay fresh. — Rumi

Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone's soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd. — Rumi

World power means nothing. Only the unsayable, jeweled inner life matters. — Rumi

For the Persian poet Rumi, each human life is analogous to a bowl floating on the surface of an infinite ocean. As it moves along, it is slowly filling with the water around it. That's a metaphor for the acquisition of knowledge. When the water in the bowl finally reaches the same level as the water outside, there is no longer any need for the container, and it drops away as the inner water merges with the outside water. We call this the moment of death. That analogy returns to me over and over as a metaphor for ourselves. — Bill Viola

If I hold you in my heart, you'll wither;
Become a thorn if I hold you in my eyes.
No, I'll make a place for you within my soul instead
So you'll be my love in lives beyond this life. — Rumi

Have you ever seen a seed fallen to earth not rise with a new life why should you doubt the rise of a seed named human. — Jalaluddin Rumi

To dance is not to jump to your feet and rise painlessly in the air like dust. To rise above both worlds is to dance in the blood of your pain and give up your life. — Jalaluddin Rumi

Life's waters flow from darkness, Search the darkness, don't run from it. — Rumi

I see the life with your sight,
O" the love; you're my light. — Debasish Mridha

They followed the middle way of Muhammad, which included marriage, a socially useful livelihood, and a life "in the world but not of it. — Jalaluddin Rumi

Whatever you are looking for, look in yourself not around. — Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi

You must lance an ulcer to heal it. You must tear down parts of an old building to restore it, and so it is with a sensual life that has no spirit in it. — Rumi

It would be as if a king sent you to a village on a specific mission. If you went and performed a hundred other tasks, but neglected to accomplish the task for which you were sent, it would be as though you had done nothing. — Jalaluddin Rumi

In this life many demolitions are actually renovations. — Rumi

The life-energy in a body contains eternity. — Jalaluddin Rumi

With life as short as a half taken breath, don't plant anything but love. — Rumi

I have spent my life dreaming of your face. Now, I have found it. — Rumi

Soul of all souls, life of all life - you are That.
Seen and unseen, moving and unmoving - you are That. — Rumi

Purify your eyes, and see the pure world. Your life will fill with radiant forms. — Rumi

Love, the life-giving garden of this world. — Rumi

Anyone looking for friends without faults shall remain friendless. The choice is yours. — Holly Lynn Payne

In truth everything and everyone Is a shadow of the Beloved,
And our seeking is His seeking
And our words are His words ...
We search for Him here and there, while looking right at Him.
Sitting by His side, we ask:
'O Beloved, where is the Beloved?' — Rumi

Sometimes You are kind, sometimes unfaithful,
You break my heart but
My Love, my essence, do not go away
I can't be without You.
You are the head and I am the feet
You are the hand, I am our banner
If You leave, I will perish
I can't be without You.
You have erased my image, taken my sleep
You've torn me away from everybody but
I can't be without You.
I find no joy in life or relief in death.
Why don't You say it too.
I can't be without You. — Rumi

The Jesus Trajectory Love is recklessness, not reason. Reason seeks a profit. Loves comes on strong, consuming herself, unabashed. Yet in the midst of suffering, Love proceeds like a millstone, hard-surfaced and straight forward. Having died to self-interest, she risks everything and asks for nothing. Love gambles away every gift God bestows. The words above were written by the great Sufi mystic Jalalludin Rumi.6 But better than almost anything in Christian scripture, they closely describe the trajectory that Jesus himself followed in life. — Cynthia Bourgeault

The heart is cooking a pot of food for you. Be patient until it is cooked — Rumi

God gave you life and bestowed upon you his attributes; eventually you will return to him. — Rumi

Life is the work of the spirit trying to have a human experience. — Holly Lynn Payne

The dance had distilled her and she had become one with the essence of all that is. — Holly Lynn Payne

For years, copying other people, I tried to know myself.
From within, I couldn't decide what to do.
Unable to see, I heard my name being called.
Then I walked outside. — Rumi

The soul lives there in the silent breath. — Rumi

Life is a balance between holding on and letting go. — Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi

Let yourself be loved, O Beloved, in the One. And from this One move out into the world, carrying within you the great potent energies of life to green your world, to create planets, suns, stars, stones, waves, oceans, to create new forms of life and expression - whether a friendship, a feeling or a new form of vocation. — Rumi

Are you fleeing from Love because of a single humiliation?
What do you know of Love except the name?
Love has a hundred forms of pride and disdain,
and is gained by a hundred means of persuasion.
Since Love is loyal, it purchases one who is loyal:
it has no interest in a disloyal companion.
The human being resembles a tree; its root is a covenant with God:
that root must be cherished with all one's might. — Rumi

Snake's poison is life to the snake; it is in relation to man that it means death. — Rumi

If your guidance is your ego, don't rely on luck for help. you sleep during the day and the nights are short. By the time you wake up your life may be over. — Rumi

The great Sufi poet and philosopher Rumi once advised his students to write down the three things they most wanted in life. If any item on the list clashes with any other item, Rumi warned, you are destined for unhappiness. Better to live a life of single-pointed focus, he taught. But what about the benefits of living harmoniously among extremes? What if you could somehow create an expansive enough life that you could synchronize seemingly incongruous opposites into a worldview that excludes nothing? — Elizabeth Gilbert

If it is bread that you seek, you will have bread.
If it is the soul you seek, you will find the soul.
If you understand this secret, you know you are that which you seek. — Rumi

In the silence of love
you will find the spark of life — Rumi

Let silence take you to the core of life. — Jalaluddin Rumi

A craftsman pulled a reed from the reedbed,
cut holes in it, and called it a human being.
Since then, it's been wailing a tender agony
of parting, never mentioning the skill
that gave it life as a flute — Rumi

Grief can be the garden of compassion. If you keep your heart open through everything, your pain can become your greatest ally in your life's search for love and wisdom. — Rumi

You have been hiding so long aimlessly drifting in the sea of my love Even so You have always been connected to me Connected, revealed in the known in the unmanifest I am life itself — Rumi

Even a speck of love should not go unappreciated, because, as Rumi said, love is the water of life. — Elif Shafak