Rumi was a thirteen-century Persian poet who wrote about love, overcoming adversity and the connection of universe and self. 700 years later, Rumi is regarded as the most popular poet in the United States with millions of his books being sold throughout the world in recent years. Below is a taste of Rumi’s philosophy and understanding of the world.

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”

“The wound is the place where the Light enters you.”

“Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.”

“The minute I heard my first love story,
I started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.
Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.
They’re in each other all along.”

“Forget safety.
Live where you fear to live.
Destroy your reputation.
Be notorious.”

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”

“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.”

“Ignore those that make you fearful and sad, that degrade you back towards disease and death.”

“Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.”

“In your light I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.”

“Everything in the universe is within you. Ask all from yourself.”

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

“Words are a pretext. It is the inner bond that draws one person to another, not words.”

“Travel brings power and love back into your life.”

“Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!
Why do you stay in prison
When the door is so wide open?”

“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.”

“Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames”

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

“This being human is a guest house. Every morning is a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor…Welcome and entertain them all. Treat each guest honorably. The dark thought, the shame, the malice, meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in. Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.”

“We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust.”