Rumi

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.

That which is false troubles the heart, but truth brings joyous tranquility.

Your depression is connected to your insolence and refusal to praise.

If you want the moon, do not hide from the night. If you want a rose, do not hide from the thorns. If you want love, do not hide from yourself.

Be a lamp, a lifeboat, a ladder. Help someone’s soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd.

If all you can do is crawl, start crawling.

The martyr cannot be dishonored. Every lash inflicted is a tongue of fame; every prison a more illustrious abode.

It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.

The superiority of some men is merely local. They are great because their associates are little.

Branching streams cannot compare to the source.

The secret of all good writing is sound judgment.

To be good is noble, but to teach others how to be good is nobler and less trouble.

Hostesses who entertain much must make up their parties as ministers make up their cabinets, on grounds other than personal liking.

I could not find the world if I searched ten years. I’ve forgotten the road by which I came.

I was young and foolish then; now I am old and foolisher.

People of great position are servants times three, servants of their country, servants of fame, and servants of business.

Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous mind.

When setting out on a journey, do not seek advice from those who have never left home.

Cure the disease and kill the patient.

Such is the state of life, that none are happy but by the anticipation of change: the change itself is nothing; when we have made it, the next wish is to change again.

Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art.