If you're having trouble seeing the big picture of love and life, these Rumi quotes and sayings will help you see it in new ways. Discover and be inspired by a great 13th-century wordsmith.
Rumi, originally known as Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, was a 13th-century Persian poet, Islamic scholar, Sufi mystic, and Hanafi faqih. He was born on September 30, 1207, in the Afghan region of Balkh, and he died on December 17, 1273, in Konya, Turkey. He was known as Mevlana/Mewlana or Mevlevi/Mawlawi, which translates as (our master or my master). Almost everyone has heard or read some Rumi quotes about life at some point in their lives. Rumi is respected as a spiritual master and poet. His work influenced and inspired many other artists, as well as keeping many people sane even today. Rumi has a worldwide following and is one of America's best-selling poets. Many of his works have been translated into other languages, including Spanish, Turkish, German, Russian, Urdu, Arabic, French, and Italian.
Rumi's poetry is a reflection on the beauty of nature, an idea, a song, a dance, a feeling... anything that makes us human, everything we can see with or without our eyes open. There are many Rumi love quotes below that demonstrate how spiritual and intense his poems are. He is one of the poets who demonstrates the value of every experience, good or bad. Rumi's work is still relevant today. In his honor, we've compiled a list of inspirational, wise, and powerful Rumi quotes and sayings culled from various sources over the years.
Best Rumi Quotes
1. “You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean, in a drop.” ~ Rumi
2. “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.” ~ Rumi
3. “Your heart is the size of an ocean. Go find yourself in its hidden depths.” ~ Rumi
4. “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
5. “Respond to every call that excites your spirit.” ~ Rumi
6. “Why do you stay in prison, when the door is so wide open?” ~ Rumi
7. “Ignore those that make you fearful and sad, that degrade you back towards disease and death.” ~ Rumi
8. “These pains you feel are messengers. Listen to them.” ~ Rumi
9. “The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” ~ Rumi
10. “The Prophets accept all agony and trust it. For the water has never feared the fire.” ~ Rumi
11. “Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.” ~ Rumi
12. “Everything about yesterday has gone with yesterday. Today, it is needed to say new things.” ~ Rumi
13. “The rose’s rarest essence lives in the thorns.” ~ Rumi
14. “It’s your road, and yours alone, others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you.” ~ Rumi
15. “Don’t you know yet? It is your light that lights the worlds.” ~ Rumi
16. “Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.” ~ Rumi
17. “Be empty of worrying. Think of who created thought!” ~ Rumi
18. “Thankfulness brings you to the place where the beloved lives.” ~ Rumi
19. “If you want to win hearts, sow the seeds of Love. If you want heaven, stop scattering thorns on the road.” ~ Rumi
20. “Silence is the language of god, all else is poor translation.” ~ Rumi
Rumi Quotes on Life
21. “Let silence take you to the core of life.” ~ Rumi
22. “There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground; there are a thousand ways to go home again.” ~ Rumi
23. “Wear gratitude like a cloak and it will feed every corner of your life.” ~ Rumi
24. “Your radiance shines in every atom of creation yet our petty desires keep it hidden.” ~ Rumi
25. “Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes around in another form.” ~ Rumi
26. “Why are you knocking at every other door? Go, knock at the door of your own heart.” ~ Rumi
27. “The only lasting beauty is the beauty of the heart.” ~ Rumi
28. “Run from what’s comfortable. Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious. I have tried prudent planning long enough. From now on I’ll be mad.” ~ Rumi
29. “Live life as if everything is rigged in your favor.” ~ Rumi
30. “We rarely hear the inward music, but we’re all dancing to it nevertheless.” ~ Rumi
Rumi Quotes on Love
31. “Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.” ~ Rumi
32. “Love is the bridge between you and everything.” ~ Rumi
33. “A pen went scribbling along. When it tried to write love, it broke.” ~ Rumi
34. “Would you become a pilgrim on the road of love? The first condition is that you make yourself humble as dust and ashes.” ~ Rumi
35. “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.” ~ Rumi
36. “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.” ~ Rumi
37. “Whatever happens, just keep smiling and lose yourself in love.” ~ Rumi
38. “When you seek love with all your heart you shall find its echo in the universe.” ~ Rumi
39. “Travel brings power and love back into your life.” ~ Rumi
40. “Be certain that in the religion of Love there are no believers and unbelievers. LOVE embraces all.” ~ Rumi
Rumi Quotes on Happiness
41. “Everything that is made beautiful and fair and lovely is made for the eye of one who sees.” ~ Rumi
42. “I am filled with you. Skin, blood, bone, brain, and soul. There’s no room for lack of trust, or trust. Nothing in this existence but that existence.” ~ Rumi
43. “Dancing is not just getting up painlessly, like a leaf blown on the wind; dancing is when you tear your heart out and rise out of your body to hang suspended between the worlds.” ~ Rumi
44. “Love is a river. Drink from it.” ~ Rumi
45. “That which is false troubles the heart, but truth brings joyous tranquility.” ~ Rumi
46. “People want you to be happy, don’t keep serving them your pain.” ~ Rumi
47. “Why ever talk of miracles when you are destined to become infinite love.” ~ Rumi
48. “All people on the planet are children, except for a very few. No one is grown up except those free of desire.” ~ Rumi
49. “Sometimes you hear a voice through the door calling you… This turning toward what you deeply love saves you.” ~ Rumi
50. “We carry inside us the wonders we seek outside us.” ~ Rumi
Rumi Quotes on Healing
51. “Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.” ~ Rumi
52. “If the foot of the trees were not tied to earth, they would be pursuing me. For I have blossomed so much, I am the envy of the gardens.” ~ Rumi
53. “Grace comes to forgive and then forgive again.” ~ Rumi
54. “Let yourself be drawn by the stronger pull of that which you truly love.” ~ Rumi
55. “Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.” ~ Rumi
56. “When the world pushes you to your knees, you’re in the perfect position to pray.” ~ Rumi
57. “Whenever they rebuild an old building, they must first of all destroy the old one.” ~ Rumi
58. “Your depression is connected to your insolence and refusal to praise.” ~ Rumi
59. “Wherever you are, and whatever you do, be in love.” ~ Rumi
60. “Close your eyes, fall in love, stay there.” ~ Rumi
Rumi Quotes about Soul
61. “The whole universe is contained within a single human being – you.” ~ Rumi
62. “What is planted in each person’s soul will sprout.” ~ Rumi
63. “What? Are you still pretending you are separate from the Beloved?” ~ Rumi
64. “Your breath touched my soul and I saw beyond all limits.” ~ Rumi
65. “What matters is how quickly you do what your soul directs.” ~ Rumi
66. “Do not feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you.” ~ Rumi
67. “When you do things from the soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.” ~ Rumi
68. “When I am with you, we stay up all night. When you’re not here, I can’t go to sleep.” ~ Rumi
69. “Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. It doesn’t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair. Come, even if you have broken your vows a thousand times. Come, yet again, come, come.” ~ Rumi
70. “Gratitude is the wine for the soul. Go on. Get drunk.” ~ Rumi
Rumi Quotes about Friendship
71. “They say there is a doorway from heart to heart, but what is the use of a door when there are no walls?” ~ Rumi
72. “To love is human. To feel pain is human. Yet to still love despite the pain is pure angel.” ~ Rumi
73. “Be kind to yourself, dear – to our innocent follies. Forget any sounds or touch you knew that did not help you dance. You will come to see that all evolves us.” ~ Rumi
74. “Caught by our own thoughts, we worry about everything.” ~ Rumi
75. “It is certain that an atom of goodness on the path of faith is never lost.” ~ Rumi
76. “Beauty surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it.” ~ Rumi
77. “The beauty you see in me is a reflection of you.” ~ Rumi
78. “If you are looking for a friend who is faultless, you will be friendless.” ~ Rumi
79. “The ground’s generosity takes in our compost and grows beauty! Try to be more like the ground.” ~ Rumi
80. “Achieve some perfection yourself, so that you may not fall into sorrow by seeing the perfection in others.” ~ Rumi
Rumi Quotes on Strength
81. “Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think and twice as beautiful as you’d ever imagined.” ~ Rumi
82. “Open your hands if you want to be held.” ~ Rumi
83. “Our greatest strength lies in the gentleness and tenderness of our heart.” ~ Rumi
84. “What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is your candle.” ~ Rumi
85. “When you lose all sense of self, the bonds of a thousand chains will vanish.” ~ Rumi
86. “All your anxiety is because of your desire for harmony. Seek disharmony, then you will gain peace.” ~ Rumi
87. “Why should I be weary when every cell of my body is bursting with life?” ~ Rumi
88. “You cannot hide love, love will get on its way to the heart of someone you love far or near, it goes home to where it belongs to the heart of lovers.” ~ Rumi
89. “Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.” ~ Rumi
90. “Why are you so enchanted by this world, when a mine of gold lies within you?” ~ Rumi
Rumi Quotes on Peace
91. “The universe is not outside of you. Look inside yourself; everything that you want, you already are.” ~ Rumi
92. “I looked in temples, churches, and mosques. But I found the Divine within my heart.” ~ Rumi
93. “Love is an open secret, the most obvious thing in the world and the most hidden, with no why to how it keeps its mystery.” ~ Rumi
94. “Listen with ears of tolerance! See through the eyes of compassion! Speak with the language of love.” ~ Rumi
95. “A wealth you cannot imagine flows through you. Do not consider what strangers say. Be secluded in your secret heart-house, that bowl of silence.” ~ Rumi
96. “The moon stays bright when it doesn’t avoid the night.” ~ Rumi
97. “Find the sweetness in your own heart, then you may find the sweetness in every heart.” ~ Rumi
98. “With life as short as a half taken breath, don’t plant anything but love.” ~ Rumi
99. “Look past your thoughts, so you may drink the pure nectar of This Moment.” ~ Rumi
100. “Come out of the circle of time and into the circle of love.” ~ Rumi
Rumi Quotes on Change
101. “Don’t sit and wait. Get out there, feel life. Touch the sun, and immerse in the sea.” ~ Rumi
102. “Pain is a treasure, for it contains mercies.” ~ Rumi
103. “The message behind the words is the voice of the heart.” ~ Rumi
104. “Let the waters settle and you will see the moon and the stars mirrored in your own being.” ~ Rumi
105. “There is a moon inside every human being. Learn to be companions with it.” ~ Rumi
106. “The garden of the world has no limits except in your mind.” ~ Rumi
107. “In each moment the fire rages, it will burn away a hundred veils. And carry you a thousand steps toward your goal.” ~ Rumi
108. “I want to be where your barefoot walks because maybe before you step, you’ll look at the ground. I want that blessing.” ~ Rumi
109. “Everything in the universe is within you. Ask all from yourself.” ~ Rumi
110. “Stay in the spiritual fire. Let it cook you.” ~ Rumi
Rumi Quotes on Light and Dark
111. “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.” ~ Rumi
112. “Don’t turn away. Keep your gaze on the bandaged place. That’s where the light enters you.” ~ Rumi
113. “Free yourself from your own thoughts.” ~ Rumi
114. “Whatever purifies you is the right path, I will not try to define it.” ~ Rumi
115. “Life is a balance of holding on and letting go.” ~ Rumi
116. “Don’t you know yet? It is your light that lights the worlds.” ~ Rumi
117. “Give yourself a kiss. If you want to hold the beautiful one, hold yourself to yourself.” ~ Rumi
118. “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.” ~ Rumi
119. “Get yourself out of the way, and let joy have more space.” ~ Rumi
120. “I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think.” ~ Rumi
Rumi Quotes on Nature
121. “The very center of your heart is where life begins – the most beautiful place on earth.” ~ Rumi
122. “Very little grows on jagged rock. Be ground. Be crumbled, so wild flowers will come up where you are.” ~ Rumi
123. “That moon which the sky never saw even in dreams has risen again.” ~ Rumi
124. “Not only the thirsty seek the water, the water as well seeks the thirsty.” ~ Rumi
125. “You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.” ~ Rumi
126. “If light is in your heart, you will find your way home.” ~ Rumi
127. “Only from the heart can you touch the sky.” ~ Rumi
128. “Always search for your innermost nature in those you are with, as rose oil imbibes from roses.” ~ Rumi
129. “You have no need to travel anywhere – journey within yourself. Enter a mine of rubies and bathe in the splendor of your own light.” ~ Rumi
130. “The morning wind spreads its fresh smell. We must get up and take that in, that wind that lets us live. Breathe before it’s gone.” ~ Rumi
Wise Rumi Quotes
131. “Seek the wisdom that will untie your knot. Seek the path that demands your whole being.” ~ Rumi
132. “When you feel a peaceful joy, that’s when you are near the truth.” ~ Rumi
133. “Giving thanks for abundance is sweeter than the abundance itself.” ~ Rumi
134. “Someone who does not run toward the allure of love walks a road where nothing lives. But this dove here senses the love hawk floating above, and waits, and will not be driven or scared to safety.” ~ Rumi
135. “You are the seeker, the goal, and seeking itself. Not only a part of them.” ~ Rumi
136. “Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone’s soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd.” ~ Rumi
137. “In every religion there is love, yet love has no religion.” ~ Rumi
138. “We love that’s why life is full of so many wonderful gifts.” ~ Rumi
139. “Conventional opinion is the ruin of our souls.” ~ Rumi
140. “Maybe you are searching among the branches, for what only appears in the roots.” ~ Rumi
Inspirational Rumi Quotes
141. “Do not be satisfied with the stories that come before you. Unfold your own myth.” ~ Rumi
142. “There is little one can say about love. It has to be lived, and it’s always in motion.” ~ Rumi
143. “I belong to no religion. My religion is love. Every heart is my temple.” ~ Rumi
144. “Be a helpful friend, and you will become a green tree with always new fruit, always deeper journeys into love.” ~ Rumi
145. “If you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished?.” ~ Rumi
146. “Love rests on no foundation. It is an endless ocean, with no beginning or end.” ~ Rumi
147. “The garden of the world has no limit except in your mind.” ~ Rumi
148. “Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.” ~ Rumi
149. “One of the marvels of the world: The sight of a soul sitting in prison with the key in its hand.” ~ Rumi
150. “If you look too closely at the form, you’ll miss the essence.” ~ Rumi
Funny Rumi Quotes
151. “As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.” ~ Rumi
152. “The moment you accept what troubles you’ve been given, the door will open.” ~ Rumi
153. “The angel is free because of his knowledge, the beast because of his ignorance. Between the two remains the son of man to struggle.” ~ Rumi
154. “I am not this hair, I am not this skin, I am the soul that lives within.” ~ Rumi
155. “Lovers have heartaches that can’t be cured by drugs or sleep, or games, but only by seeing their beloved.” ~ Rumi
156. “Why struggle to open a door between us when the whole wall is an illusion?” ~ Rumi
157. “Either give me more wine or leave me alone.” ~ Rumi
158. “Laugh as much as you breathe. Love as long as you live.” ~ Rumi
159. “I lost my hat while gazing at the moon, and then I lost my mind.” ~ Rumi
160. “Enough of words. Come to me without a sound.” ~ Rumi
Short Rumi Quotes
161. “The lion is most handsome when looking for food.” ~ Rumi
162. “Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.” ~ Rumi
163. “May these vows and this marriage be blessed.” ~ Rumi
164. “You have within you more love than you could ever understand.” ~ Rumi
165. “We often need to be refreshed.” ~ Rumi
166. “You’ve seen my descent, now watch my rising.” ~ Rumi
167. “I want your sun to reach my raindrops, so your heat can raise my soul upward like a cloud.” ~ Rumi
168. “I know you’re tired but come, this is the way.” ~ Rumi
169. “This is a subtle truth. Whatever you love you are.” ~ Rumi
170. “There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.” ~ Rumi
171. “Shine like the whole universe is yours.” ~ Rumi
172. “The art of knowing is knowing what to ignore.” ~ Rumi
173. “Although you see the pit, you cannot avoid it.” ~ Rumi
174. “Be an empty page, untouched by words.” ~ Rumi
175. “Because I cannot sleep I make music in the night” ~ Rumi
Were these Rumi quotes inspiring to you?
Rumi's teachings are ageless. His ageless perspectives on life and love continue to inspire people all over the world.
He guided people to a more positive outlook on life through his words. Hopefully, the Rumi quotes above will assist you in achieving inner peace and satisfaction.
Which of these Rumi's love and life quotes did you like best? Please let us know in the comments below.