135 Rumi Quotes That Will Take Your Breath Away

By Maxime Lagacé

Maxime is the founder and chief editor of WisdomQuotes. He has been collecting quotes since 2004. His goal? To help you develop a calm, peaceful and powerful mind. Learn more about him on his about page.

Here are 135 of the most inspiring Rumi quotes I could find.

But first, who was Rumi?

A famous poet from Afghanistan (1207 – 1273)
A best-selling poet in United-States (Source)
A theologian, Islamic scholar, and Sufi Mystic

Why should you read Rumi’s quotes?

They are filled with emotions and vivid images (trees, oceans, the sky, clouds, a garden, etc.)
They are useful and applicable in today’s modern world
They are deep and inspiring (he talks about love, silence, spirituality, the meaning of life, pain, etc.)

But most importantly, his quotes will transform how you see the world.

I hope you’ll like them as much as I did.

Enjoy!

These pains you feel are messengers. Listen to them. Rumi

Only from the heart can you touch the sky. Rumi

Wherever you are, and whatever you do, be in love. Rumi

Your heart knows the way. Run in that direction. Rumi

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

Love is the bridge between you and everything. Rumi

Keep silent, because the world of silence is a vast fullness. Rumi

You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean, in a drop. Rumi

I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think. Rumi

As you start to walk on the way, the way appears. Rumi

Let silence be the art you practice. Rumi

There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled. There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled. You feel it, don’t you? Rumi

Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop. Rumi

Whatever lifts the corners of your mouth, trust that. Rumi

rumi quotes carry inside wonders seek outside wisdom

We carry inside us the wonders we seek outside us. Rumi

My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that, and I intend to end up there. Rumi

Why should I be unhappy? Every parcel of my being is in full bloom. Rumi

I have been a seeker and I still am, but I stopped asking the books and the stars. I started listening to the teaching of my soul. Rumi

It’s your road and yours alone. Others may walk it with you, but no one can walk it for you. Rumi

Let silence take you to the core of life. Rumi

In the blackest of your moments, wait with no fear. Rumi

By God, when you see your beauty you will be the idol of yourself. Rumi

I should be suspicious of what I want. Rumi

What matters is how quickly you do what your soul directs. Rumi

The whole universe is contained within a single human being – you. Rumi

The spirit is so near that you can’t see it! But reach for it… don’t be a jar, full of water, whose rim is always dry. Don’t be the rider who gallops all night and never sees the horse that is beneath him. Rumi

Travel brings power and love back into your life. Rumi

When the world pushes you to your knees, you’re in the perfect position to pray. Rumi

rumi quotes moment accept troubles open wisdom

The moment you accept what troubles you’ve been given, the door will open. Rumi

There is a voice that doesn’t use words, listen. Rumi

In silence there is eloquence. Stop weaving and see how the pattern improves. Rumi

I am not this hair, I am not this skin, I am the soul that lives within. Rumi

If I love myself, I love you. If I love you, I love myself. Rumi

Close your eyes, fall in love, stay there. Rumi

What you seek is seeking you. Rumi

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

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

Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment. Cleverness is mere opinion. Bewilderment brings intuitive knowledge. Rumi

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

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

Life is a balance of holding on and letting go. Rumi

Caught by our own thoughts, we worry about everything. Rumi

When will you begin that long journey into yourself? Rumi

Related

Quick facts about Rumi
Real name: Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī
Nickname: Molānā
Rumi was a 13th-century Persian poet, faqih, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic
Find more information on Wikipedia

Let your teacher be love itself. Rumi

Laugh as much as you breathe. Love as long as you live. Rumi

Be drunk with love, for love is all that exists. Rumi

The soul has been given its own ears to hear things mind does not understand. Rumi

Let the beauty we love be what we do. Rumi

When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy. Rumi

The lion is most handsome when looking for food. Rumi

If all you can do is crawl, start crawling. Rumi

Looking up gives light, although at first it makes you dizzy. Rumi

Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love. Rumi

When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy. Rumi

There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground. Rumi

rumi quotes hurts you blesses darkness candle wisdom

What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is your candle. Rumi

Sit, be still, and listen. Rumi

If light is in your heart, you will find your way home. Rumi

Patience is the key to joy. Rumi

Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames. Rumi

Be empty of worrying. Think of who created thought. Rumi

Move, but don’t move the way fear makes you move. Rumi

Become the sky. Take an axe to the prison wall. Escape. Rumi

Let yourself become living poetry. Rumi

Be soulful. Be kind. Be in love. Rumi

I know you’re tired but come, this is the way. Rumi

Dance until you shatter yourself. Rumi

The wealth within you, your essence, is your kingdom. Rumi

Wherever you stand, be the soul of that place. Rumi

Related: Why is Rumi the best-selling poet in the US? (bbc.com)

Whenever they rebuild an old building, they must first of all destroy the old one. Rumi

You were born with wings. Why prefer to crawl through life? Rumi

Half-heartedness doesn’t reach into majesty. Rumi

Let’s rise above this animalistic behavior and be kind to one another. Rumi

Look at the moon in the sky, not the one in the lake. Rumi

What is planted in each person’s soul will sprout. Rumi

Grace comes to forgive and then forgive again. Rumi

The garden of the world has no limit except in your mind. Rumi

To praise the sun is to praise your own eyes. Rumi

Respond to every call that excites your spirit. Rumi

You are not meant for crawling, so don’t. You have wings. Learn to use them and fly. Rumi

Patience with small details makes perfect a large work, like the universe. Rumi

Anyone who genuinely and consistently with both hands looks for something, will find it. Rumi

In each moment the fire rages, it will burn away a hundred veils. And carry you a thousand steps toward your goal. Rumi

When I am silent, I fall into the place where everything is music. Rumi

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rumi quotes silence gives answers wisdom

Silence gives answers. Rumi

There is a life-force within your soul, seek that life. There is a gem in the mountain of your body, seek that mine. O traveller, if you are in search of that, don’t look outside, look inside yourself and seek that. Rumi

With every breath, I plant the seeds of devotion, I am a farmer of the heart. Rumi

Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart. Rumi

Don’t be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth. Rumi

Whether one moves slowly or with speed, the one who is a seeker will be a finder. Rumi

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

Start a huge, foolish project, like Noah… it makes absolutely no difference what people think of you. Rumi

Whatever happens, just keep smiling and lose yourself in love. Rumi

Seek the wisdom that will untie your knot. Seek the path that demands your whole being. Rumi

Whoever has heart’s doors wide open, could see the sun itself in every atom. Rumi

The message behind the words is the voice of the heart. Rumi

You are not one you are a thousand. Just light your lantern. Rumi

Work. Keep digging your well. Water is there somewhere. Rumi

Your light is more magnificent than sunrise or sunset. Rumi

Love sometimes wants to do us a great favor: hold us upside down and shake all the nonsense out. Rumi

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

Either give me more wine or leave me alone. Rumi

Beauty surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it. Rumi

I lost my hat while gazing at the moon, and then I lost my mind. Rumi

Gratitude is the wine for the soul. Go on. Get drunk. Rumi

This turning toward what you deeply love saves you. Rumi

I have neither a soul nor a body, for I come from the very Soul of all souls. Rumi

Concentrate on the Essence, concentrate on the light. Rumi

Death has nothing to do with going away. The sun sets. The moon sets. But they are not gone. Rumi

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

Conventional opinion is the ruin of our souls. Rumi

Beyond the rightness or wrongness of things there is a field, I’ll meet you there. Rumi

Something opens our wings. Something makes boredom and hurt disappear. Someone fills the cup in front of us: We taste only sacredness. Rumi

Every need brings what’s needed. Pain bears its cure like a child. Having nothing produces provisions. Ask a difficult question, and the marvelous answer appears. Rumi

Inside any deep asking is the answering. Rumi

rumi quotes maybe searching branches roots wisdom

Maybe you are searching among the branches, for what only appears in the roots. Rumi

Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open? Rumi

Discard yourself and thereby regain yourself. Spread the trap of humility and ensnare love. Rumi

All that you think is rain is not. Behind the veil angels sometimes weep. Rumi

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

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

Love risks everything and asks for nothing. Rumi

The time has come to turn your heart into a temple of fire. Rumi

The soul is here for its own joy. Rumi

The wound is the place where the light enters you. Rumi

Open your hands if you want to be held. Rumi

Be melting snow. Wash yourself of yourself. Rumi

Seek the sound that never ceases. Seek the sun that never sets. Rumi

Do not feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you. Rumi

Don’t wait any longer. Dive in the ocean, leave and let the sea be you. Rumi

The desire to know your own soul will end all other desires. Rumi

Further Readings