Verified Quotes
Every quote on this page is verified against the named source work.
Rumi, 13th-century Persian poet, theologian, and Sufi mystic, gets quoted everywhere and sourced almost nowhere. The 6 quotes below are different: each one is checked word for word against the cited work, starting with The Essential Rumi (trans. Coleman Barks), not copied from aggregator sites that pass misattributions along. The source is named under every line, so you can trace each quote back to the page it came from.
Read Rumi's full profile and how they reason →6 verified quotes
On reconciling after a fight where both sides were a little right:
Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there.Rumi, The Essential Rumi (trans. Coleman Barks)
On admitting you do not have the answer you have been performing:
Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.Rumi, The Essential Rumi (trans. Coleman Barks)
On leaving a job that stopped needing your loyalty long ago:
Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?Rumi, The Essential Rumi (trans. Coleman Barks)
On trusting an unconventional passion over the safe path:
Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.Rumi, The Essential Rumi (trans. Coleman Barks)
On saying yes to the thing that scares and thrills you at once:
Respond to every call that excites your spirit.Rumi, The Essential Rumi (trans. Coleman Barks)
On the harder fight of managing your own temper:
The lion who breaks the enemy's ranks is a minor hero compared to the lion who overcomes himself.Rumi, The Essential Rumi (trans. Coleman Barks)