• The Prophet said that Truth has declared: "I am not hidden in what is high or low, Nor in the earth nor skies nor throne. This is certainty, O beloved: I am hidden in the heart of the faithful. If you seek me, seek in these hearts." - Jalaludin Rumi
• A fire-worshipping Magian was asked why he did not become a Muslim. He answered: "If you mean I should be as good a man as Bayazid, I lack the courage. If, however, you mean that I should be as bad a man as you, I would detest it." . - Among the Masters (The Way of the Sufi)
• The lower classes of society are those who fatten themselves in life in the name of religion. - Ibn el_mubarak
• Three things in this life are destructive: Anger, Greed, Self-esteem. - The Prophet
• Better than being what you imagine to be good is to be with those who are really good. Worse than doing something evil is to be with those who are evil. - Bayazid Bistami
• Being is absolutely good. If it contains any evil, it is not Being. - Shabistari
• If your teacher so directs, dye your prayer carpet with wine. The Seeker should not be ignorant of the techniques of the stages. - Hafez
• Whoever gets some knowledge, however little, is happy. Whoever has it taken from him is sad.- Ibn-Idris El-Shafai
• Most of humanity do not know what it is in their interest to know. They dislike what would eventually benefit them. - Al-Nasafi
• O Lord! If I worship you from fear of hell, cast me into hell. If I worship you from desire for paradise, deny me paradise. - Rabia
• "..Whoever kills an innocent soul.. it is as if he killed the whole of mankind, And whoever saves one, it is as if he saved the whole of mankind" [The Quran, 5:32]
• Two reeds drink from one stream. One is hollow, the other is sugar-cane. - Jalaludin Rumi
• The learned man who only talks will never penetrate to the inner heart of man. - Saadi of Shiraz
• If you are irritated by every polish, how will your mirror be polished? - Jalaludin Rumi
• Remedy- Your medicine is in you, and you do not observe it. Your ailment is form yourself and you do not register it. - Hazrat Ali
• Do to me what is worthy of Thee, and not what is worthy of me. - Saadi of Shiraz
• Everyone in the ordinary world is asleep. Their religion - the religion of the familiar world - is emptiness, not religion at all. - Sanai
• The House- If ten men want to enter a house, and only nine men find their way in, the tenth must not say: "This is what God ordained." He must find out his own shortcoming was. - Jalaludin Rumi
• True Reality- Of this there is no academic proof in the world; For it is hidden, hidden, and hidden. - Jalaludin Rumi
• What appears to be truth is a worldly distortion of objective truth. - Sanai
• Pride- Do not boast that you have no pride, because it is less visible than an ant's foot on a black stone in a dark night. And do not think that bringing it out from within is easy, for it is easier to extract a mountain from the earth with a needle. - Hakim Jami
• The Dry Cloud- The dry cloud, waterless, can have no rain-giving quality. - Hakim Jami
• Whoever gives advice to a heedless man is himself in need of advice. - Saadi of Shiraz
• He who allows his day to pass by without practicing generosity and enjoying life's pleasures is like a blacksmith's bellows: he breathes but does not live. - Sanskrit Proverb
• Taking the first step with the good thought, the second with the good word, and the third with the good deed, I enter paradise. - Persian Proverb
• People in the West are always getting ready to live. - Chinese Proverb
• There wouldn't be such a thing as counterfeit gold if there were no real gold somewhere. - Sufi Proverb
• Grief unspoken turns to poison. - Darkovan Proverb
• No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see. - Taoist Proverb
• God did not create woman from man's head, that he should command her, nor from his feet, that she should be his slave, but rather from his side, that she should be near his heart. - Hebrew Proverb
• Keep five yards from a carriage, ten yards from a horse, and a hundred yards from an elephant; but the distance one should keep from a wicked man cannot be measured. - Indian Proverb
• A man who is being delivered from the danger of a fierce lion does not object, whether this service is performed by an unknown or an illustrious individual. Why, therefore, do people seek knowledge from celebrities? - El-Ghazali
• Leave the path of death, and follow the path of life. Leave attachment to things and places, and instead enjoy the liberty of detachment. Do not cling to foolish friends, instead rejoice in solitude. Break free from possessions and from desires - from whatever may darken the mind. Attachment to things and to places is spiritual bondage, and leads to darkness. Surrender all attachments, and enjoy the pure light of spiritual freedom. Even in this mortal life you can enjoy eternal nirvana. - Dhammapada
• The present moment is never involved in thinking. Whenever you think, you must be thinking of something from the past or something in the future. You spend very little time in the present moment. Reality exists only in the present moment. Therefore you spend very little time in reality. - Leonard Jacobson
• Continuous attention to God (remembrance) produces the gradual transmutation of the attributes of the lower self into the Attributes
of God. - Nurbahksh
• Rabia was asked, "Do you love God?" She answered "Yes." "Do you hate the devil?" She answered, "No, my love of God leaves me no time to hate the devil." - Rabia
• People oppose things because they are ignorant of them. - El-Ghazali
• Awakening- A man be in an ecstatic state, and another man may try to rouse him. It is considered good to do so. Yet this state may be bad for him, and the awakening may be good for him. Rousing a sleeper is good or bad according to who is doing it. If the rouser is of greater attainment, this will elevate the state of the other person. If he is not, it will deteriorate the consciousness of the other man. - Jalaludin Rumi
• The Thief and the Blanket- A thief entered the house of a Sufi, and found nothing there. As he was leaving, the dervish perceived his disappointment and threw him the blanket in which he was sleeping, so that he should not go away empty-handed. - Saadi of Shiraz
• Guard your heart from heedlessness, protect your lower self from desires, guard your intellect from ignorance, and you will be admitted into the company of the vigilant. It is a duty for everyone to seek knowledge; that is, knowledge of yourself. - al-Sadiq
• O my Lord, if I worship You from fear of Hell, burn me in Hell; and if I worship You from hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise. But if I worship You for Your own sake, do not withhold from me Your Eternal Beauty. - Rabia
• Fasting is a way to save on food. Vigil and prayer is a labor for old folks. Pilgrimage is an occasion for tourism. To distribute bread in alms is something for philanthropists. Fall in love: That is doing something! - Ansari
• If someone remarks, "What an excellent man you are!" and this pleases you more than his saying, "What a bad man you are!" know that you are still a bad man. - Sufyan al-Thawri
• A devoutly religious man, who was disciple of Bayazid, said to him one day: 'I am surprised that anyone who accepts God should not attend the mosque for worship.' Bayazid answered: 'I, on the other hand, am surprised that anyone who knows God can worship him and not lose his senses, rendering his ritual prayer invalid.'- Among the Masters (The Way of the Sufi)
• Silence for the ordinary people is with their tongues, silence for the mystics is with their hearts, and silence for the lovers is with restraining the stray thoughts that come to their innermost beings. - Traditional
• There is an organ in the body that, if it is righteous, ensures that the whole system will be righteous; and if corrupt, the whole body will become corrupt. This organ is the heart. - Hadith
• The question of divine knowledge is so deep that it is really known only to those who have it. A child has no real knowledge of the attainments of an adult. An ordinary adult cannot understand the attainments of a learned man. In the same way, an educated man cannot yet understand the experiences of enlightened saints or sufis. - El-Ghazali
• For him who has perception, a mere sign is enough. For him who does not really heed, a thousand explanations are not enough. - Haji Bektash
• More harm is done by fools through foolishness than is done by evildoers through wickedness. - The Prophet
• Another Dimension-The hidden world has it's clouds and rain, but of a different kind. It's sky and sunshine are of a different kind. This is made apparent only to the refined ones- those not deceived by the seeming completeness of the ordinary world. - Jalaludin Rumi
• The Unshaped one- For one unshaped one in the community the hearts of the wise will suffer pain - As if a pool had been filled with rose-water, and a dog fell in, polluting it. - Saadi of Shiraz
• Seeing- Halls and theological colleges and learned lectures, circles and cloisters- What use are they when there is no knowledge and there is no eye that sees? - Hafiz
