Rumi has not walked the Earth since the 13th century, yet he is one of the most read poets in America today. Profound, honest, mystical and wise, his beautiful words have a healing presence to them that continues to resonate with humanity today. His work is that of a true master.

Here are 25 examples of Rumi’s wisdom to help inspire and uplift you:

 

Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul, there is no separation.

Where there is ruin, there is hope for treasure.

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

I learned that every mortal will taste death. But only some will taste life.

You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in one drop.

Close your eyes. Fall in love. Stay there.

Don’t you know yet? It is your light that lights the worlds.

What you seek is seeking you.

Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment

Let the beauty we love be what we do.

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

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

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

You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life?

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

Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and right doing, there is a field. I will meet you there.

The lion is most handsome when looking for food.

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

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all barriers within yourself you have built against it. 

Only from the heart can you touch the sky.

Be suspicious of what you want.

If you are looking for a friend who is faultless, you will be friendless.

The universe is not outside of you. Look inside yourself; everything that you want, you already are.

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

We carry inside us the wonders we seek outside us.