My dear heart, never think you are better than others. Listen to their sorrows with compassion. If you want peace, don't harbor bad thoughts, do not gossip and don't teach what you do not know.
RumiRead
Listen! Clam up your mouth and be silent like an oyster shell, for that tongue of yours is the enemy of the soul, my friend. When the lips are silent, the heart has a hundred tongues.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of silence and contemplation over speaking mindlessly.
Rumi suggests that our tendency to speak without thought can harm our inner selves, likening the tongue to an enemy of the soul. By advocating for silence, he implies that in moments of quiet, we can access deeper truths and understandings, as silence allows our hearts to communicate more profoundly than words ever could.
Themes
SilenceWisdomSoulCommunicationReflection
In practice
Example use cases
Quote shared during a mindfulness seminar to emphasize the value of listening over speaking.
More from Rumi
All quotes βThe Law of Wonder rules my life at last, _x000D_ ...I burn each second of my life to Love _x000D_ Each second of my life burns out in Love _x000D_ In each leaping second Love lives afresh.
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Lovers have heartaches _x000D_ That can't be cured by drugs _x000D_ Or sleep, _x000D_ Or games, _x000D_ But only by seeing their beloved.
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Every fragile beauty, every perfect forgotten sentence, you grieve their going away, but that is not how it is. Where they come from never goes dry. It is an always flowing spring.
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Whatever you keep hidden in your heart, God _x000D_ manifests in you outwardly. Whatever the root of _x000D_ the tree feeds on in secret, affects the bough and _x000D_ the leaf.
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Come on sweetheart let's adore one another before there is no more of you and me
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