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
All your restlessness is out of your desire for stillness Just desire restlessly, then, love will fill and still you. All your unhealthiness is out of your desire for health, Just abandon health, then, even poison will heal you.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that our desires can lead to restlessness or unhealthiness, but by embracing our desires instead of resisting them, we can find peace and healing.
Rumi's quote highlights the paradox of desire and fulfillment. It implies that our constant yearning—for stillness or health—can create restlessness and dissatisfaction. Instead of suppressing these desires, we should embrace them without attachment, allowing love and healing to manifest naturally. The essence of the message lies in the understanding that by surrendering to our genuine needs and desires, rather than controlling them, we can achieve the tranquility and well-being we seek.
Themes
DesireStillnessHealthLoveHealing
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech about finding peace in chaos.
More from Rumi
All quotes →The 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.
RumiRead
Lovers have heartaches _x000D_ That can't be cured by drugs _x000D_ Or sleep, _x000D_ Or games, _x000D_ But only by seeing their beloved.
RumiRead
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.
RumiRead
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.
RumiRead
Come on sweetheart let's adore one another before there is no more of you and me
RumiRead
Similar quotes
History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
Abba EbanRead
Scripture is like a lion. Who ever heard of defending a lion? Just turn it loose; it will defend itself.
Charles SpurgeonRead
Listen to no one's advice except that of the wind in the trees. That can recount the whole history of mankind.
Claude DebussyRead
Half of my library are old books because I like seeing how people thought about their world at their time. So that I don't get bigheaded about something we just discovered and I can be humble about where we might go next. Because you can see who got stuff right and most of the people who got stuff wrong.
Neil Degrasse TysonRead
I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.
Mark TwainRead
The whole world, from the least to the greatest, must know the truth, so that man may understand the great laws that govern his life. He must learn to control his own destiny, to heal his own body and bring happiness to his own soul.
Ernest HolmesRead