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.
Are you searching for the river of your soul? _x000D_ Then come out of your prison. _x000D_ Leave the stream _x000D_ and join the river _x000D_ that flows into the ocean.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote encourages individuals to seek deeper meaning in life and to break free from limitations to embrace their true potential.
Rumi's quote speaks to the inner journey of discovering one's true self and purpose. It suggests that many people are confined in self-imposed 'prisons' that prevent them from exploring the vastness of their potential and experiences. By leaving behind these limitations, represented by the 'stream,' one can fully immerse in the deeper currents of life—symbolized by the 'river' that ultimately connects to the 'ocean,' which may represent unity, fulfillment, and enlightenment.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote during a motivational speech about personal growth.
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.
Lovers have heartaches _x000D_ That can't be cured by drugs _x000D_ Or sleep, _x000D_ Or games, _x000D_ But only by seeing their beloved.
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.
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.
Come on sweetheart let's adore one another before there is no more of you and me
Similar quotes
This idea of the transcendent power of the Supreme Being is essentially connected with that by which the whole duty of man is summed up: obedience to His will.
When childhood dies, its corpses are called adults and they enter society, one of the politer names of hell. That is why we dread children, even if we love them, they show us the state of our decay.
Most people who offer their help do it to make themselves feel better, not us. To be honest, I don't blame them. It's superstition: If you give assistance to the family in need... if you throw salt over your shoulder... if you don't step on the cracks, then maybe you'll be immune. Maybe you'll be able to convince yourself that this could never happen to you.
It is still open for me, as well as you, to regulate my behavior, by my experience of past events.
Nothing burns like the cold. But only for a while. Then it gets inside you and starts to fill you up, and after a while you don't have the strength to fight it.
...the most important things we need to manage can't be measured.