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
I am so small I can hardly be seen. How can this great love be inside me? Look at your eyes. They are small, but they see enormous things.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the paradox of feeling insignificant while being capable of immense love.
In this quote, Rumi expresses a profound observation about the nature of love and perception. He acknowledges his own smallness and seeming insignificance, yet questions how such a vast and powerful love can exist within someone so diminutive. The comparison to the eyes, which are also small yet capable of perceiving great wonders, emphasizes that true depth and significance often lie beyond physical size or stature. Love, in this context, transcends personal limitations and is an expansive force that connects individuals to the universe.
Themes
LovePerceptionInsignificanceVastnessDepth
In practice
Example use cases
In a wedding speech to illustrate the power of love despite life's challenges.
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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