31 Quotes by Rumi that will Inspire You to be Better!

I never thought living in 21st century I would love something written in 13th century. Yes you read it right. This 808 year old poet has magical power in his words. His works are written mostly in Persian, but occasionally he also used Turkish, Arabic, and Greek. Today three countries claim him as their national poet : Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan. He is none other than "Rumi"

Its said that Rumi's meeting with the dervish Shams-e Tabrizi in 1244 completely changed his life. From an accomplished teacher and jurist, Rumi was transformed into an ascetic. Shams and Rumi were close friends for about four years. In December of 1248, Shams disappeared; it is believed that he was either driven away or killed. Rumi left in search of his friend, travelling to Damascus and elsewhere. Eventually, Rumi made peace with his loss, returning to his home believing Shams to be a part of him.

My Favorite Quotes By Rumi 

• The wound is the place where the Light enters you.

• Do not feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you.

• These pains you feel are messengers. Listen to them.

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

• The moon stays bright when it doesn't avoid the night.

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

• Don’t grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form.

• If you dig a pit for others to fall into, you will fall into it yourself.

• People want you to be happy. Don't keep serving them your pain!

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

• You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.

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

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

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

• Love rests on no foundation. It is an endless ocean, with no beginning or end. 

• I want to sing like the birds sing, not worrying about who hears or what they think.

• Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.

• Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there.

• Don't be satisfied with stories, how things have gone with others. Unfold your own myth.

• Ignore those that make you fearful and sad, that degrade you back towards disease and death.

• Yesterday I was clever so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise so I am changing myself. 

• Listen with ears of tolerance! See through the eyes of compassion! Speak with the language of love. 

• Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone's soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd.  

• Very little grows on jagged rock. Be ground. Be crumbled, so wildflowers will come up where you are. 

• Let's get away from all the clever humans who put words in our mouth, let's only say what our hearts desire. 

• If you could untie your wings and free your soul of jealousy, you and everyone around you would fly up like doves. 

• Never lose hope, my heart, miracles dwell in the invisible. If the whole world turns against you keep your eyes on the Friend. 

• Hardship may dishearten at first, but every hardship passes away. All despair is followed by hope; all darkness is followed by sunshine. 

• The world's flattery and hypocrisy is a sweet morsel: eat less of it, for it is full of fire. Its fire is hidden while its taste is manifest, but its smoke becomes visible in the end. 

• When you go through a hard period, when everything seems to oppose you, when you feel you cannot even bear one more minute, NEVER GIVE UP! Because it is the time and place that the course will divert!

• Be like the sun for grace and mercy. Be like the night to cover others' faults. Be like running water for generosity. Be like death for rage and anger. Be like the Earth for modesty. Appear as you are. Be as you appear. 

Rumi (1207-1273)
(Source)

I am one of those who keep looking for quotes to motivate myself and others around me. But if some of you are thinking why I am so much into quotes I would say we all go through ups and downs and quotes somehow are able to relate to many of us. Sometimes the words perfectly explain our situation or what we are going through in life. 

And the Mountains Echoed..

Writing about a book (or as they say reviewing a book) is not that difficult but sometimes I fall short of words to describe a beautiful piece of work and this has actually happened twice when I read "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini. I remember I came to know about him in 2013 through a friend and immediately ordered a box set from uRead.com. I was completely bowled over by Hosseini's style of knitting stories. Both the books were way beyond amazing. Recently I bought "And the Mountains Echoed" from Amazon.inbut before reading this one I made a mental note to write about it on my blog. 

The Blurb : 

Afghanistan, 1952. Abdullah and his sister Pari live in the small village of Shadbagh. To Abdullah, Pari - as beautiful and sweet-natured as the fairy for which she was named - is everything. More like a parent than a brother, Abdullah will do anything for her, even trading his only pair of shoes for a feather for her treasured collection. Each night they sleep together in their cot, their heads touching, their limbs tangled.

One day the siblings journey across the desert to Kabul with their father. Pari and Abdullah have no sense of the fate that awaits them there, for the event which unfolds will tear their lives apart; sometimes a finger must be cut to save the hand.

Crossing generations and continents, moving from Kabul, to Paris, to San Francisco, to the Greek island of Tinos, Khaled Hosseini writes about the bonds that define us and shape our lives, and how the choices we make resonate through history.

My Review : 

Khaled Hosseini is blessed with an art to write in a way that touches one's heart and soul. He wonderfully describes his characters, their feelings and their struggles in the story.  This book revolves around Abdullah and Pari and portrays sibling love in a real dimension. The way Abdullah trades his only pair of shoes to gift his sister Pari a peacock feather, the way Pari calls his brother 'Abollah', the way they wish to stay with each other forever, the way they sing a lullaby together is heart touching. 

There comes a point when Pari is sold to a rich, childless couple Mr. & Mrs. Wahdati in Kabul. Their pain of separation can be felt. The further chapters describe the relationship between various other characters, their life, their tragedies and their journey. Towards the end when Pari and Abdullah finally reunite, Abdullah is unable to remember anything because of Dementia and this brings mixed emotions as their reunion couldn't happen in true sense.

But I also felt that at some point story lost its pace and the focus went on other characters which were not so important. Though I understand that the author tried to show something more in every chapter, it couldn't blend easily or naturally. That's why it lacked the magic of "The Kite Runner". I know Khaled Hosseini is a terrific story teller and I wish him all the very best for his future endeavors. 

Favorite Lines from the book :

• Sorrow ought to be private, not flaunted.
• All good things in life are fragile and easily lost.
• But time, it is like charm. You never have as much as you think.
• What good is regret? It brings back nothing. What we have lost is irretrievable.
• Nothing good came free. Even love. You paid for all things. And if you were poor, suffering was your currency.
• It was always best to tell the truth, to tell it plainly, without fanfare, and the more disagreeable the truth, the sooner you had to tell it.
• They say, Find a purpose in your life and live it. But, sometimes, it is only after you have lived that you recognize your life had a purpose, and likely one you never had in mind.
• I learned that the world didn't see the inside of you, that it didn't care a whit about the hopes and dreams, and sorrows, that lay masked by skin and bone. It was as simple, as absurd, and as cruel as that.

About the Author :

Khaled Hosseini is an Afghan-born American novelist and physician. He has published three novels all of which are at least partially set in Afghanistan and feature an Afghani as the protagonist. Following the success of The Kite Runner, he decided to stop practicing medicine and became a full-time writer. A teenager who arrived in the United States for the first time at the age of 15 did not speak English ironically went on to become author of three bestsellers. Hosseini is currently a Goodwill Envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He has been working to provide humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan through the Khaled Hosseini Foundation. He lives in Northern California with his wife, Roya, and their two children (Haris and Farah).

Connect with the author :

• Facebook : KhaledHosseini