Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī

An evil resort sought he that sought this world; a good state sought he that sought the world to come.

— Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ق - Mathnawi, Book 1. Translation by Reynold A. Nicholson.

The fool's excuse is worse than his crime; the excuse of the ignorant is the poison that kills wisdom.

— Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ق - Mathnawi, Book 1. Translation by Reynold A. Nicholson.

Behold the state of him who hearkened to the words of his enemy, and the retribution of him who became the friend of the envious one... The state of a Pharaoh who hearkened to Haman, and the state of a Nimrod who hearkened to Satan. Albe…

— Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ق - Mathnawi, Book 1. Translation by Reynold A. Nicholson.

Abundance is seeking the beggars and the poor, just as beauty seeks a mirror. Beggars, then, are the mirrors of God's abundance, and they that are with God are united with Absolute Abundance.

— Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ق, Mathnawi 1: 2754,2750. Quoted from Living Presence in the Sufi Tradition by Kabir Helminski.

God has made nonexistence appear solid and respectable; and He has made Existence appear in the guise of nonexistence. He has hidden the Sea and made the foam visible, He has concealed the Wind and shown you the dust.

— Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ق - Mathnawi 5: 1026, 1027. Quoted from Living Presence in the Sufi Tradition by Kabir Edmund Helminski.