A material person has a silent craving in his heart to probe the depths of the spiritual ideal which he disowns.

Happy is he who does good to others; miserable is he who expects good from others.

They do not trust a person until he proves in time to be trustworthy. They can only see the imperfect self of the other, and will never be able to see the beauty of the perfect self, above and beyond the limits of their view.

He is living whose sympathy is awake, and he is dead whose heart is asleep.

Jealousy is the refuse of the heart.

Cactus, why have you thorns on your leaf also? --I am the heart of the wicked, who take pleasure in hurting others.

Criticism, indifference, pessimism are the three things which close the door of the heart.

Money, what do you signify? --I am the seal of hearts; a heart once sealed by me will love no one but me. When you leave, what becomes of your lover? --I leave behind a mark on my lover's heart which remains always as a wound.

One can know the grade of a person's evolution by knowing what causes him to laugh and what causes him to cry. Every person is tuned to a certain pitch, and that which causes a person to laugh or weep must be in some way in accordance with his pitch. Therefore, that which makes a silly person laugh does not always cause laughter in others, and what makes a simple person weep does not make the slightest effect upon the wise.

Selfishness keeps man blind through life.

Some people are insolent, not because they do not know better, but because they are proud and it goes against their vanity to act better. Some act insolently, especially if they are in the presence of someone before whom they wish to be vain, by humiliating another or at least by showing equality with another whom in their mind they think their superior. Insolence is childish; really speaking, by considering another one respects oneself.

The absence of generosity means that the doors of the heart are closed; nothing from within can come out, and nothing from without can enter in.

The heart when it is not living and making its life a life of love, feels out of place; and all the discomfort of life comes from this.

The life in the world can be pictured as everyone pushing away another who stands in his way, thus making his way towards his object. Man generally does not mind when he pushes another away, he minds when he is pushed away.

The soul feels suffocated when the doors of the heart are closed.

There are egos whose vanity is fed by being loved and admired, who grow in time so tyrannous that even the agony of a loving heart becomes their joy and amusement.

We start our lives as teachers, and it is very hard for us to learn to become pupils. There are many whose only difficulty in life is that they are teachers already. What we have to learn is pupilship. There is but one Teacher, God Himself.

When a person finds fault with another, insults another, he does it for two reasons. One is pride, because it satisfies his pride to know, or for it to be known, that he is better than another. The other thing is that it comes out of cruelty in nature. There is a silent cruelty in the nature of man, the satisfaction of which is in causing hurt to someone in whatever form. That person gets a kind of satisfaction out of it. There are some in the world who by causing hurt physically, by seeing a wound, get a satisfaction; so there are others who get a satisfaction out of hurting someone's feelings.

Blessed is he who hears the call from the minaret of his heart.

Consideration is born in the heart and developed in the head.

Do not boast of your good deeds.
Do not reproach others, making them firm in their faults.
Do not spare yourself in the work which you must accomplish.
Do not take advantage of a person's ignorance.
Harm no one for your own benefit.
Make no false claims.
Render your services faithfully to all who require them.
Seek not profit by putting someone in straits.
Speak not against others in their absence.

Sadness comes from limitation in different forms, from lack of perception, from lack of power over oneself and over conditions, and from lack of that substance which is happiness itself and which is love.

In order to acquire spiritual knowledge, in order to receive inspiration, in order to prepare one's heart for the inner revelation, one must try to make one's mentality pliable, like water rather than like a rock.

Man is always journeying towards the truth. He is seeking, seeking; for in his heart is the love of that which is real.

My emotion, where do you come from?--From the everflowing spring of your heart.

My moods, what are you?--We are the waves rising in your heart.

The brain may be said to be the seat of the intelligence, and the heart to be the throne of wisdom.

The human heart must first be melted, like metal, before it can be molded into a desirable character.

The moment a person rises above his mind and awakens in the light of the soul, he becomes spiritual.

The second way of trusting is to trust and to continue to do so until the person is proved unworthy of trust. Those who trust in this way are better suited than the first, for if their trust makes their sight keen they will have every prospect of development, provided that intelligence guides them all the way.

There is no source of happiness other than the heart of man.

Think of the Beloved, consider what the beloved needs and wants

To be really sorry for one's errors is like opening the door of heaven.

To discover the heart is the greatest initiation.

We help God to forgive us by forgiving ourselves.

When a gentleman is kind, but void of wisdom, he stands still in life, blocking the way for others and placing himself in a place from where he always will be pushed away.

When you possess something, think of the one who does not possess it.

Be polite to all.
Be prejudiced against no one.
Bear no malice against your worst enemy.
Blessed are they who make willing sacrifices in kindness.
Consider your responsibility sacred.
Do not look down upon the one who looks up to you.
Do nothing which will make your conscience feel guilty.
Extend your help willingly to those in need.
Guard the secrets of friends as your most sacred trust.
Influence no one to do wrong.
Judge not another by your own law.
Prove trustworthy in all your dealings.

He who makes room in his heart for others, will himself find accommodation everywhere.

Heart talks to heart.

I draw all my strength from my humility.

Happiness lies in thinking or doing that which one considers beautiful.

He who realizes the relation of friendship between one soul and another--the tenderness, delicacy, and sacredness of this relationship--he is living, and in this way he will one day communicate with God.

Every blow in life pierces the heart and awakens our feeling to sympathize with others; and every swing of comfort lulls us to sleep, and we become unaware of all.

If it were not for pain, life would be most uninteresting, for it is by pain that the heart is penetrated.

Incense, what were you whispering at the church service? --No prayer can reach God unless it arises from a glowing heart. Incense, what did you preach at the church? --He who endureth pain in the cause of others must rise from the mortal world to the spheres of immortality. Incense, what does your perfume signify? --My perfume is the evidence of my self-sacrifice. Incense, tell me what mortal is veiled in your nature? --When my heart endures the test of fire, my hidden quality becomes manifest.

It is the lover of God whose heart is filled with devotion who can commune with God, not he who makes an effort with his intellect to analyze God.

Many seem wide awake to the life without, but asleep to the life within; and although the chamber of the heart is continually visited by the hosts of heaven, they do not know their heart, for they are not there.

My intuition, has thou ever deceived me? No, never. It is my reason which so often deludes me, for it comes from without; thou art rooted within my heart.

My thoughtful self, Bear all and do nothing, Hear all and say nothing, Give all and take nothing, Serve all and be nothing.

No sooner has the heart become living than the law of justice manifests.

Often the sense of shame works like a sharp knife upon a feeling heart, but it only makes it like a cut diamond: for by it we come to the realization that what is most precious in life is feeling.

One moment's life lived with Thee is worth more than a life of long years lived in Thine absence.

Spirituality is the tuning of the heart; one can obtain it neither by study, nor by piety.

The expression of sentiment is an outlet for the energy of the heart, which if conserved would be a power in itself.

The fire of devotion purifies the heart of the devotee, and leads to spiritual freedom.

Blessed are they who cover the scars of others even from their own sight.

Blessed are they who fear lest they cause another the slightest hurt by thought, word, or deed.

Incense, tell me the secret of your being. --I am the heart of the lover of God, whose deep sign rises upward, spreading its perfume all around.

The heart is not living until it has experienced pain.

The heart is the gate of God; as soon as you knock upon it, the answer comes.

The heart of man is a temple; when its door is closed to man, it is also closed to God.

The light which comes from the soul, rises through the heart, and manifests outwardly in man's smile, is indeed the light from heaven. In that light many flowers grow and many fruits ripen.

The pain of life is the price paid for the quickening of the heart.

There is no good person who has not a bad side to his nature, nor is there a wicked person who has not a good side to his nature; but the good side of the former covers the bad side of his nature, and the bad side of the latter generally covers the good side of his nature. The right thing is to go forward in the path of goodness, although it is natural that as much goodness as someone possesses so much badness there is in him.

Therefore the Sufi complains no more, has no grudge against anyone, has nothing to grumble about: "That person insulted me," or ". . .treated me badly," or ". . .behaved unjustly," or ". . .acted unkindly," -- no complaint whatever, for complaint comes to a person who thinks of himself most of the time. He is inclined to self-pity at every moment, self pity, which is the worst poverty. The one who is sensitive to all things that come from the people around him will have a thousand complaints, whatever be his life's position. In a palace or in a cottage, be he poor or rich, he is always full of complaints. Nothing is right to him, nothing is just, except himself, everybody is cruel to him; and for that poor person life is death. If this person thinks of his health, then he has many complaints to make about different pains and aches and disagreeable things he feels, and if he thinks of his friends and foes then he has many things to say about them.

Think as the Beloved, taking their point of view

Thy whisper to the ears of my heart moveth my soul to ecstasy.

To become cold from the coldness of the world is weakness; to become broken by the hardness of the world is feebleness; but to live in the world and yet to keep above it is like walking on the water.

Truth is a divine inheritance found in the depth of every human heart.

What comes from without is not intuition; intuition is something which rises from one's own heart and brings a sense of satisfaction, of ease, and of happiness.

When man becomes considerate, he tries to refrain from pushing others away, and for that very reason he feels very hurt when he is pushed away by others.

Let not your spirit be humbled in adversity.

Frozen with the coldness of the world's hardness of heart I sought refuge in Thee, and Thou didst console me with Thine endless love. I knocked at Thy gate at last when I had no answer from anywhere in the world, and Thou didst readily answer the call of my broken heart.

Have regard for the feelings of every soul.

Find the Beloved One in the One who is Beloved -- the One you have always loved.

I consider my action towards every man as my action towards God; and the action of every person towards me I take as an action of God.

I looked for Thee on earth; I searched for Thee in the heaven, my Beloved, but at last I have found Thee hidden as a pearl in the shell of my heart.

I would gladly sacrifice all pleasures the earth can offer me, if I could only retain Thy pain in my feeling heart.

It is not the heart of earth in which to confide, for it brings forth all that is given to it in simple trust; it is the soul of heaven which is trustworthy, for it assimilates all in its own being.

My lifelong sorrow I forget when Thou castest Thy glance upon me.

Nothing seems either too good or too bad. I know no more distinction between saint and sinner, since I behold the one single Life manifested in all.

The stilling of the heart is the true alchemy which turn mercury into silver.

The Sufi therefore, finds the only way out of the distress of life, the life which will always fail to prove true to one's ideal. He rises above it, taking all things as they come, patiently. He does not mind how he is treated. His principle is to do his best, and in that is his satisfaction. Instead of depending on another person to be kind to him, the Sufi thinks if he were kind to another person, that is sufficient. Every wise man in the long run through life will find in this principle the solution of happiness. For we cannot change the world, but we can change ourselves; and if we made ourselves as we wish others to be to us, it would not be a small achievement in life.

The very thought of the love of God fills the heart with joy and relieves it of its burden.

What can be said is that, in creation, God Himself manifests. In suffering He himself suffers; He Himself is puzzled in His creation, and one day He Himself realizes His perfection. God only exists, no one else.

A tongue of flame rises from every wound of my heart, illuminating my path through life and guiding my way to the goal.

As the heart expands, so the horizon becomes wider, and one finds greater and greater scope in which to build the kingdom of God.

Be firm in faith through life's tests and trials.
Break not your word of honor whatever may befall.
Hold your ideal high in all circumstances.
Keep to your principles in prosperity as well as in adversity.
Uphold your honor at any cost.
Do not neglect those who depend upon you.
Observe constancy in love.

Blessed are the unselfish friends and they whose motto in life is constancy.

Meet the world with smiles in all conditions of life.

Bring out the Beloved in others.

The third way of trusting a person is to have an absolute trust, and to continue until it be proved true. This is the trust of devotees. It is these mureeds who make the Murshid. It is such worshippers who make God.

Charity is the expansion of the heart.

Ever-moving sea of life, am I not but a wave rising in thy heart?

God is love; when love is awakened in the heart, God is awakened there.

God speaks to the ears of every heart, but it is not every heart that hears Him. As one can see when the eyes are open, so one can understand when the heart is open.

I cling to Thee with a child's faith, bearing Thy most lovely image in my heart. I sought refuge in Thy bosom, Beloved, and I am safe, feeling Thine arms around me.

If a gentleman is wise he does not push away anyone, out of his gentleness, nor does he mind being pushed away, but goes on patiently in the pursuit of the object he wishes to accomplish.

In order to fulfill the practical duties of life, it is not necessary to forget our ideal. We can hold the ideal in the tenderest spot of our heart, and yet fulfill our practical duties. The ideal is to illuminate our lives, not to paralyze our actions.

Let my heart reflect Thy divine light, Lord, as the moon reflects the light of the sun.

Let Thy sun shine in my heart.

Love brought man from the world of unity to that of variety, and the same force can take him back again to the world of unity from the world of variety.

Love which manifests as tolerance, as forgiveness, that love it is which heals the wounds of the heart.

My heart is no longer mine, since Thou hast made it Thy dwelling-place, my Lord.

My presence stimulates in your heart that feeling which must always be kept alive.

My soul is moved to dance by the charm of Thy graceful movements, and my heart beateth the rhythm of Thy dancing steps.

No beloved has ever known the depth of the lover's heart.

O Thou, who art enshrined in my heart, speak again to me; Thy voice exalteth my spirit.

Out of the shell of the broken heart emerges the newborn soul.

The awakened heart says, 'I must give, I must not demand.' Thus it enters a gate that leads to a constant happiness.

The Creator, by means of the human heart, experiences life within and without.

The fifth characteristic of the Sufi is to practice forgiveness, showing thereby the Divine Spirit reflected in his heart. Forgiveness can be practiced in different ways. In all such things as tolerance, forgetting, overlooking, forgiveness acts in different forms.

The first characteristic is to recognize the Divine in man, which in time develops so that he recognizes the Divine in all, deserving or undeserving, wise or foolish, saint or sinner. In all forms of life he sees God, and thereby he has toward everybody that attitude which a lover of God, a worshipper of God has toward God.

The human heart is the home of the soul, and upon this home the comfort and power of the soul depend.

The sunglass reflects the heart of the sun; the contemplative heart reflects the divine qualities.

The water that washes the heart is the continual running of the love-stream.

The wise see in every form the divine form; in every heart they see the divine light shining.

Thy smile has brought my dead heart to life again; my life and death depend upon the closing and disclosing of Thy magic glance.

When the human heart becomes conscious of God, it becomes like the sea: it extends its waves to friend and foe.

Man's greatest privilege is to become a suitable instrument of God.

The heart of the Holy One is the gate of God's shrine.

By self-realization a man becomes larger than the universe. The world in which he lives becomes as a drop in the ocean of his heart.

The heart of man is Thy sacred shrine.

Burning words rise from a flaming heart.

Be both Lover and Beloved.

Do all that you consider good for the sake of goodness, not even for a return of that from God.

Do not look for thanks or appreciation for all the good you do to others, nor use it as a means to stimulate your vanity.

Every soul's longing am I; every heart hears My call; everyone feels My impulse, My friend as well as My foe.

The whole creation wakes up with the wakening of my heart.

I need remove no one to place another in my heart; my heart is large enough to accommodate each and all.

In the heart of man the whole universe is reflected; and as the whole universe is reflected in it, man may be called the heart of the universe.

Love another and do not depend upon his love; do good to another and do not depend upon receiving good from him; serve another and do not look for service from him.

Love in its fullness is an inexpressible power which speaks louder than words; there is nothing that man is too weak to do when it gushes forth from his heart.

Love is the merchandise which all the world demands; if you store it in your heart, every soul will become your customer.

Man as a human being is capable of loving one, but his soul as the light of God is capable of loving not only the world, but even a thousand worlds; for the heart of man is larger than the whole universe.

Man is good by nature. Goodness is his real self; badness is only a cloud. But clouds are ever floating; they are sometimes here and sometimes there, and if we trust in the goodness of man, the clouds will disappear. Our very trust will disperse them.

My heart has become an ocean, Beloved, since Thou hast poured Thy love into it.

My heart is the key to the hearts of men.

Spiritual attainment is to become conscious of the Perfect One, who is formed in the heart.

The fourth characteristic of the Sufi is to fulfill his obligations, to think what he is expected to do by all those with whom he comes in contact in life, to answer their demands to the best of his ability, willingly, patiently.

The human heart is the womb from which the Lord is born.

The secret of seeking the will of God lies in cultivating the faculty of sensing harmony; for harmony is beauty and beauty is harmony, and the lover of beauty in his further progress becomes the seeker of harmony; and by trying always to maintain harmony, man will tune his heart to the will of God.

Thou Whose heart constantly reacheth upward, Thou comest on earth with a message, as a dove from above when Dharma decayeth, and speakest the Word that is put into Thy mouth, as the light filleth the crescent moon. Let the star of the Divine Light shining in Thy heart be reflected in the hearts of Thy devotees.

Thy music causeth my soul to dance; in the murmur of the wind I hear Thy flute; the waves of the sea keep the rhythm of my dancing steps.

When I become thou, Thou becomest I, and when I become thy body, and thou becomest my soul, then neither can I call thee different nor canst thou call me different.