# Real Rumi quotes from the Masnavi (with verse numbers)

The mirror that cannot be polished if every rub irritates you, patience as the key to joy and the two wings God gives you to fly: genuine lines from Rumi's Masnavi with book and verse — not the viral "Come, come, whoever you are", which is not his.

- 1509 votes · 12 items
- Sep 5, 2020 · K. Cruz
- https://even.best/en/l/5080/real-rumi-quotes-from-the-masnavi-with-verse-numbers

## Top 12

1. **If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?** (175 · ▲187 ▼12) — Masnavi, I, 2980 (tr. Kabir Helminski).
2. **If you are wholly perplexed and in straits, have patience, for patience is the key to joy.** (139 · ▲154 ▼15) — Masnavi, I, 2908 (tr. Kabir Helminski).
3. **Many of the faults you see in others, dear reader, are your own nature reflected in them.** (128 · ▲141 ▼13) — Masnavi, I, 1319 (tr. Kabir Helminski).
4. **The lion who breaks the enemy's ranks is a minor hero compared to the lion who overcomes himself.** (105 · ▲121 ▼16) — Masnavi, I, 1389 (tr. Kabir Helminski).
5. **Fortunate is he who does not carry envy as a companion.** (91 · ▲106 ▼15) — Masnavi, I, 431 (tr. Kabir Helminski).
6. **If you wish mercy, show mercy to the weak.** (88 · ▲101 ▼13) — Masnavi, I, 822 (tr. Kabir Helminski).
7. **If you dig a pit for others to fall into, you will fall into it yourself.** (70 · ▲93 ▼23) — Masnavi, I, 1311 (tr. Kabir Helminski).
8. **God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites, so that you will have two wings to fly, not one.** (60 · ▲81 ▼21) — Masnavi, II, 1552-1554 (tr. Kabir Helminski).
9. **Come, seek, for search is the foundation of fortune: every success depends upon focusing the heart.** (60 · ▲76 ▼16) — Masnavi, III, 2302-2305 (tr. Kabir Helminski).
10. **Whoever gives reverence receives reverence.** (58 · ▲85 ▼27) — Masnavi, I, 1494 (tr. Kabir Helminski).
11. **If an ant seeks the rank of Solomon, don't smile contemptuously upon its quest.** (56 · ▲72 ▼16) — Masnavi, III, 1445-1449 (tr. Kabir Helminski).
12. **Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment. Cleverness is mere opinion, bewilderment intuition.** (55 · ▲80 ▼25) — Masnavi, book IV (tr. E. H. Whinfield).

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