Farid Al-Din Attar quotes:

The Sea Will be the Sea Whatever the drop's philosophy.

If the eye of the heart is open, in each atom there will be one hundred secrets

The fruit of love's great tree is poverty; Whoever knows this knows humility.

Were you indeed not blinded by the Curse Of Self-exile, that still grows worse and worse, Yourselves would know that, though you see him not, He is with you this Moment, on this Spot...

If you will but aspireYou will attain to all that you desire.Before an atom of such need the SunSeems dim and mirky by comparison.It is life's strength, the wings by which we flyBeyond the further reaches of the sky.

The home we seek is in eternity; The Truth we seek is like a shoreless sea, Of which your paradise is but a drop. This ocean can be yours; why should you stop Beguiled by dreams of evanescent dew? The secrets of the sun are yours, but you Content yourself with motes trapped in its beams. Turn to what truly lives, reject what seems -- Which matters more, the body or the soul? Be whole: desire and journey to the Whole.

This was no friendship, to forsake your friend, To promise your support and at the end Abandon him-this was sheer treachery. Friend follows friend to hell and blasphemy- When sorrow comes one's true friends are found; In times of joy ten thousand gather round.

When first you enter Wisdom's sea, beware-A wave of indecision floods you there.

Let love lead your soul. Make it a place to retire to, a kind of monastery cave, a retreat for the deepest core of your being.

The ocean can be yours; why should you stop Beguiled by dreams of evanescent dew? The secrets of the sun are yours, but you Content yourself with motes trapped in beams.

A thousand for his love expired each day, And those who saw his face, in blank dismay Would rave and grieve and mourn their lives away- To die for love of that bewitching sight Was worth a hundred lives without his light. None could survive his absence patiently, None could endure this king's proximity- How strange it was that man could neither brook The presence nor the absence of his look!

A man whose eyes love opens risks his soul - His dancing breaks beyond the mind's control.