Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.
Jalal ad-Din Rumi (1207–1273) was a Persian poet and Sufi mystic who spent most of his life in Konya, in present-day Turkey. His Masnavi, a vast poetic work, is considered one of the summits of Persian literature. Much of his poetry was composed orally, spoken aloud and written down as he went.
About this theme: Love
The Greeks had several words for what we cover with one: eros for desire, philia for the affection between friends, storge for family attachment, agape for the kind that asks nothing back. Translate all of that into a single word and the distinctions vanish — yet the distinctions are what most quotes about love are actually about.
More by Rumi
More on Love
- No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.— Charles Dickens
- A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.— Elbert Hubbard
- The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart.— Helen Keller
- One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: that word is love.— Sophocles
- Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.— Mother Teresa