Mor­al­ity determ­ines how cir­cum­stances take shape, and cir­cum­stances determ­ine mor­al­ity. From Rumi's time­less words of wis­dom we have chosen those on the vir­tues and on wrong con­duct.

Con­duct to Fol­low

  • › The vir­tues are to be prac­tised, and it is advis­able to live by them; let the vir­tues not remain mere words and prin­ciples. On the tongue of a fool a wise word is, after all, only a bor­rowed kaf­tan.
  • › Humil­ity is the beau­ti­ful vir­tue that does hon­our to good people. The tree weighed down by its fruit bows to the ground, while the bar­ren one stretches up to the sky. As the fruit mul­ti­plies, the bear­ing branches are propped up, lest they break off.
  • › A trust­worthy word is the sign of a man's fidel­ity, and it is the faith­ful who deserve Para­dise.
  • › For­bear­ance is the key to relief, which wards off every kind of hard­ship.
  • › Let us pray to the Lord to bless us with the strength of self-dis­cip­line, for who­ever is without self-dis­cip­line can­not enjoy even the grace of God. The undis­cip­lined man not only ruins him­self but sets the whole world ablaze.
  • › I swear by the sac­red per­son of the Lord that a venom­ous snake is bet­ter than a false friend. A venom­ous snake takes only a man's life when it bites him, but a false friend casts him into the etern­al fire. Your heart secretly drinks in the inclin­a­tions of your com­pan­ion, without his say­ing a single word. If the shad­ow of such a com­pan­ion falls upon you, the man without scruple will rob you of your vir­tues.
  • › Go, help oth­ers. Time will value your help, and it never for­gets the one who has mercy on oth­ers. Until now every­one has left his wealth behind, and you too will leave your own wealth behind. Bet­ter, then, that in place of a leg­acy of wealth, a leg­acy of good­will should remain after us.

Con­duct to Avoid

  • › Envy is the worst of habits, the seed of every other fault and fail­ing.
  • › To cri­ti­cise the absent is like stuff­ing your­self with human flesh. From God there is no hid­ing the foul breath of the slan­der­er.
  • › The cor­rupt and lying man is forever break­ing his oath, while the vir­tu­ous man need not even swear. Lying awakens sus­pi­cion in a man's heart, but truth brings it peace.
  • › Wal­low­ing in riches is like a morsel caught in a man's throat. It is this tri­fling morsel that keeps the man who wal­lows in worldly pleas­ures and plenty from at last sip­ping the elixir of life, which would grant him etern­al hap­pi­ness.
  • › It was pride that swept Satan into his etern­al and irre­voc­able doom, although he had once been among the angels.
  • › Waste is not good, and the basest waste of all is idle pas­time.
  • › Let a man first of all strive to cor­rect his own faults, and not busy him­self with the weak­nesses of oth­ers. Who­ever sees a fault in anoth­er most likely suf­fers him­self from the very ill he per­ceives there.
  • › The oppress­or must bear the con­sequences of his tyranny. Who­ever afflicts oth­ers tor­ments him­self.