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Sayings of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

BOULAS
(Kindled words)

A virtue carried too far may become a sin.

At the end of the valley of sin, do not be surprised if you find virtue standing.

Souls unite at the meeting of a glance.

Success spoils people, failure ruins them.

Things are as you look at them.

One who is never alone does not know the joy of being alone.

The heart which is not struck by the sweet smiles of an infant is still asleep.

Belief is a conception, but faith is conviction.

To love is a sin, and not to love is a crime.

When facts fall dead, truth comes to life.

Nothing matters really, though everything matters.

Neither fight evil nor embrace it; simply rise above it.

The pursuit after truth is more interesting than its attainment.

When one has risen above human love, divine love springs forth.

Shatter your ideals upon the rock of truth.

Let your virtues dissolve in the sea of purity.

Make your doctrines fuel for the higher intelligence.

You need not trust the one whom you do not know, so long as you do not distrust him.

It is easy to be just, but difficult to be wise.

If you will not rise above the things of this world, they will rise above you.

Even the wisest man must sometimes stray from wisdom.

Too much enthusiasm pushes the object of attainment farther off.

Anxiety paralyzes activity.

Worry consumes the spirit of action.

Even with God one can find fault. But where is the fault? In the person who finds it.

The load of responsibility weighs upon a soul more than the strain of work.

Perfection forgives, and limitation judges.

A home is made and a house is built.

Do not let your heart offer anyone such food as will increase his appetite and decrease your fund of supply.

Make the snake your friend rather than your enemy.

All men are equal in truth, not in fact.

What limits God? His name.

Life is too small a price to offer to someone whom you really love.

The real learning is unlearning all that one has learned.

To judge man, God borrows from man his sense of justice.

To investigate the wrongdoing of someone is like digging deep into the mud.

Prayer is a deep-felt need of the soul.

Man sees the right side of his own mind and the wrong side of another's.

What enables man to earn a good name? Shame.

Put your theories in practice before you expound them.

First believe in the God who is all-exclusive, and then realize the God who is all-inclusive.

As pleasure is the shadow of happiness, so fact is the shadow of truth.

Fact is to be observed in action and truth in realization.

Usually, in everything man says and does, he denies reality.

Fact is a covering over truth.

Fact or no fact, truth proves and disproves all.

Jealousy is the refuse of the heart.

Pity the wicked one for his evil doing, for he can do no better.

Woman is a stepping-stone to God's sacred altar.

If there is any place where one can meet with God, it is this earth-plane.

Righteousness is nothing but a natural outcome of right thinking.

Every action that defeats its own object is wrong.

No creature in the world is as attractive and as repellent as man.

Simplicity is the living beauty.

If you do not want to understand, you will not understand.

The man who will not take in the idea of unity, will be taken in by unity some day.

There is no use arguing, "Have you done wrong or have I done wrong?"; all that need be done is to right the wrong.

Life offers opportunity either to pick up pearls and throw away pebbles, or to pick up pebbles and throw away pearls.

The mystic retains something of childhood all through his life.

The realization of truth is the greatest luxury.

Fact is the illusion of truth.

Woman is woman, whether in the East or in the West.

Shadow is the shadow of shadow, not of light; the ego is light itself, and so it has no shadow.

The false ego is the shadow of the body seen in the sky, not the reflection of the soul.

Heart talks to heart, soul speaks to soul.

Truth is not acquired but discovered.

Nature regards no conventionality.

You cannot be too wise, but you can be too clever.

A bitter taste lasts only as long as it is in the mouth.

Carry as heavy a load as you are able to carry easily.

If your heart is large enough, there is nothing it will not accommodate.

By calling him by his name you will raise Satan from his grave.

We cannot appreciate another's kindness if we think of all the good we have done to the other.

There is no greater teacher for the evildoer than evil itself.

Devotion without wisdom is like salt water.

What were the great personalities whose light has shone upon millions of people? Examples.

The claim of Christhood seemed too great for Jesus in the eyes of men; therefore, he was crucified by the intolerant world.

Thought and feeling often take opposite directions.

Do not enjoy life more than life allows you to enjoy it; if so, your joy will turn into sorrow.

Hierarchy is the Sufi's way, but equality of all men is his truth.

Man rises above sins, but not above the reproaches of those who witness.

The clever man knows best how to tell a lie, the wise man knows best how to avoid it.

Approach woman gently, lest you jar upon her tender feelings.

God is God and man is man, yet God is man and man is God.

Peace-making is much more difficult than war-making.

It is the dead who cause death, the living preserve life.

You cannot live truth; you can realize it.

Wrong is wrong from the beginning to the end, and right is right from the first to the last.

Evil brings success to the wicked, and virtue wins victory for the righteous.

Faults and merits both serve as steps to those who go up as well as to those who go down.

It is more difficult to tame man than a lion.

Reason not with those who are incapable of understanding your reason.

Politeness in words and politeness in deeds are two different things.

No one may claim perfection, though everyone may strive after it.

You need not do something today because you did it yesterday.

Cupidity must be renounced, not joy.

The burning fire of hell does not consume the sinner; it only consumes his sins.

Wisdom is the way in which to express life as one has understood it oneself.

Man learns to follow the will of God by practicing self-denial.

Man who is infallible cannot be superhuman; he may be inhuman.

Evil doings apart, evil intentions bring about disastrous results.

The knowledge of plurality begins life; but in the consciousness of unity is life's culmination.

Faith reaches beyond the limit of human comprehension.

It is the optimist who takes the initiative; the pessimist follows him.

Morality is a flower which springs out of the plant of individuality.

True piety is sincerity.

Principles are to guide one's life, not to restrict it.

Love that is free from attachment is the love of sages.

The right attitude in life is to keep a balance between justice and kindness.

The presence of the Holy One is the sacred river.

It is better not to do than to do things badly.

To analyze love is to destroy love.

Subtle ideas are best expressed simply.

Every body reincarnates, not every soul.

If you say, "I cannot," you will not; if you will, you can.

Love that endureth not, is heart's illusion.

When optimism is exhausted, pessimism springs up.

Indeed, a virtuous woman shows divine purity.

Coming into the presence of the godly, is like entering into the gate of God.

In the union of two loving hearts is the Unity of God.

The sin of the virtuous is a virtue, the virtue of the sinner is a sin.

The shade adds to the light, as zero adds to the figure.

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

Love has its own law.

Beauty is finished in simplicity.

In the spirit of duty there is the soul of religion.

What is rooted out in the quest of truth, is ignorance.

Balance is the keynote of spiritual attainment.

Beauty is not power but the possessor of it.

Do not fall in love but rise.

What may give vanity to one, may give shame to another.

Great people have great faults, but their greatness is their greatest fault.

Nothing that your mind can conceive, does not exist.

Life teaches one more than all the teachings in the world.

An experience gained as late as the last hour of one's life, is still a gain.

Nothing is lost as long as your hope is not lost.

All will help you if you will help yourself.

Astonishment is nothing but an expression of one's ignorance.

Leave all that unsaid which, by being said, creates inharmony.

Many say they tell the truth, but few there are who know the truth.

The mystic does not possess knowledge, for he is knowledge himself.

The mystic does not observe the law; he himself is the law.

A great gift and no virtue is like a flower without fragrance.

Pleasures cost more than they are worth.

Patient endurance crowns goodness with beauty.

A bad nature is the worst immorality.

One who is understood, is beneath the one who understands him.

Passion is but another form of love.

Recognize a mystic, not from what he does, but from what he is.

Shameless is lifeless.

By rising above facts, we touch reality.

It is our words that hide reality.

Outward things matter little; it is inward realization which is necessary.

Every failure follows upon a weakness somewhere.

He who cannot help himself, cannot help others.

The wrong use of every good thing is bad; the right use of every bad thing is good.

Hatred brings hatred; love brings love.

If you begin from the end, you will finally arrive at the beginning.

Beware lest our remedy become your malady.

Will is not a power, but all the power there is.

What is God? God is what is wanting to complete oneself.

It is natural that heavenly reason does not agree with earthly reason.

Reasoning is a ladder; by this ladder one can rise, and from this ladder one may fall.

Reason is a great factor and has all possibility in it of every curse and of every bliss.

Daring is preferred to fearing.

A sparkling soul flashes out through the eyes.

A great person is great with his faults and merits.

Be complete here and perfect there.

A wrong direction may lead to quite the opposite end.

Devotion gives all, asks nothing.

Love knows no limits.

Love keeps back nothing.

If you do not see God in man, you will not see Him anywhere.

You can never be sure of anything in this world of illusion.

If you can no longer love, it proves that you never did love.

The way you choose is the way for you.

Feeling is life and death at the same time.

The eyes are two windows through which the soul looks out.

The benefit of the word Almighty is in its realization.

An infant brings with it the air of heaven on earth.

What is made for man, man may hold; he must not be held by it.

The bringers of joy have always been the children of sorrow.

One enemy can do more harm than the good that can be done by a hundred friends.

The virtue of duty is in the pleasure of doing it.
Duty done unwillingly is worse than slavery.

Who else but a noble soul would bear all and say nothing?

By going through sorrow, we rise above it.

The fool fights wisdom wherever he meets it.

By disliking our dislikes, we begin to like all things.

Sympathy robs man of himself.

It is the one who lacks keen observation who becomes critical.

The critical tendency comes from agitation of mind.

Pursuit after the impossible is the best game there is.

The best way to love is to serve.

Some satisfy their vanity by living, others by dying.

Fishers of men have their net of sympathy.

Sensation is a shadow of exaltation.

The world's end comes with the breaking of the heart.

Renounce the world before the world renounces you.

The wicked world does not allow man's fine feelings to be cherished.

When a loving heart manifests jealousy, it is like sweet milk turning sour.

Love creates beauty by her own hands, to worship.

Wisdom is the cream of intelligence.

All learning becomes pale once divine knowledge begins to shine.

A life of superficiality is lived as not lived.

The spirit of man is the egg in which God is formed.

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