The diurnal sun sets at night, but the sun of the heart never disappears.

The other world is as to this like the east to the west. We cannot approach the one without turning away from the other.

Collect as precious pearls the words of the wise and virtuous.

It is with a word as with an arrow--once let it loose and it does not return.

Abu Sa'id al-Kharraz said I have never known Allah May He be exalted except through the coincidence in Him of the opposites. 'He is the First and the Last, the Apparent and the Hidden.'

Some men, like spaniels, will only fawn the more when repulsed, but will pay little heed to a friendly caress.

Death is a black camel, which kneels at the gates of all.

When God wanted to create the horse, he said to the South Wind, "I want to make a creature of you. Condense." And the Wind condensed.

By reason of his elegance, he resembles an image painted in a palace, though he is as majestic as the palace itself.

O my people, I disavow all that you associate [with God]. I orient my face with an exclusive orientation towards Him, who created the heavens and the earth and I am not one of the associators.

Because what was the point in crying when there was no one there to comfort you? And what was worse, when you couldn't even comfort yourself?

Can you not see that women could do and would do a hundred times more for the slave, if she were not fettered?

We must be willing to pay a price for freedom.

Barack Obama was better as a campaigner than as a - as a president sometimes in this same position. It is easier when you have a foil.

I was never an A student, but I was really well behaved until I was 13 or so.

All of our actions take their hue from the complexion of the heart, as landscapes their variety from light.

I'm really fortunate. I'm really happy, and I'm really really lucky to be where I am.

Fake it till you make it.

If I can write everything out plainly, perhaps I will myself understand better what has happened.

Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind's essential illness.