“This iron world bungs down the stoutest hearts to lowest state; for misery doth bravest minds abate.”

A circle cannot fill a triangle, so neither can the whole world, if it were to be compassed, the heart of man; a man may as easily fill a chest with grace as the heart with gold. The air fills not the body, neither doth money the covetous mind of man.

Woe to the man that first did teach the cursed steel to bite in his own flesh, and make way to the living spirit!

Such is the power of love in gentle mind, That it can alter all the course of kind.

From good to bad, and from bad to worse, From worse unto that is worst of all, And then return to his former fall.

Who will not mercy unto others show, How can he mercy ever hope to have?

Be bold, and everywhere be bold.

Unhappie Verse, the witnesse of my unhappie state, Make thy selfe fluttring wings of thy fast flying Thought.

I was promised on a time To have reason for my rhyme; From that time unto this season, I received nor rhyme nor reason.

All for love, and nothing for reward.

Fresh spring the herald of love’s mighty king.

Joy may you have and gentle hearts content Of your loves couplement: And let faire Venus, that is Queene of love, With her heart-quelling Sonne upon you smile

All flesh doth frailty breed!

All that in this delightful garden grows should happy be and have immortal bliss.

So let us love, dear Love, like as we ought; Love is the lesson which the Lord us taught.

Beauty is not, as fond men misdeem, an outward show of things that only seem.

My Love is like to ice, and I to fire: How comes it then that this her cold so great Is not dissolved through my so hot desire, But harder grows the more I her entreat?

There is nothing more extravagant than a generous heart.

This world is like a mountain. Your echo depends on you. If you scream good things, the world will give it back. If you scream bad things, the world will give it back. Even if someone says badly about you, speak well about him. Change your heart to change the world.

Maybe there’s a world out there where you and I find each other and it doesn’t end in burning flames or broken hearts.

My heart can take on any form: A meadow for gazelles, A cloister for monks, For the idols, sacred ground, Ka’ba for the circling pilgrim, The tables of the Torah, The scrolls of the Quran. My creed is Love; Wherever its caravan turns along the way, That is my belief, My faith.

The one who is [truly] imprisoned is the one whose heart is imprisoned from Allah and the captivated one is the one whose desires have enslaved him.

Some days, all of it aches with beauty.  Others, it all just aches with you.

Do not surrender your grief so quickly Let it cut more deeply Let it ferment and season you As few human or divine ingredients can Something is missing in my heart tonight That has made my eyes so soft And my voice so tender And my need of God so absolutely clear.

It’s no virtue to gain the whole world. Just gain the heart of one person.