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Rumi, Day by Day: Daily Inspirations from the Mystic of the Heart
Here is a daily companion that provides Rumi's wisdom and spiritual insight. These poems have been selected on the basis of the poignancy of their message and their relevance to contemporary life.
This is timeless wisdom translated for modern readers. It is a guide for meditation and a light switch that you can turn on to make your daily connection with spirit. Use these words as tools to better your life each day, to draw continued guidance, inspiration and spiritual wealth.
This is timeless wisdom translated for modern readers. It is a guide for meditation and a light switch that you can turn on to make your daily connection with spirit. Use these words as tools to better your life each day, to draw continued guidance, inspiration and spiritual wealth.
224 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2014
22 people are currently reading
290 people want to read
About the author
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi
1,171 books15.7k followersSufism inspired writings of Persian poet and mystic Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi; these writings express the longing of the soul for union with the divine.
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī - also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī, Mevlânâ/Mawlānā (مولانا, "our master"), Mevlevî/Mawlawī (مولوی, "my master") and more popularly simply as Rumi - was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian and Sufi mystic who lived in Konya, a city of Ottoman Empire (Today's Turkey). His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages, and he has been described as the most popular poet and the best-selling poet in the United States.
His poetry has influenced Persian literature, but also Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, Azerbaijani, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu, as well as the literature of some other Turkic, Iranian, and Indo-Aryan languages including Chagatai, Pashto, and Bengali.
Due to quarrels between different dynasties in Khorāṣān, opposition to the Khwarizmid Shahs who were considered devious by his father, Bahā ud-Dīn Wālad or fear of the impending Mongol cataclysm, his father decided to migrate westwards, eventually settling in the Anatolian city Konya, where he lived most of his life, composed one of the crowning glories of Persian literature, and profoundly affected the culture of the area.
When his father died, Rumi, aged 25, inherited his position as the head of an Islamic school. One of Baha' ud-Din's students, Sayyed Burhan ud-Din Muhaqqiq Termazi, continued to train Rumi in the Shariah as well as the Tariqa, especially that of Rumi's father. For nine years, Rumi practised Sufism as a disciple of Burhan ud-Din until the latter died in 1240 or 1241. Rumi's public life then began: he became an Islamic Jurist, issuing fatwas and giving sermons in the mosques of Konya. He also served as a Molvi (Islamic teacher) and taught his adherents in the madrassa. During this period, Rumi also travelled to Damascus and is said to have spent four years there.
It was his meeting with the dervish Shams-e Tabrizi on 15 November 1244 that completely changed his life. From an accomplished teacher and jurist, Rumi was transformed into an ascetic.
On the night of 5 December 1248, as Rumi and Shams were talking, Shams was called to the back door. He went out, never to be seen again. Rumi's love for, and his bereavement at the death of, Shams found their expression in an outpouring of lyric poems, Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi. He himself went out searching for Shams and journeyed again to Damascus.
Rumi found another companion in Salaḥ ud-Din-e Zarkub, a goldsmith. After Salah ud-Din's death, Rumi's scribe and favourite student, Hussam-e Chalabi, assumed the role of Rumi's companion. Hussam implored Rumi to write more. Rumi spent the next 12 years of his life in Anatolia dictating the six volumes of this masterwork, the Masnavi, to Hussam.
In December 1273, Rumi fell ill and died on the 17th of December in Konya.
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī - also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī, Mevlânâ/Mawlānā (مولانا, "our master"), Mevlevî/Mawlawī (مولوی, "my master") and more popularly simply as Rumi - was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian and Sufi mystic who lived in Konya, a city of Ottoman Empire (Today's Turkey). His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages, and he has been described as the most popular poet and the best-selling poet in the United States.
His poetry has influenced Persian literature, but also Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, Azerbaijani, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu, as well as the literature of some other Turkic, Iranian, and Indo-Aryan languages including Chagatai, Pashto, and Bengali.
Due to quarrels between different dynasties in Khorāṣān, opposition to the Khwarizmid Shahs who were considered devious by his father, Bahā ud-Dīn Wālad or fear of the impending Mongol cataclysm, his father decided to migrate westwards, eventually settling in the Anatolian city Konya, where he lived most of his life, composed one of the crowning glories of Persian literature, and profoundly affected the culture of the area.
When his father died, Rumi, aged 25, inherited his position as the head of an Islamic school. One of Baha' ud-Din's students, Sayyed Burhan ud-Din Muhaqqiq Termazi, continued to train Rumi in the Shariah as well as the Tariqa, especially that of Rumi's father. For nine years, Rumi practised Sufism as a disciple of Burhan ud-Din until the latter died in 1240 or 1241. Rumi's public life then began: he became an Islamic Jurist, issuing fatwas and giving sermons in the mosques of Konya. He also served as a Molvi (Islamic teacher) and taught his adherents in the madrassa. During this period, Rumi also travelled to Damascus and is said to have spent four years there.
It was his meeting with the dervish Shams-e Tabrizi on 15 November 1244 that completely changed his life. From an accomplished teacher and jurist, Rumi was transformed into an ascetic.
On the night of 5 December 1248, as Rumi and Shams were talking, Shams was called to the back door. He went out, never to be seen again. Rumi's love for, and his bereavement at the death of, Shams found their expression in an outpouring of lyric poems, Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi. He himself went out searching for Shams and journeyed again to Damascus.
Rumi found another companion in Salaḥ ud-Din-e Zarkub, a goldsmith. After Salah ud-Din's death, Rumi's scribe and favourite student, Hussam-e Chalabi, assumed the role of Rumi's companion. Hussam implored Rumi to write more. Rumi spent the next 12 years of his life in Anatolia dictating the six volumes of this masterwork, the Masnavi, to Hussam.
In December 1273, Rumi fell ill and died on the 17th of December in Konya.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
June 25, 2023
800 year old timeless poems, highly relatable and profound in their simplicity. Great translation and pleasant to read two-four a day before going to sleep or meditate.
December 23, 2025
My Favorites of Rumi Day by Day…
3. Stay aware and purposeful in your search, for happiness is truly in searching.
4. Every contraction is naturally followed by an expansion; every time you feel your heart shrivel be confident that it will blossom in turn.
6. What the fool only perceives in the end the wise have observed from the beginning.
35. The language of love is not uttered in words.
44. Exuberant joy, like inconsolable sorrow, will pass sooner or later. Stay aloof from both as they will ultimately blow by.
45. When you succeed in controlling the words that you speak aloud, the words that you speak to yourself may then astonish you.
56. They say that it is experience that makes one person superior to another, but what about the child whose startling insight can reveal mysteries that an elder with a lifetime of experience could never have gleaned?
57. Midway means nothing to infinity.
58. When totally immersed in pursuits that you love, illness and pain won’t distract you.
71. To be showered with pearls from the sun and still grope for a lantern!
83. For the mystic to die is not to perish, it is to merge with eternity.
89. The world is a simple wine jug, and the heart, a flowing stream. This world is an enclosed room, and the heart, an open city of wonders!
94. Our words and actions are the perfect mirror to our inner selves.
98. Like a blind camel being led by its harness, everything moves toward that which pulls it; sometimes in the right direction, sometimes not. Focus on who’s pulling you, not the harness.
103. While you are basking in the joy of spring, remember the cold rusty autumn. The sun’s beautiful ascent in the morning is only followed by its setting at dusk.
106. This world and its inhabitants share the same attribute: fickleness
113. We live in a world illuminated by the sun and the moon; if you poke your head down a well, don’t complain that you’re in the dark!
125. The sweet pleasure of reaching one’s destination is amplified by the suffering one has endured during the journey.
126. If you need to seek counsel, choose someone who’s joyful and high-spirited so that he can evoke the same in you.
127. It’s futile to regret the past which is gone, irretrievable, its company fleeting as dust.
131. Don’t imagine that your eyes only see because of their mechanism; how could optics possibly account for the vivid images in your dreams?
153. Every single part in this world longs for its counterpart.
154. For the snake, venom is life, while for us, it is our end.
155. When everyday, you scrape a little soil from a mountain and don’t replace it, one day there’ll be no mountain left.
157. Patience is the hands and feet of foresight; together they provide a safe passage through life.
163. Cut it from the root when you feel a negative thought descending; learn to control your soul’s contraction and diligently water the sapling of your soul’s expansion.
164. Why are we never satisfied? In the summertime we pray for the coolness of winter, and when winter finally arrives, we long for the smothering heat that comes with summer.
165. Indecision is the prison where the soul is kept captive.
169. Let’s cleanse our minds of all our acquired knowledge, and when we’re back to knowing nothing, perhaps then we can aspire to be enlightened by the truth.
171. Why do you run scattershot begging for answers when you are the essence of all meaning?
221. Savor every moment of grace when you sit and listen at the feet of a true friend.
222. A child who has never tasted a fresh apple will not easily relinquish his rotten onion.
229. Leaves on trees may look the same, but their fruits are totally different. People in a market walk alongside each other, one may be anguished with a broken heart and the other soaring in private delight.
273. The only thing in life worth chasing is love, yet how can anyone catch love? One’s only chance is to surrender and become love’s prey.
283. Adverse thoughts are like fingernails flaked with poison that we use to scratch our innocent souls.
284. Only when I realize my limitations can I hope to rise above them and glimpse my endless possibilities.
292. Our bodies may be separate, but there’s a clear path between our hearts. Two lamps may not be attached at the base, but the light they project is as one.
294. Our own actions are the most loyal messengers; if noble, they will eternally proclaim our good name; if base, like slithering worms, they will forever pollute our grave.
295. Are you aware that you’re carrying a basketful of bread on your head and still begging at every door?
307. Talk is the extinguishing of the mind; when talk begins, the mind is spent. It is in silence that the soul is nourished. Spend less on talk and keep your mind sharp and clear.
325. Those golden yellow leaves on the apple tree may hold your gaze, but why not instead focus on the apples ripe for picking?
327. How can we confine love with mere words? Can we count the drops of water in the sea?
328. When you come by a mill wheel, can you see the water that turns it? When you see the dust whirling in the air, can you feel the wind that stirs it? Let’s search out the causes and not content ourselves with the surface effects.
330. If you’re in doubt choosing between two actions, remember this is an example of free will, and if you later regret your choice, it may nevertheless steer you in the right direction.
331. You spend half your life in worry and the other half in regret. Don’t squander your life with remorse; find a more positive occupation, and if you truly have nothing better to do, then what loss are you regretting?
336. Doubt forever thirsts for certainty.
339. To speak the same language is blessing, to be misunderstood is like being imprisoned. Yet a Turk and Hindu may understand one another far better than two Turks, who share the same language.
347. For an eternity I was but a speck floating in air, carefree. I may not remember that buoyant state as I pass from day to day, but in my sleep I still travel there and am free from the dregs of this world.
349. It is justice to use a scarce supply of water to nourish a young sapling but injustice to splash that water at the roots of a shriveled, dead scrub.
350. When I find myself faltering between two paths is that not a sign of free will? How often have you seen a vacillator, hands and feet firmly bound by his own indecision?
354. I am content to walk alone, but to walk in company with others adds vigor and passion to the journey.
355. The ant, spotting a grain of wheat, trembles with excitement. He carries it greedily fearful of losing it, oblivious to the massive blessing of the whole crop that lies before him.
356. My inner sight is what gives me substance, all else is just flesh and blood. I am only what my inner eye perceives.
358. The one who spots the line before spotting the bait is the ultimate winner in life.
361. Show me the one who has fallen in love with love for love’s sake only!
362. To share a path with a companion warms the heart and promises sanctuary, but, looking more closely, our companion is himself the path.
364. Love is reckless and carefree; small, trifling minds seek profit, but the true lovers lavish everything on love and never expect benefits in return.
365. Keeping company with intelligent friends is a hedge against misfortune. Intelligence is like a lamp, the more one cultivates enlightened people, the more one can bask in their warm, illuminating glow.
3. Stay aware and purposeful in your search, for happiness is truly in searching.
4. Every contraction is naturally followed by an expansion; every time you feel your heart shrivel be confident that it will blossom in turn.
6. What the fool only perceives in the end the wise have observed from the beginning.
35. The language of love is not uttered in words.
44. Exuberant joy, like inconsolable sorrow, will pass sooner or later. Stay aloof from both as they will ultimately blow by.
45. When you succeed in controlling the words that you speak aloud, the words that you speak to yourself may then astonish you.
56. They say that it is experience that makes one person superior to another, but what about the child whose startling insight can reveal mysteries that an elder with a lifetime of experience could never have gleaned?
57. Midway means nothing to infinity.
58. When totally immersed in pursuits that you love, illness and pain won’t distract you.
71. To be showered with pearls from the sun and still grope for a lantern!
83. For the mystic to die is not to perish, it is to merge with eternity.
89. The world is a simple wine jug, and the heart, a flowing stream. This world is an enclosed room, and the heart, an open city of wonders!
94. Our words and actions are the perfect mirror to our inner selves.
98. Like a blind camel being led by its harness, everything moves toward that which pulls it; sometimes in the right direction, sometimes not. Focus on who’s pulling you, not the harness.
103. While you are basking in the joy of spring, remember the cold rusty autumn. The sun’s beautiful ascent in the morning is only followed by its setting at dusk.
106. This world and its inhabitants share the same attribute: fickleness
113. We live in a world illuminated by the sun and the moon; if you poke your head down a well, don’t complain that you’re in the dark!
125. The sweet pleasure of reaching one’s destination is amplified by the suffering one has endured during the journey.
126. If you need to seek counsel, choose someone who’s joyful and high-spirited so that he can evoke the same in you.
127. It’s futile to regret the past which is gone, irretrievable, its company fleeting as dust.
131. Don’t imagine that your eyes only see because of their mechanism; how could optics possibly account for the vivid images in your dreams?
153. Every single part in this world longs for its counterpart.
154. For the snake, venom is life, while for us, it is our end.
155. When everyday, you scrape a little soil from a mountain and don’t replace it, one day there’ll be no mountain left.
157. Patience is the hands and feet of foresight; together they provide a safe passage through life.
163. Cut it from the root when you feel a negative thought descending; learn to control your soul’s contraction and diligently water the sapling of your soul’s expansion.
164. Why are we never satisfied? In the summertime we pray for the coolness of winter, and when winter finally arrives, we long for the smothering heat that comes with summer.
165. Indecision is the prison where the soul is kept captive.
169. Let’s cleanse our minds of all our acquired knowledge, and when we’re back to knowing nothing, perhaps then we can aspire to be enlightened by the truth.
171. Why do you run scattershot begging for answers when you are the essence of all meaning?
221. Savor every moment of grace when you sit and listen at the feet of a true friend.
222. A child who has never tasted a fresh apple will not easily relinquish his rotten onion.
229. Leaves on trees may look the same, but their fruits are totally different. People in a market walk alongside each other, one may be anguished with a broken heart and the other soaring in private delight.
273. The only thing in life worth chasing is love, yet how can anyone catch love? One’s only chance is to surrender and become love’s prey.
283. Adverse thoughts are like fingernails flaked with poison that we use to scratch our innocent souls.
284. Only when I realize my limitations can I hope to rise above them and glimpse my endless possibilities.
292. Our bodies may be separate, but there’s a clear path between our hearts. Two lamps may not be attached at the base, but the light they project is as one.
294. Our own actions are the most loyal messengers; if noble, they will eternally proclaim our good name; if base, like slithering worms, they will forever pollute our grave.
295. Are you aware that you’re carrying a basketful of bread on your head and still begging at every door?
307. Talk is the extinguishing of the mind; when talk begins, the mind is spent. It is in silence that the soul is nourished. Spend less on talk and keep your mind sharp and clear.
325. Those golden yellow leaves on the apple tree may hold your gaze, but why not instead focus on the apples ripe for picking?
327. How can we confine love with mere words? Can we count the drops of water in the sea?
328. When you come by a mill wheel, can you see the water that turns it? When you see the dust whirling in the air, can you feel the wind that stirs it? Let’s search out the causes and not content ourselves with the surface effects.
330. If you’re in doubt choosing between two actions, remember this is an example of free will, and if you later regret your choice, it may nevertheless steer you in the right direction.
331. You spend half your life in worry and the other half in regret. Don’t squander your life with remorse; find a more positive occupation, and if you truly have nothing better to do, then what loss are you regretting?
336. Doubt forever thirsts for certainty.
339. To speak the same language is blessing, to be misunderstood is like being imprisoned. Yet a Turk and Hindu may understand one another far better than two Turks, who share the same language.
347. For an eternity I was but a speck floating in air, carefree. I may not remember that buoyant state as I pass from day to day, but in my sleep I still travel there and am free from the dregs of this world.
349. It is justice to use a scarce supply of water to nourish a young sapling but injustice to splash that water at the roots of a shriveled, dead scrub.
350. When I find myself faltering between two paths is that not a sign of free will? How often have you seen a vacillator, hands and feet firmly bound by his own indecision?
354. I am content to walk alone, but to walk in company with others adds vigor and passion to the journey.
355. The ant, spotting a grain of wheat, trembles with excitement. He carries it greedily fearful of losing it, oblivious to the massive blessing of the whole crop that lies before him.
356. My inner sight is what gives me substance, all else is just flesh and blood. I am only what my inner eye perceives.
358. The one who spots the line before spotting the bait is the ultimate winner in life.
361. Show me the one who has fallen in love with love for love’s sake only!
362. To share a path with a companion warms the heart and promises sanctuary, but, looking more closely, our companion is himself the path.
364. Love is reckless and carefree; small, trifling minds seek profit, but the true lovers lavish everything on love and never expect benefits in return.
365. Keeping company with intelligent friends is a hedge against misfortune. Intelligence is like a lamp, the more one cultivates enlightened people, the more one can bask in their warm, illuminating glow.
December 18, 2014
I received this book as a first reads winner:
This is a great day by day. I have been reading one each morning to my co-workers to kick off the day and it is a nice start. I really appreciate how simple yet complex and insightful each days' statement will be and it helps to keep perspective on the day to day mishaps of life.
This is a great day by day. I have been reading one each morning to my co-workers to kick off the day and it is a nice start. I really appreciate how simple yet complex and insightful each days' statement will be and it helps to keep perspective on the day to day mishaps of life.
June 8, 2025
Rumi, Day by Day by Maryam Mafi is an anthology containing poems on topics including friendship, love, spirituality, and life in general. Each poem is very short, none of them more than ten lines long. Each poem is also numbered, with there being 365 total poems in the collection, typically two to a page. The poems are on a variety of topics and ideas, yet they all have an identifiable style.
I liked this poetry anthology. I’ve recently been getting into poetry more, and I’m glad to add this book to my collection. I enjoyed most of the poems, with a select few standing out as my favorites. The only poems I actually disliked in this book were those about God and religion / spirituality. There was a fair amount of poems about those topics, and I just personally couldn’t relate to them. Overall, I enjoyed this poetry collection, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes poetry!
I liked this poetry anthology. I’ve recently been getting into poetry more, and I’m glad to add this book to my collection. I enjoyed most of the poems, with a select few standing out as my favorites. The only poems I actually disliked in this book were those about God and religion / spirituality. There was a fair amount of poems about those topics, and I just personally couldn’t relate to them. Overall, I enjoyed this poetry collection, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes poetry!
October 10, 2017
Picked it up and couldn't put it down. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of Rumi's work I was already acquainted with, having come across numerous variations of his poetry in passing. The translations are so simple and succinct yet they hold so much weight, poignancy and depth, though not as to deduce its root meaning—it's up to the reader to fill in the blanks and appropriate their own meaning by drawing from their own internal thoughts and personal experiences. I think I may have consumed enough poetry to tide me over for the next little while, though I reckon I'll be picking it up many times over to take a deeper dive.
December 24, 2020
Rumi, Day by Day by Maryam Mafi is an anthology containing poems on topics including friendship, love, spirituality, and life in general. Each poem is very short, none of them more than ten lines long. Each poem is also numbered, with there being 365 total poems in the collection, typically two to a page. The poems are on a variety of topics and ideas, yet they all have an identifiable style.
I liked this poetry anthology. I’ve recently been getting into poetry more, and I’m glad to add this book to my collection. I enjoyed most of the poems, with a select few standing out as my favorites. The only poems I actually disliked in this book were those about God and religion / spirituality. There was a fair amount of poems about those topics, and I just personally couldn’t relate to them. Overall, I enjoyed this poetry collection, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes poetry!
I liked this poetry anthology. I’ve recently been getting into poetry more, and I’m glad to add this book to my collection. I enjoyed most of the poems, with a select few standing out as my favorites. The only poems I actually disliked in this book were those about God and religion / spirituality. There was a fair amount of poems about those topics, and I just personally couldn’t relate to them. Overall, I enjoyed this poetry collection, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes poetry!
August 8, 2020
Timeless wisdom and encouragement.
May 12, 2021
What a beautiful birthday present from my friend, Ahmad Shafy
June 16, 2021
“Where else but where my beloved is could I think of as home?”
September 19, 2021
I used the daily entries from this book for journal prompting. Overall, it was a good book for that.
January 1, 2022
Any writing done by Rumi is a piece of art; it is always both insightful and deep, & so impactful, in just a few words.
February 26, 2024
0 star. I regret every amount of money I spent on this book. I could publish this book since it’s just copy and paste Rumi’s poems from google.
August 30, 2024
“Open your eyes to his soul before you decide
to sit with him as a friend.”
to sit with him as a friend.”
November 29, 2025
rumi goat fav poet
November 25, 2021
I received this book of mystic meditations from a dear friend for my birthday; she was continuing a tradition that her friend had started for her birthday some years ago. I think I will continue the tradition and hope to gift this to someone in the future. If you like poetry, or anything loosely related, as well as mindfulness, introspection, meditation, etc., then you will enjoy this little volume. It's a book you can take anywhere with you and open to any random page to absorb the teachings/musings. I am embarrassed to admit that I hadn't even heard of Rumi before this, based on his global impact and sheer quantity of writings, but now that I do I am going to look into it a little more- so interesting!!
November 29, 2014
I got this from goodreads as a giveaway. I have to say, this was very different from what i usually pick up. So the way I looked at this was different too. On different days, I would randomly open up the book to a page and read a verse or two just to see if it reflected on something going on in my life. I am not very good at meditation, so for me, this was a way for me to be able to make this book relevant. I am not sure how successful I was at finding use for this, but I'm grateful for the time or two I did find a way.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews