Hafez's Quotes

#1. The dead cannot speak. But hitherto unknown information has emerged from the confidential archives of the Syrian presidency and foreign ministry, published in a new book by Bouthaina Shaaban, who spent ten years as Hafez's interpreter and is still an adviser to his son Bashar.

Robert Fisk

#2. I know you have a hundred complex cases against God in court, but never mind, let's just get out of this mess.

Hafez

#3. Everyone, whether he is self-denying or self-indulgent, is seeking after the Beloved. Every place may be the shrine of love, whether it be mosque or synagogue.

Hafez

#4. There are different wells within your heart. Some fill with each good rain, Others are far too deep for that.

Hafez

#5. We are People who need to love, because Love is the soul's life, Love is simply creation's greatest joy.

Hafez

#6. I caught the happy virus last night
When I was out singing beneath the stars.
It is remarkably contagious -
So kiss me.

Hafez

#7. You yourself are your own obstacle, rise above yourself.

Hafez

#8. The beauty of You delights me. The sight of You amazes me. For the Pearl does this ... and the Ocean does that.

Hafez

#9. Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.

Hafez

#10. On the holy boughs of the Celestial Tree High up in the heavenly fields, Beyond terrestrial desire My soul-bird a warm nest has built.

Hafez

#11. Your heart and my heart are very, very old friends.

Hafez

#12. Laugh because that is the purest sound.

Hafez

#13. All your wounds from craving love
Exist because of heroic deeds.

Hafez

#14. It is written on the gate of heaven: Nothing in existence is more powerful than destiny. And destiny brought you here, to this page, which is part of your ticket-as all things are-to return to God.

Hafez

#15. Dear Ones, Beware of the tiny gods frightened men Create To bring anesthetic relief to their sad days

Hafez

#16. Not loving is a letting go.
Listen,
The terrain around here
Is
Far too
Dangerous
For
That.

Hafez

#17. Stay close to anything that makes you glad you are alive.

Hafez

#18. In time of trouble avert not thy face from hope, for the soft marrow abideth in the hard bone.

Hafez

#19. You see, Yousef, you can't force someone in their hearts to believe the way you do. They all tried and failed. They judged by their own convictions
not even by the truth of the teachings of Isa. No one is above God's judgment. No one has the right to judge for him.

Pola Muzyka

#20. The tide of my love
Has risen so high let me flood
over
You.

Hafez

#21. Greatness is always built on this foundation: the ability to appear, speak and act, as the most common man.

Hafez

#22. I am happy even before I have a reason.

Hafez

#23. Oh Cup-bearer, set my glass afire with the light of wine!

Hafez

#24. We have come into this exquisite world to experience ever and ever more deeply our divine courage, freedom and light!

Hafez

#25. When no one is looking,
I swallow deserts and clouds
and chew on mountains
knowing they are sweet bones!
When no one is looking
and I want to kiss God,
I just lift my own hand to my mouth.

Hafez

#26. Be content with what thou hast received, and smooth thy frowning forehead, for the door of choice is not open either to thee or me.

Hafez

#27. Come in, my dearFrom that harsh worldThat has rained elements of stoneUpon your tender face.Every soulShould receive a toast from usFor bravery!

Hafez

#28. Music is monophonic in the Eastern world, especially if we're talking about Indian music, Persian music. What we have in classical and Western world is harmony. So I think it's a great idea to be able to bring the best of two together and create something new.

Hafez Nazeri

#29. Strike the enemy's settlements, turn them into dust, pave the Arab roads with the skulls of Jews.

Hafez Al-Assad

#30. I am a hole in a flute that the Christ's breath moves through. Listen to this music.

Hafez

#31. Now is the time to understand That all your ideas of right and wrong Were just a child's training wheelsTo be laid aside When you finally live With veracity And love.

Hafez

#32. Run my dear,
From anything
That may not strengthen
Your precious budding wings.

Hafez

#33. All these words are just a front. What I would really like to do is chain you to my body, then sing for days & days & days.

Hafez

#34. Grieve not; though the journey of life be bitter, and the end unseen, there is no road which does not lead to an end.

Hafez

#35. Time is a factory where everyone slaves away earning enough love to break their own chains.

Hafez

#36. How Do I Listen to others? As if everyone were my Master Speaking to me His Cherished Last Words.

Hafez

#37. People say that the soul, on hearing the song of creation, entered the body, but in reality the soul itself was the song.

Hafez

#38. My father was an innovator. He's the first person who sang and set Rumi's poetry into music 35 years, 40 years ago.

Hafez Nazeri

#39. I do not feel like writing verses; but as I light my perfume burner with myrrh and jasmine incense, they suddenly burgeon from my heart, like flowers in a garden.

Hafez

#40. Your love
Should never be offered to the mouth of a
Stranger,
Only to someone
Who has the valor and daring
To cut pieces of their soul off with a knife
Then weave them into a blanket
To protect you.

Hafez

#41. When all your desires are distilled; You will cast just two votes: To love more, And be happy.

Hafez

#42. You ache with loneliness one night so much you weep and I say 'here is a rope tie it around me Hafiz will be your companion for life'.

Hafez

#43. Pulling out the chair beneath your mind And watching you fall upon God What else is there for Hafiz to do that is any fun in this world!

Hafez

#44. I grew up in a family that my father was a very, very, a person with so many ideas, so many new visions and dreams. For me to grow up in that family, that also helped me to have a vision to create and open boundaries and things. So I think it's like, it just comes from the family.

Hafez Nazeri

#45. Grieve not because thou understand-not life's mystery; behind the veil is concealed many a delight.

Hafez

#46. Learn to recognize the counterfeit coins that may buy you just a moment of pleasure,
But then drag you for days like a broken man behind a farting camel.

Hafez

#47. A poet is someone Who can pour Light into a spoon, Then raise it To nourish Your beautiful parched, holy mouth.

Hafez

#48. Start seeing everything as God, But keep it a secret

Hafez

#49. Listen; this world is the lunatic's sphere ,
Don't always agree it's real,
Even with my feet upon it And the postman knowing my door
My address is somewhere else.

Hafez

#50. Carry your heart through this world like a life-giving sun

Hafez

#51. There is an ocean of endless opportunities, and there are so many things that one can do. I'm so fortunate that I've grown up with this sort of a philosophy and mentality.

Hafez Nazeri

#52. Be kind to your sleeping heart. Take it out into the vast fields of light ... And let it breathe.

Hafez

#53. God and I have built an immense fire together. We keep each other happy and warm.

Hafez

#54. We don't need sugar, flour or rice or anything else. We just want to see our dear ones.

Hafez

#55. 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.

Hafez

#56. How seek the way which leadeth to our wishes? By renouncing our wishes. The crown of excellence is renunciation.

Hafez

#57. I should not make any promises right now,
But I know if you
Pray
Somewhere in this world -
Something good will happen.

Hafez

#58. Thou learnest no secret until thou knowest friendship, since to the unsound no heavenly knowledge enters.

Hafez

#59. Think of suffering as being washed.

Hafez

#60. We are like lutes once held by God. Being away from his warm body fully explains this constant yearning.

Hafez Ibrahim

#61. Now is the time to know that all that you do is sacred.

Hafez

#62. There is no pleasure without a tincture of bitterness.

Hafez

#63. Don't be surprised at Fortune's turns and twists: That wheel has spun a thousand yarns before.

Hafez

#64. The earth has disappeared beneath my feet, It fled from all my ecstasy. Now like a singing air creature I feel the rose keep opening.

Hafez

#65. The Truth has shared so much of Itself with me That I can no longer call myself A man, a woman, an angel, Or even pure Soul.

Hafez

#66. Come, for the House of Hope is built on sand: bring wine, for the fabric of life is as weak as the wind.

Hafez

#67. God disguised as myriad things, and playing a game of tag has kissed you and said, "You're it. I mean you're really it. Now it does not matter what you believe or feel. For something wonderful, something major-league wonderful, is someday going to happen."

Hafez

#68. For I have learned that every heart will get
What it prays for
Most.

Hafez

#69. Let tenderness pour from your eyes, the way sun gazes warmly on earth.

Hafez

#70. How
Did the rose
Ever open its heart
And give to this world
All its
Beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light
Against its Being.
Otherwise,
We all remain
Too
Frightened

Hafez

#71. He was so slim, his heart was visible

Hafez

#72. If, like the prophet Noah, you have patience in the distress of the flood, Calamity turns aside, and the desire of a thousand years comes forth.

Hafez

#73. I'm Iranian and no matter what I do, I'm dealing with politics because especially my music, that it's a music that talks about peace, love, unity.

Hafez Nazeri

#74. Since I've grown up I really wanted to be able to create something different. In Persian music, opposite, again, to classical music, that the instrument developed and evolved over, like, hundreds of years, our instrument all remained the same.

Hafez Nazeri

#75. Let's get loose with Compassion. Let's drown in the delicious ambience of Love.

Hafez

#76. Poetry reveals that there is no empty space.

Hafez

#77. Your separation from God is the hardest work you will ever do.

Hafez

#78. I have learned so much from God that I can no longer call myself a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew.

Hafez

#79. I am in love with every church
And mosque
And temple
And any kind of shrine
Because I know it is there
That people say the different names
Of the One God.

Hafez

#80. What we speak becomes the house we live in.

Hafez

#81. We have not come here to take prisoners But to surrender ever more deeply To freedom and joy.

Hafez

#82. You have actually waltzed with tremendous style, my sweet, O my sweet, crushed angel.

Hafez

#83. The sun will stand as your best man
And whistle
When you have found the courage
To marry forgiveness
When you have found the courage
to marry
Love.

Hafez

#84. When you educate a woman, you create a nation.

Hafez Ibrahim

#85. There is
A madman inside of you
Who is always running for office

Hafez

#86. Your life within God's arms, Your dance within God's arms, Is already Perfect!

Hafez

#87. The small man builds cages for everyone he knows While the sage, who has to duck his head when the moon is low, Keeps dropping keys all night long For the beautiful rowdy prisoners.

Hafez

#88. Light will someday split you open

Hafez

#89. There is an ambush everywhere from the army of accidents; therefore the rider of life runs with loosened reins.

Hafez

#90. Even after all this time, the sun never says to the earth, 'You owe me.' Look what happens with a love like that. It lights the whole sky.

Hafez

#91. I know the way you can get / When you have not had a drink of Love: / Your face hardens, / Your sweet muscles cramp. / Children become concerned / About a strange look that appears in your eyes / Which even begins to worry your own mirror / And nose.

Hafez

#92. The world is like an eye, a beard, a spot of beauty and eyebrow, Where each thing is neatly in place.

Hafez

#93. One regret dear world, that I am determined not to have when I am lying on my deathbed is that I did not kiss you enough.

Hafez

#94. The great religions are the ships, Poets the life boats. Every sane person I know has jumped overboard.

Hafez

#95. Oh, you who are trying to learn the marvel of Love through the copy book of reason, I'm very much afraid that you will never really see the point.

Hafez

#96. Join me in the pure atmosphere of gratitude for life.

Hafez

#97. If at last thou attain the desire of thy life,
Cast the world aside, yea, abandon it!

Hafez

#98. It is not easy to stop thinking ill of others.Usually one must enter into a friendship with a person who has accomplished that great feat himself.Then something might start to rub off on you of that true elegance.

Hafez

#99. I rarely let the word NO escape from my mouth, because it is so plain to my soul that God has shouted, Yes! Yes! Yes! To every luminous movement in existence.

Hafez

#100. What do sad people have in common? It seems they have all built a shrine to the past and often go there and do a strange wail and worship. What is the beginning of Happiness? It is to stop being so religious like that.

Hafez