Great Throughts Treasury

" Will night already spread her wings and weave her dusky robe about the day’s bright form, Boldly the sun’s fair countenance displacing, And swathe it with her shadow in broad day? So a green wreath of mist enrings the moon Till envious clouds do quite encompass her. No wind! and yet the slender stem is stirred, With faint slight motion as from inward tremor. Mine eyes are full of grief—who sees me asks, “Oh wherefore dost thou cling unto the ground?” My friends discourse with sweet and soothing words; They all are vain, they glide above my head. I fain would check my tears; would fain enlarge Unto infinity, my heart—in vain! Grief presses hard my breast, therefore my tears Have scarcely dried ere they again spring forth. For these are streams no furnace heat may quench, Nebuchadnezzar’s flames may dry them not. What is the pleasure of the day for me, If, in its crucible, I must renew incessantly the pangs of purifying? Up, challenge, wrestle and o’ercome! Be strong! The late grapes cover all the vine with fruit. I am not glad, though even the lion’s pride Content itself upon the field’s poor grass. My spirit sinks beneath the tide, soars not With fluttering seamews on the moist, soft strand. I follow Fortune not, where’er she lead. Lord o’er myself, I banish her, compel And though her clouds should rain no blessed dew, Though she withhold the crown, the heart’s desire, Though all deceive, though honey change to gall, Still am I lord and will in freedom strive."

"I before Thy greatness Stand, and am afraid:— All my secret thoughts Thine eye beholdeth Deep within my bosom laid."

"All men have one entrance into life, and the like going out"

"And when I was born, I drew in the common air, and fell upon the earth, which is of like nature; and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as all others do."

"As long as a word remains unspoken, you are its master; once you utter it, you are its slave."

"Faith is the summit of the Torah."

"For a double grief came upon them, and a groaning for the remembrance of things past"

"I am better able to retract what I did not say than what I did."

"If you raise yourself up to the Primary Universal Matter and take shelter in its shadow, you will see wonders more sublime than all. Desire, therefore, for this and seek, for this is the purpose for which the human soul was formed and this is the most tremendous pleasure and the greatest of all forms of happiness."

"As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters"

"But if you should lift yourself to the first universal matter and [are] illumined by its shadow, you will then see the most wondrous of wonders. Devote yourself to this and be filled with love for it, since here lies the meaning for which the human soul exists, and here lies too amazing delight and utmost happiness."

"If you want to keep something concealed from your enemy, don't disclose it to your friend."

"In seeking Wisdom, the first stage is silence, the second listening, the third remembrance, the fourth practicing, the fifth teaching."

"In the whole of existence, there are three divisions of knowledge: (1) the knowledge of matter (al-‘unsur) and form (as-sûra), (2) the knowledge of Will (al-irâda), and (3) the knowledge of the First Essence. Among substances, there is nothing other than these three. First Essence is cause; matter and form, effect; and Will is the intermediary between the two extremes."

"Jealousy is cruel as the grave the coals thereof are coals of fire."

"Kings may be judges of the earth, but wise men are the judges of kings."

"Knowledge indeed leads to deeds, and deeds separate the soul from the contraries which harm it…In every way, knowledge and deeds liberate the soul from the captivity of nature and purge it of its darkness and obscurity, and in this way the soul returns to its higher world."

"Many men hoard for the future husbands of their wives"

"Master: The purpose for which all that exists is the knowledge of the world of the divine. . . Student: And what is the fruit that we will achieve with this study? Master: Release from death and adherence to the fountain and source of life."

"Matter has no reality apart from its form, for the real derives from form, and therefore matter moves toward the reception of form, in other words, to be released from the sorrow of absence to the pleasure of existence."

"One can compare creation to a word, which man utters with his mouth. In man’s expression of the word, its form and meaning are registered upon the hearing of the listener and in his mind. Along the same lines it is said that the exalted and holy creator expresses his word, and its meaning is registered in the substantiality of matter, and matter preserves that meaning, in other words, that created form is imprinted in matter and registered upon it."

"One is punished by the very things by which he sins"

"Plan for this world as if you expect to live forever but plan for the hereafter as if you expect to die tomorrow."

"Shelter me in your shadow, be with my mouth and its word."

"Student: What is the proof that the motion of matter and the other substances is desire and love? Master: Because it is apparent that desire and love are nothing but an effort to join the beloved and be united with it, and matter makes an effort to join form; it follows that its movement comes from love and desire for form."

"The beginning of wisdom is to desire it."

"The creation of all things by the Creator, that is, the emanation of form from the ?rst source, which is to say, the will, and its over?owing across matter resembles the upwelling of water ?owing from a fountain and descending . . . except that this ?ow is unceasing and entirely outside of motion and time . . . And the imprinting of form in matter, when it reaches it from the will, is like the return of the form of one who is gazing into a mirror."

"The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others."

"The light that cometh from her (wisdom) never goeth out"

"The test of good manners is to be patient with the bad ones."

"There are four types of men in this world: (1) The man who knows, and knows that he knows; he is wise, so consult him. (2) The man who knows, but doesn't know that he knows; help him not forget what he knows. (3) The man who knows not, and knows that he knows not; teach him. (4) Finally, there is the man who knows not but pretends that he knows; he is a fool, so avoid him."

"There are three types of friends: those like food without which you can't live those like medicine which you need occasionally and those like an illness which you never want."

"Thou hast created me not from necessity but from grace."

"What is the test of good manners? Being able to bear patiently with bad ones."

"You are wise, and your wisdom gave rise to an endless desire in the world as within an artist or worker—to bring out the stream of existence from Nothing…He called to Nothing—which split; to existence—pitched like a tent…With desire's span he established the heavens."

"Your secret is your prisoner once you reveal it, you become its slave."

"Admit thy guilt and seek forgiveness, for the denial of guilt is two iniquities."