• Call to mind the sweetness of union, and the bitterness of striving will seem light.
• You already know where the lodging lies; urge the mount and the journey will begin.
• The highest of aspirations belongs to the one who prepares himself for meeting the Beloved, sending his earliest deeds ahead of that encounter, so that he arrives greeted by divine pleasure: “And send ahead for yourselves” (Q 2:223).
• Paradise is satisfied when you fulfil the obligations; Hell is driven back when you abandon sin; but love will accept nothing less than the sacrifice of the very soul.
• By Allah, how sweet is the moment (1) when the feet of obedience race across the plain of longing.
• When people delivered their souls to the trainer of the Sacred Law, he schooled them to harmony in spite of their natures; they straightened themselves to obedience, and wherever it turned, they turned with it.
When the necks of their mounts clash in the press,
And a hasty driver spurs the caravan on,
I cross my two hands upon my breast,
Observe how well-wrapped I am, and lean. (2)

Section
• You trained your dog so that, out of respect for your favor and fear of your power, it leaves untouched the game it has caught—yet how often has the teacher of the Sacred Law trained you, and you still refuse.
• The game taken by the ignorant hunter, or by the one who keeps it for himself, is forbidden; what, then, of the ignoramus whose every deed is driven by his own whim?
• Within you are combined the intellect of an angel, the appetite of a beast, and the caprice of Satan; and you