Hafez Quotes

If you knew the end of your story, nothing on any page — not one of your dramas, could bother you as much.

At daybreak on the fortieth day, the archangel Gabriel appeared before Hafiz and told him to ask for whatever he wished. Hafiz had never seen such a glorious, radiant being as Gabriel. He found himself thinking, “If God’s messenger is so beautiful, how much more beautiful must God be!” Gazing on the unimaginable splendor of God’s angel, Hafiz forgot all about the girl, his wish, everything. He said, “I want God!

Speak Hafez! On the world's page trace
Your poems' narrative;
The words your pen writes will have life
When you no longer live.

Look what happens with a love like that. It lights the whole sky.

That is why all the Great Ones speak of
The vital need
To keep Remembering God,
So you will come to know and see Him
As being so Playful
And Wanting,
Just Wanting to help.

فراغتی و کتابی و گوشه‌ی چمنی

The Only Sin I Know If someone sits with me
And we talk about the Beloved, If I cannot give his heart comfort,
If I cannot make him feel better
About himself and this world,
Then, Hafiz,
Quickly run to the mosque and pray — For you have just committed
The only sin I know.

May these poems help reveal the Truth Of God’s Divine Playfulness and Light And His Sublime Intimacy with us.

What does life give me in the end but sorrow?
What do love's good and evil send but sorrow?
I've only seen one true companion - pain
And I have known no faithful friend but sorrow

Every Movement 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.

In essence, all mysticism deals with processes of love and the ways in which one joins God through love. For Hafiz, the focus of love is often a Master of Love,

مژده‌ی وصل تو کز سر جان برخیزم؟

Wayfarer Wayfarer,
Your whole mind and body have been tied
To the foot of the Divine Elephant
With a thousand golden chains. Now, begin to rain intelligence and compassion
Upon all your tender, wounded cells
And realize the profound absurdity
Of thinking
That you can ever go Anywhere
Or do Anything
Without God’s will.

Incluso
Después
De todo este tiempo
El Sol nunca le dice
A la Tierra,
“Me lo debes”.

Mira
Lo que pasa
Con un amor como ese,
Iumina
Todo
El cielo.

'Tis writ on Paradise's gate,
"Woe to the dupe that yields to Fate!"