Coleman Barks
American poet and translator best known for his interpretations of the thirteenth-century Persian mystic Rumi. A native of Tennessee and longtime professor at the University of Georgia, Barks does not read Persian — his "translations" are reinterpretations of earlier scholarly versions, rendered in the rhythms of contemporary American free verse. Through his books — The Essential Rumi, Rumi: The Big Red Book, The Soul of Rumi — Barks made Rumi the bestselling poet in America and introduced Sufi mystical poetry to millions of English readers.
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quotes in library
Quotes by Coleman Barks
69 quotes“Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open?”
freedomThe Essential Rumi (Barks)
“Welcome and entertain them all. Even if they're a crowd of sorrows.”
welcomeThe Essential Rumi (Barks)
“Treat each guest honorably. The dark thought, the shame, the malice.”
acceptanceThe Essential Rumi (Barks)
“Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.”
gratitudeThe Essential Rumi (Barks)
“Let the beauty we love be what we do.”
beautyThe Essential Rumi (Barks)
“There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground. There are a thousand ways to go home again.”
homeThe Essential Rumi (Barks)
“What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is your candle.”
hurtThe Soul of Rumi
“Your boundaries are your quest.”
boundariesThe Essential Rumi (Barks)
“I, you, he, she, we — in the garden of mystic lovers, these are not true distinctions.”
unityThe Essential Rumi (Barks)
“Soul receives from soul that knowledge, therefore not by book nor from tongue.”
transmissionThe Essential Rumi (Barks)
“Listen to silence. It has so much to say.”
silenceRumi: Bridge to the Soul
“Drink the wine of presence.”
presenceThe Soul of Rumi
“Through love all pain becomes medicine.”
loveThe Essential Rumi (Barks)
“You are the One in all. Say who I am. Say I am You.”
identityThe Soul of Rumi
“The way you make love is the way God will be with you.”
loveThe Essential Rumi (Barks)
“This is love: to fly toward a secret sky, to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment.”
loveThe Soul of Rumi
“First to let go of life. Finally, to take a step without feet.”
surrenderThe Essential Rumi (Barks)
“There is a way of breathing that's a shame and a suffocation. And there's another way of expiring, a love-breath.”
breathThe Soul of Rumi
“Keep silence and let the silence speak.”
silenceRumi: Bridge to the Soul
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