Insights and Inspiration: Memorable Quotes from Elif Shafak’s “The Forty Rules of Love”

Delve into the profound wisdom and captivating prose of Elif Shafak’s “The Forty Rules of Love” with these favorite book quotes. Discover timeless insights and thought-provoking reflections that will stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page.

We’ve hit the summer season, so I have to spend most of my time indoors with my little girl. It gives me enough time to clean my bookshelf. It is one of the most enriching things to do. I love books. Except for books that have a heavy dose of SCIENCE (Physics, Chemistry & Mathematics ). For some strange reason, flipping pages of the books I have already read takes me to a different world. It is one of the most pleasant experiences.

I picked up a book to re-read this week. It is “Forty Rules of Love” by Elif Shafak. She narrates two parallel stories – one contemporary and the other set in the thirteenth century. Ella Rubenstein is a forty-year-old lady who is not happy with her marriage and mundane life. She takes a job as a reader for a literary agent. Her first assignment is to report on Sweet Blasphemy, written by a man named Aziz Zahara. Sweet blasphemy unfolds the forty rules of love that Rumi learned from his spiritual mentor, Shams of Tabriz. Ella is mesmerized by Shams of Tabriz’s search for Rumi which transforms him to a passionate poet and advocate of love.

20 quotes from “Forty Rules Of Love” that are powerful enough to make you look at life from a different prism. Here are 20 Rules of Love, I learned from the book.

1. “Whatever happens in your life, no matter how troubling things might seem, do not enter the neighborhood of despair.”

2. “Every true love and friendship is a story of unexpected transformation. If we are the same person before and after we loved, that means we haven’t loved enough.”

3. “Where there is love, there is bound to be heartache.”

4. “The words that come out of our mouths do not vanish but are perpetually stored in infinite space, and they will come back to us in due time.”

5. “Do not go with the flow. Be the flow.”

6. “Try not to resist the changes that come your way. Instead let life live through you. And do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come”

7. “Fret not where the road will take you. Instead concentrate on the first step. That’s the hardest part and that’s what you are responsible for.”

8. “No matter what your destination, just be sure to make every journey a journey within.”

9. “His honesty offended others, but he liked to provoke people to see what came out of them in moments of anger.”

10. “Let us choose one another as companions!
Let us sit at each other’s feet!
Inwardly we have many harmonies – think not
That we are only what we see.”

11. “Be thankful for every thorn that others might throw at you. It is a sign that you will soon be showered in roses”

12. “Loneliness and solitude are two different things. When you are lonely, it is easy to delude yourself into believing that you are on the right path. Solitude is better for us, as it means being alone without feeling lonely.”

13. “The quest for Love changes us. There is no seeker among those who search for Love who has not matured on the way. The moment you start looking for Love, you start to change within and without.”

14. “Quit worrying about hell or dreaming about heaven, as they are both present inside this very moment. Every time we fall in love, we ascend to heaven. Every time we hate, envy, or fight someone, we tumble straight into the fires of hell.”

15. “The quest for Love changes us. There is no seeker among those who search for Love who has not matured on the way. The moment you start looking for Love, you start to change within and without.”

16. “Just as clay needs to go through intense heat to become strong, Love can only be perfected in pain.”

17. “Your destiny is the level where you will play your tune. You might not change your instrument but how well you play is entirely in your hands.”

18. “The way to a man’s heart can sometimes take a woman far away from herself, my dear.”

19. “Neither a drop of kindness nor a speck of evil will remain unreciprocated.”

20. “If you want to strengthen your faith, you will need to soften inside. For your faith to be rock solid, your heart needs to be as soft as a feather.”

Hope you enjoyed these quotes as much as I loved the book. I would highly recommend this book for summer.

You can connect to your soul and might get the answers to your questions.

You can also read –

Love Confession: 15 Motivational quotes from books that I love 

Be Flawsome!

Lots of love!

xoxo