Bahá’í Quotes

Love of Self - Negative

Suffer not the habitation wherein dwelleth My undying love for thee to be destroyed through the tyranny of covetous desires, and overcloud not the beauty of the heavenly Youth with the dust of self and passion.

- Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 323

We fain would hope that through thine exertions the wings of men may be sanctified from the mire of self and desire, and be made worthy to soar in the atmosphere of God's love. Wings that are besmirched with mire can never soar.

- Bahá’u’lláh, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 130-131

But if he show the slightest taint of selfish desires and self love, his efforts will lead to nothing and he will be destroyed and left hopeless at the last.

- ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 71

Thus may your hearts be set aglow with the fire of the love of God and [may it] burn away the self-life.

- ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá v3, p. 509-510

Verily I supplicate God to confirm thee in that which He desireth, to protect thee from conceit and self-exaltation and from selfish concerns, to make thee devoted unto Him and resigned unto Him and to be the means of promoting the divine love amongst the dearly beloved of God.

- ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá v1, p. 135

Quote of the Day

Fidal 10 Mashiyyat 183 B.E.

The lives of the Founders of our Faith clearly show that to be fundamentally assured does not mean that we live without anxieties, nor does being happy mean that there are not periods of deep grief when, like the Guardian, we wrap ourselves in a blanket, pray and supplicate, and give ourselves time for healing in preparation for the next great effort.

Shoghi Effendi – Quickeners of Mankind, p. 117