“A man whose eyes love opens risks his soul -His dancing breaks beyond the mind's control.”

“When they had understood the hoopoe's words,A clamour of complaint rose from the birds:'Although we recognize you as our guide,You must accept - it cannot be denied -We are a wretched, flimsy crew at best,And lack the bare essentials for this quest.Our feathers and our wings, our bodies' strengthAre quite unequal to the journey's length;For one of us to reach the Simorgh's throneWould be miraculous, a thing unknown.[...] He seems like Solomon, and we like ants;How can mere ants climb from their darkened pitUp to the Simorgh's realm? And is it fitThat beggars try the glory of a king?How ever could they manage such a thing?'The hoopoe answered them: 'How can love thrivein hearts impoverished and half alive?"Beggars," you say - such niggling povertyWill not encourage truth or charity.A man whose eyes love opens risks his soul -His dancing breaks beyond the mind's control.[...] Your heart is not a mirror bright and clearIf there the Simorgh's form does not appear;No one can bear His beauty face to face,And for this reason, of His perfect grace,He makes a mirror in our hearts - look thereTo see Him, search your hearts with anxious care.”

“Mystery keeps man alive; it opens his ears, his eyes, and his mind! Find a mystery and try to solve it!”

“The real duty of man is not to extend his power or multiply his wealth beyond his needs, but to enrich and enjoy his imperishable possession: his soul.”

“Alan Campbell opened one eye.From somewhere in remote distances, muffled beyond sight or sound, his soul crawled back painfully, through subterranean corridors, up into his body again. Toward the last it moved to a cacophony of hammers and lights. Then he was awake.The first eye was bad enough. But, when he opened his second eye, such as rush of anguish flowed through his brain that he hastily closed them again.”

“…and suddenly I love you beyond all measure is not just words but a heart, a soul bursting open, a stripping raw of all pretense. It is Sully, it is Gabriel, it is his tears on my face, his body in mine, our minds seamless. It is hopes and dreams and failures. It is apologies and a prayer for redemption. It is heaven and damnation. All that I am is yours pales beside it.It is everything. It is love.”