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Who really said it

Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder

Not Rumi — an unsourced modern aphorism Rumi (attribution unsupported) Line has no documented author; falsely credited to Rumi, 1207–1273
Disputed Rights unconfirmed

This gentle-rain aphorism is pinned on Rumi across posters, Pinterest and quote sites, but when journalists asked Rumi scholars Fatemah Keshavarz and Franklin Lewis ↗, neither could confirm it: Keshavarz did not recognize the line, and Lewis found it thematically consistent with Rumi’s tone yet could not say it was his without intensive research. It appears in none of his major works (the Masnavi, the Divan-i Shams, or popular anthologies), and no Persian source or translation has ever been cited; the traceable trail is entirely modern inspirational media.

Last verified 16 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

For presentations

Put it on a slide

Disputed — copy with the correction

“Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder” Misattributed to Rumi — no documented source; Rumi scholars do not recognize the line and it appears in none of his works.

Can you use it?

We couldn’t verify where this wording comes from, so there’s no rights status to give. Safe to present as an unverified or anonymous line — just don’t assert a specific author or source.

Image direction — grounded in this quote’s real context; paste into your image tool

In context

Evoking the world of Rumi (Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi) — Persian poet, Islamic scholar & Sufi mystic. Theme: "Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

The source

Claimed author
Rumi (Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi), 1207–1273
Claimed work
None — no Persian source or translation ever cited
Actually documented in
21st-century inspirational posts, posters & quote aggregators
Scholarly verdict
Not recognized by Rumi specialists; found in no collection

Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.

Also circulates as “Raise your words, not your voice. It’s rain that grows flowers, not thunder” — the wording drifts between versions, a hallmark of an unsourced quote.

Jezebel / Middle East Forum: is this a fake Rumi quote?

How we verified this

Because the line cannot be tied to any Rumi work or any identified author, its origin and first-publication date are unknown, so no copyright status can be responsibly asserted. Rumi’s own 13th-century Persian is long in the public domain, but that is irrelevant here: this is not a documented Rumi text, and the modern English wording has no known source to classify.

Fact-check

Why this isn’t really Rumi

The quote is one of the most-shared “Rumi” lines online, yet it fails the most basic test: no one can point to where Rumi wrote it. It is a modern inspirational aphorism that acquired his name for prestige.

Rumi (1207–1273) unsupported

Asked by journalists, Rumi specialists Fatemah Keshavarz and Franklin Lewis ↗ could not confirm it: Keshavarz did not recognize the line and noted that “quotes without reference are often suspicious,” while Lewis found it thematically consistent with Rumi’s tone but could not verify it without intensive research. It was found in none of the collections checked (The Love Poems of Rumi, A Year with Rumi, the Masnavi).

“The Love Poems of Rumi” and similar anthologies not found in text

Some posts name a specific Rumi book, but the line does not appear in those volumes ↗ — a citation offered but not confirmable is a classic fake-quote tell.

Best read as an anonymous modern aphorism: consistent in tone with Sufi imagery, but with no Persian original, no translator and no scholar able to place it — part of the broader “Rumi” that isn’t Rumi ↗.

Context

Why it mattered

The line went viral partly through celebrity and political shares — a 2019 Instagram post by Tiffany Trump prompted Jezebel to actually ask Rumi scholars whether it was real. Their answer, in effect: nobody can find it.

It endures because it sounds like Rumi — rain, flowers, gentleness over force. But sounding right is how misattributions survive: the imagery is generically ‘Sufi’ enough that few readers demand a chapter and verse that doesn’t exist.

Scholars checked the Masnavi, the Divan and the popular anthologies. The line is in none of them.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Wisdom Kindness

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Is this a fake Rumi quote? (Jezebel / MEF)meforum.org

Investigation that asked Rumi scholars Keshavarz and Lewis about this exact line; they couldn’t place it.
Wikiquote: Rumi (sourced quotes)en.wikiquote.org

Sourced Rumi page drawn from the Masnavi and Divan-i Shams; this line does not appear.
The Erasure of Islam from the Poetry of Rumirozina-ali.com

Rozina Ali’s New Yorker essay on how popular English ‘Rumi’ is often interpretation or invention, not translation.
Goodreads listing (community-added, unsourced)goodreads.com

Typical attribution point: credits Rumi with no book source, with Goodreads’ own ‘not verified’ disclaimer.
Quote Investigatorquoteinvestigator.com

Quote-origins research archive; useful for checking attributions (no dedicated entry for this line at time of writing).

The author

About Rumi (Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi)

Rumi (Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi)

1207–1273 · Persian poet, Islamic scholar & Sufi mystic

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist and Sufi mystic whose Masnavi and Divan-i Shams are cornerstones of Persian literature. In the West he is among the best-selling poets — largely through loose interpretive renderings that strip his Islamic context, which is exactly how lines he never wrote circulate under his name. Because his popular English ‘quotes’ are so often paraphrase or invention, an unsourced feel-good line like this one is suspect by default.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Earliest documented in

No primary source located. Earliest documented discussion: Ashley Reese, Jezebel, “Did Tiffany Trump Post a Fake Rumi Quote on Instagram? Jezebel Investigates” (7 May 2019), quoting Rumi scholars unable to confirm the line.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder’?” Last verified 16 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/raise-your-words-not-voice-it-is-rain-that-grows-flowers

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