Quote by Hafiz: “Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.”

Fear is a cramped, limited way to live. Hafiz uses the image of a shabby room to say that you deserve more than a life ruled by anxiety. There are richer, more spacious ways to experience being alive.

Hafiz lived through the conquest of Shiraz by Timur (Tamerlane) and experienced the precariousness of life under shifting rulers. His poetry repeatedly counselled his readers against living in spiritual poverty or dread despite external chaos.

Persian lyric poet of the 14th century, born in Shiraz, whose collected poems the Divan are considered a pinnacle of Persian literature. His ghazals explore divine love, wine as spiritual metaphor, and the hypocrisy of religious formalism.