Gibran Quotes

Do not love half lovers
Do not entertain half friends
Do not indulge in works of the half talented
Do not live half a life
and do not die a half death
If you choose silence, then be silent
When you speak, do so until you are finished
Do not silence yourself to say something
And do not speak to be silent
If you accept, then express it bluntly
Do not mask it
If you refuse then be clear about it
for an ambiguous refusal is but a weak acceptance
Do not accept half a solution
Do not believe half truths
Do not dream half a dream
Do not fantasize about half hopes
Half a drink will not quench your thirst
Half a meal will not satiate your hunger
Half the way will get you no where
Half an idea will bear you no results
Your other half is not the one you love
It is you in another time yet in the same space
It is you when you are not
Half a life is a life you didn't live,
A word you have not said
A smile you postponed
A love you have not had
A friendship you did not know
To reach and not arrive
Work and not work
Attend only to be absent
What makes you a stranger to them closest to you
and they strangers to you
The half is a mere moment of inability
but you are able for you are not half a being
You are a whole that exists to live a life
not half a life ~ Kahlil Gibran

For a love to grow through the test of everyday living, one must respect that zone of privacy where one retires to relate to the inside instead of the outside. ~ Khalil Gibran

Between what is said and not meant, and what is meant and not said, most of love is lost. ~ Kahlil Gibran

You may forget with whom you laughed, but you will never forget with whom you wept. ~ Kahlil Gibran

TORCH The human soul is but a part of a burning torch which God separated from Himself at Creation. WM-ST-67 ~ Kahlil Gibran

If the other person laughs at you, you can pity him; but if you laugh at him you may never forgive yourself.
If the other person injures you, you may forget the injury; but if you injure him you will always remember.
In truth the other person is your most sensitive self given another body. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Generosity is not in giving me that which I need more than you do, but it is in giving me that which you need more than I do. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Where is the justice of political power if it executes the murderer and jails the plunderer, and then itself marches upon neighboring lands, killing thousands and pillaging the very hills? ~ Khalil Gibran

Only once have I been made mute. It was when a man asked me, 'Who are you?' ~ Khalil Gibran

And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Education sows not seeds in you, but makes your seeds grow. ~ Khalil Gibran

To follow Beauty even when she shall lead you to the verge of the precipice; and though she is winged and you are wingless, and though she shall pass beyond the verge, follow her, for where Beauty is not, there is nothing; ~ Kahlil Gibran

If in the twilight of memory we should meet once more, we shall speak again together and you shall sing to me a deeper song. ~ Khalil Gibran

All things in this creation exist within you and all things in you exist in creation; there is no border between you and the closest things, and there is no distance between you and the farthest things, and all things, from the lowest to the loftiest, from the smallest to the greatest, are within you as equal things. ~ Khalil Gibran

And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. ~ Kahlil Gibran

You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care, nor your nights without a want and a grief, but rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Love is the only freedom in this world, because it elevates the soul to a lofty station that cannot be attained by the laws and customs of human beings or conquered by the laws of nature. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Hearts that are united through the medium of sorrow will not be separated by the glory of happiness. Love ~ Kahlil Gibran

A truly religious man does not embrace a religion; and he who embraces one has no religion. ~ Kahlil Gibran

For that which is boundless in you abides in the mansion of the sky, whose door is the morning mist, and whose windows are the songs and the silences of night. ~ Kahlil Gibran

In a dream I saw Jesus and My God Pan sitting together in the heart of the forest. They laughed at each other's speech, with the brook that ran near them, and the laughter of Jesus was the merrier. And they conversed long. ~ Khalil Gibran

And before my Soul took me to task I was hard of hearing; I heard only tumult and uproar. But now I am all ears listening to the silence and its choirs singing the hymns of time, intoning the praises of the firmament, revealing the secrets of the invisible. ~ Khalil Gibran

And you would accept the seasons of your heart just as you have always accepted that seasons pass over your fields and you would watch with serenity through the winter of your grief. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater."
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed. ~ Kahlil Gibran

He who does not seek advice is a fool. His folly blinds him to Truth and makes him evil, stubborn, and a danger to his fellow man. ~ Khalil Gibran

The silence of the envious is too noisy. ~ Khalil Gibran

Believing is a fine thing, but putting those beliefs into execution is a test of strength. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Said a skunk to a tube-rose, "See how swiftly I run, while you cannot walk nor even creep."
Said the tube-rose to the skunk, "Oh, most noble swift runner, please run swiftly!" ~ Khalil Gibran

Miserable is the woman who arises from the inattentiveness and restlessness of youth and finds herself in the home of a man showering her with his glittering gold and precious gifts and according her all the honours and grace of lavish entertainment but unable to satisfy her soul with the heavenly wine which God pours from the eyes of a man into the heart of a woman. ~ Kahlil Gibran

You have been told also that life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary. And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge, and all urge is blind save when there is knowledge, and all knowledge is vain save when there is work, and all work is empty save when there is love; and when you work in love you bind yourself to yourself, to one another, and to God. ~ Kahlil Gibran

God has bestowed upon you intelligence and knowledge. Do not extinguish the lamp of Divine Grace and do not let the candle of wisdom die out in the darkness of lust and error. For a wise man approaches with his torch to light up the path of mankind. ~ Khalil Gibran

Darkness is dawn not yet born. ~ Khalil Gibran

Hate is a dead thing. Who of you would be a tomb? ~ Khalil Gibran

The thirst of soul is sweeter than the wine of material things, and the fear of spirit is dearer than the security of the body. ~ Khalil Gibran

You tell me that you fear love; why, my little one? Do you fear the light of the sun? Do you fear the ebb and flow of the sea? Do you fear the dawning of the day? Do you fear the advent of spring? I wonder why you fear love? ... do not fear love; do not fear love, friend of my heart. We must surrender to it in spite of what it may bring in the way of pain, of desolation, of longing and in spite of all perplexity and bewilderment. ~ Kahlil Gibran

One may not reach the dawn by the path of the night. ~ Kahlil Gibran

God has created several doors which open onto truth. He opens them to all those who knock on them with the hand of faith. ~ Kahlil Gibran

You are my brother and I love you. I love you worshipping in your church, kneeling in your temple, and praying in your mosque. You and I and all are children of one religion, for the varied paths of religion are but the fingers of the loving hand of the Supreme Being, extended to all, offering completeness of spirit to all, anxious to receive all. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Yea, I shall return with the tide. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Knowledge and understanding are life's faithful companions who will never prove untrue to you. For knowledge is your crown, and understanding your staff; and when they are with you, you can possess no greater treasures. ~ Khalil Gibran

Be like the flower, turn your faces to the sun. ~ Khalil Gibran

Self is a sea boundless and measureless. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Art is a step from what is obvious and well-known toward what is arcane and concealed. ~ Kahlil Gibran

You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Notice those gorgeous homes that represent happiness, glory and domination; they are naught but caverns of misery and distress. ~ Kahlil Gibran

My life is quiet. There is little beside working and walking. I have no desire to see people, and I feel as though I am waiting for something new and strange which will burn the unburnt side of my soul. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Said a hunted fox followed by twenty horsemen and a pack of twenty hounds, "Of course they will kill me. But how poor and how stupid they must be. Surely it would not be worth while for twenty foxes riding on twenty asses and accompanied by twenty wolves to chase and kill one man. ~ Kahlil Gibran

For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen, ~ Kahlil Gibran

When you have grasped a problem clearly, face it with resolution, for that is the way of the strong. ~ Khalil Gibran

All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind. ~ Kahlil Gibran

So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all. ~ Kahlil Gibran

The tiny flame that lights up the human heart is like a blazing torch that comes down from heaven to light up the paths of mankind. For in one soul are contained the hopes and feelings of all Mankind. ~ Khalil Gibran

My Lebanon is a flock of birds fluttering in the early morning as shepherds lead their sheep into the meadow & rising in the evening as farmers return from their fields and vineyards.You have your Lebanon and its people. I have my Lebanon and its people. ~ Khalil Gibran

No matter how busy a man is, he is never too busy to stop and talk about how busy he is. ~ Kahlil Gibran

The mute grain turns to love songs when swallowed by the nightingale. ~ Khalil Gibran

For affliction has opened my eyes,
and tears given me sight.
Grief has taught me the language of hearts. ~ Kahlil Gibran

After a deep silence, mingled with sweet dreams, I asked, "Speak to me of that beauty which the people interpret and define, each one according to his own conception; I have seen her honoured and worshipped in different ways and manners."
She answered, "Beauty is that which attracts your soul, and that which loves to give and not to receive. When you meet Beauty, you feel that the hands deep within your inner self are stretched forth to bring her into the domain of your heart. It is the magnificence combined of sorrow and joy; it is the Unseen which you see, and the Vague which you understand, and the Mute which you hear−−it is the Holy of Holies that begins in yourself and ends vastly beyond your earthly imagination. ~ Kahlil Gibran

But I say to you that when you work you fulfill a part of earth's furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born, ~ Kahlil Gibran

My friend, it was but a song of love out of a poet's heart, sung by every man to every woman. ~ Kahlil Gibran

A shy failure is nobler than an immodest success. ~ Khalil Gibran

Smile, my beloved, like the gold smiles from my father's coffers. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Drink not from this cup unless you forget the past and the future, for happiness is naught but the moment." And ~ Kahlil Gibran

If your heart is a volcano, how shall you expect flowers to bloom? ~ Kahlil Gibran

If the grandfather of the grandfather of Jesus had known what was hidden within him, he would have stood humble and awe-struck before his soul. ~ Khalil Gibran

Hurry, oh peaceful Death, and carry me from these multitudes who left me in the dark corner of oblivion because I do not bleed the weak as they do. Come, oh gentle Death, and enfold me under your white wings, for my fellowmen are not in want of me. Embrace ~ Kahlil Gibran

Love is a gracious host to his guests though to the unbidden his house is a mirage and a mockery. ~ Khalil Gibran

And now you ask in your heart, 'How shall we distinguish that which is good in pleasure from that which is not good?'
Go to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower,
But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee.
For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life,
And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love,
And to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy.
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People of Orphalese, be in your pleasures like the flowers and the bees. ~ Kahlil Gibran

When you see a man led to prison say in your heart, "Mayhap he is escaping from a narrower prison." And when you see a man drunken say in your heart, "Mayhap he sought escape from something still more unbeautiful. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Your house shall be not an anchor but a mast
It shall not be a glistening film that covers a wound, but an eyelid that guards the eye. ~ Kahlil Gibran

The power to Love is God's greatest gift to man, For it never will be taken from the Blessed one who loves. ~ Khalil Gibran

Death changes nothing but the masks that cover our faces. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Spiritual awakening is the most essential thing in man's life, and it is the sole purpose of being. Is not civilization, in all its tragic forms, a supreme motive for spiritual awakening? ~ Khalil Gibran

I have no enemies ... but if I am to have an enemy, Let his strength be equal to mine, That truth alone may be the victor. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Suddenly we heard a voice crying, "This is the sea. This is the deep sea. This is the vast and mighty sea." And when we reached the voice it was a man whose back was turned to the sea, and at his ear he held a shell, listening to its murmur.

And my soul said, "Let us pass on. He is the realist, who turns his back on the whole he cannot grasp, and busies himself with a fragment. ~ Kahlil Gibran

And since you are a breath in God's sphere, and a leaf in God's forest, you too should rest in reason and move in passion. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Man is like the foam of the sea, that floats upon the surface of the water. When the wind blows, it vanishes, as if it had never been. Thus are our lives blown away by Death. ~ Khalil Gibran

Man struggles to find life outside himself, unaware that the life he is seeking is within him. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Kahlil Gibran said, "When you are born, your work is placed in your heart." So, what is your work? Your purpose? Are you living it out the way your heart urges you to? ~ Wayne W. Dyer

If I were to choose between the power of writing a poem and the ecstasy of a poem unwritten, I would choose the ecstasy. It is better poetry. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
But you are eternity and you are the mirror. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Love provided me with a tongue and tears. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Yet the timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness, And knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream. And that that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space. Who among you does not feel that his power to love is boundless? And yet who does not feel that very love, though boundless, encompassed within the centre of his being, and moving not from love thought to love thought, nor from love deeds to other love deeds? And is not time even as love is, undivided and paceless? ~ Khalil Gibran

Now I know that here is something higher than heaven and deeper than ocean and stranger than life and death and time. I know now what I did not know before. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Whoever would be a teacher of men let him begin by teaching himself before teaching others; and let him teach by example before teaching by word. For he who teaches himself and rectifies his own ways is more deserving of respect and reverence than he who would teach others and rectify their ways. ~ Khalil Gibran

We are richer in material wealth than those villagers; but their spirit is a nobler spirit than ours. We ~ Kahlil Gibran

And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart,
even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.
It is to build a house with affection,
even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.
It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy,
even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.
It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,
And to know that all the blessed dead
are standing about you and watching. ~ Kahlil Gibran

If your knowledge teaches you not to rise above human weakness and misery and lead your fellow man on the right path, you are indeed a man of little worth and will remain such till Judgment Day. ~ Khalil Gibran

He who defines his conduct by ethics imprisons his song-bird in a cage. ~ Khalil Gibran

Yesterday is but today's memory, and tomorrow is but today's dream. ~ Kahlil Gibran

They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Not without a wound in the spirit shall I leave this city. ~ Kahlil Gibran

It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit, and to know that all blessed dead are standing about you and watching. Work is love made visible. ~ Kahlil Gibran

They are so proud of Gibran. Probably the most overrated writer in history. I don't think any Lebanese has ever read him. If they had, they would keep their mouth fucking shut. ~ Rabih Alameddine

If tragedy does not ensnare a man, if affliction does not agitate him, if love does not lay him down in the cradle of dreams, then his life is like a blank, white page in the book of existence. In that year I saw the ~ Kahlil Gibran

She danced the dance of flames and fire,
and the dance of swords and spears;
she danced the dance of stars and the dance of space,
and then she danced the dance of flowers in the wind. ~ Khalil Gibran

If my survival caused another to perish, then death would be sweeter and more beloved. ~ Kahlil Gibran

They consider me to have sharp and penetrating vision because I see them through the mesh of a sieve. ~ Khalil Gibran

The best of man is he who blushes when you praise him and remains silent when you defame him. ~ Khalil Gibran

Have you not heard of the man who was digging in the earth for roots and found a treasure? ~ Khalil Gibran

Lovers embrace that which is between them rather than each other. ~ Khalil Gibran