Khalil Gibran Quotes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Your friend is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving. ~ Khalil Gibran

...and one might suspect too that A. Cretan said : "To long to read!"

"My library is an archive of longings."
― Susan Sontag"

"There is a space between man's [sic] imagination and man's [sic] attainment that may only be traversed by his longing."
― Khalil Gibran [sick] ~ A. Cretan

Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon your reason and your judgment wage war against your passion and your appetite. ~ Kahlil Gibran

We shall never understand one another until we reduce the language to seven words. ~ Khalil Gibran

If I accept the sunshine and warmth, then I must also accept the thunder and lightning. ~ Khalil Gibran

If aught I have said is truth, that truth shall reveal itself in a clearer voice, and in words more kin to your thoughts. ~ Khalil Gibran

Sorrow is too great to exist in small hearts. ~ Khalil Gibran

Poverty is a veil that obscures the face of greatness. An appeal is a mask covering the face of tribulation. ~ Khalil Gibran

Real beauty lies in the spiritual accord that is called love which can exist between a man and a woman ... ~ Khalil Gibran

Take then this Book, look into it, and show me when Jesus was not forgiving. Read this diving tragedy and tell me where He speaks without mercy and compassion. You visit not the sick and the imprisoned; nor do you feed the hungry or give refuge to the stranger or comfort to the mourner. ~ Khalil Gibran

Believing is a fine thing, but placing those beliefs into execution is a test of strength. Many are those who talk like the roar of the sea, gut their lives are shallow and stagnant, like the rotting marshes. Many are those who lift their heads above the mountain tops, but their spirits remain dormant in the obscurity of the caverns. ~ Khalil Gibran

He who requires urging to do a noble act will never accomplish it. ~ Khalil Gibran

Then it is also in my heart to be worthy of your hate. ~ Khalil Gibran

The sea that calls all things unto her cals me, and I must embark. ~ Khalil Gibran

The highest virtue here may be least in another world. ~ Khalil Gibran

Solitude is a silent storm that breaks down all our dead branches; yet it sends our living roots deeper into the living heart of the living earth. ~ Khalil Gibran

When you are born, your work is placed in your heart. ~ Khalil Gibran

The first part of my name, Khalil Gibran, seems to be paying huge dividends in terms of the artistic life of the poet from whom my name was inspired. ~ Khalil Gibran Muhammad

The truly just is he who feels half guilty of your misdeeds. ~ Khalil Gibran

Philosophy began when man ate the produce of the earth and suffered indigestion. ~ Khalil Gibran

We who love Him beheld Him with these our eyes which He made to see; and we touched Him with these our hands which He taught to reach forth. ~ Khalil Gibran

I am one of those who believe that spiritual progress is a rule of human life, but the approach to perfection is slow and painful. If a woman elevates herself in one respect and is retarded in another, it is because the rough trail that leads to the mountain peak is not free of ambushes of thieves and lairs of wolves. ~ Khalil Gibran

The heart's affections are divided like the branches of the cedar tree; if the tree loses one strong branch; it will suffer but it does not die; it will pour all its vitality into the next branch so that it will grow and fill the empty place. ~ Khalil Gibran

Enthusiasm is a volcano on whose top never grows the grass of hesitation. ~ Khalil Gibran

I purified my lips with sacred fire that I might speak of love, but when I opened my mouth to speak, I found myself mute. ~ Khalil Gibran

Rebellion without truth is like spring in a bleak, arid desert. ~ Khalil Gibran

Who can separate his faith from his actions, or his belief from his occupations? ~ Khalil Gibran

The tears that you spill, the sorrowful, are sweeter than the laughter of snobs and the guffaws of scoffers. ~ Khalil Gibran

I am bored with gabbers and their gab; my soul abhors them ... Is there any place where there is no traffic in empty talk? Is there on this earth one who does not worship himself talking? ~ Khalil Gibran

Philosophy's work is finding the shortest path between two points. ~ Khalil Gibran

Between the shores of the oceans and the summit of the highest mountain is a secret route that you must absolutely take before being one with the sons of the Earth. ~ Khalil Gibran

In battling evil, excess is good; for he who is moderate in announcing the truth is presenting half-truth. He conceals the other half out of fear of people's wrath. ~ Khalil Gibran

We are the sons of Sorrow; we are the poets and the prophets and the musicians. ~ Khalil Gibran

My friend, be not like him who sits by his fireside and watches the fire go out, then blows vainly upon the dead ashes. Do not give up hope or yield to despair because of that which is past, for to bewail the irretrievable is the worst of human frailties. ~ Khalil Gibran

And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. ~ Khalil Gibran

Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in the desert. ~ Khalil Gibran

Now let us play hide and seek. Should you hide in my heart it would not be difficult to find you. But should you hide behind your own shell, then it would be useless for anyone to seek you. ~ Khalil Gibran

Verily the kindness that gazes upon itself in a mirror turns to stone, and a good deed that calls itself by tender names becomes the parent to a curse. ~ Khalil Gibran

The subtlest beauties in our life are unseen and unheard. ~ Khalil Gibran

When a man's hand touches the hand of a woman, they both touch the heart of eternity. ~ Khalil Gibran

Love is a sacred mystery.
To those who love, it remains forever wordless;
But to those who do not love, it may be but a heartless jest. ~ Khalil Gibran

Love is the veil between lover and lover. ~ Khalil Gibran

Many are the fools who say that Jesus stood in His own path and opposed Himself; that He knew not His own mind, and in the absence of that knowledge confounded Himself. ~ Khalil Gibran

Life is but a sleep disturbed by dreaming, prompted by the will; the saddened soul with sadness hides it's secrets, and the gay, with thrill. ~ Khalil Gibran

He is short-sighted who looks only on the path he treads and the wall on which he leans. ~ Khalil Gibran

If it were not for guests all houses would be graves. ~ Khalil Gibran

What difference is there between us, save a restless dream that follows my soul but fears to come near you? ~ Khalil Gibran

Humanity is a river of light running from the ex-eternity to eternity. ~ Khalil Gibran

Keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life. ~ Khalil Gibran

I only speak to you in words of that which you yourselves know in thought. ~ Kahlil Gibran

A minute moving among the patterns of beauty and the dreams of love is greater and more precious than an age filled with splendor granted by the weak to the strong. ~ Khalil Gibran

You are a flower crushed beneath the feet of the animal that is concealed in a human being. Take comfort, in that you are the flower crushed and not the foot that has crushed it. ~ Khalil Gibran

A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle. ~ Kahlil Gibran

To barter and lose is better than not to go forth. ~ Khalil Gibran

Preacher's kids are often the ones that are least informed by the work that their parents are doing because it has something to do with the proximity and the intimacy as opposed to the saints and the congregation. ~ Khalil Gibran Muhammad

We are limited, not by our abilities, but by our vision. ~ Khalil Gibran

How distant I am from people when I am with them, and how close when they are far away. ~ Khalil Gibran

Like the ocean is your god-self; It remains for ever undefiled. And like the ether it lifts but the winged. Even like the sun is your god-self; It knows not the ways of the mole nor seeks it the holes of the serpent. But your god-self does not dwell alone in your being. Much in you is still man, and much in you is not yet man, But a shapeless pigmy that walks asleep in the mist searching for its own awakening. ~ Khalil Gibran

No man can reveal to you nothing but that which already lies half-asleep in the dawning of your knowledge. ~ Khalil Gibran

Life is the mistress to be wooed. ~ Khalil Gibran

Knowledge cultivates your seeds and does not sow in your seeds. ~ Khalil Gibran

Strange that we all defend our wrongs with more vigor than we do our rights. ~ Khalil Gibran

In the mouth of Society are many diseased teeth, decayed to the bones of the jaws. But Society makes no effort to have them extracted and be rid of the affliction. It contents itself with gold fillings. ~ Khalil Gibran

What the soul knows is often unknown to the man who has a soul. We are infinitely more than we think. ~ Khalil Gibran