Poet · 1883 – 1931 · 103 quotes
I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers.
Khalil Gibran
Poet · 1883 – 1931
Zeal is a volcano, the peak of which the grass of indecisiveness does not grow.
Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.
I prefer to be a dreamer among the humblest, with visions to be realized, than lord among those without dreams and desires.
In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.
There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.
Yesterday is but today's memory, and tomorrow is today's dream.
Knowledge cultivates your seeds and does not sow in your seeds.
Rebellion without truth is like spring in a bleak, arid desert.
When we turn to one another for counsel we reduce the number of our enemies.
We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
The obvious is that which is never seen until someone expresses it simply.
Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge.
When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music. Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?
Time has been transformed, and we have changed; it has advanced and set us in motion; it has unveiled its face, inspiring us with bewilderment and exhilaration.
Love and doubt have never been on speaking terms.
Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
Exaggeration is truth that has lost its temper.
Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.
All that spirits desire, spirits attain.
Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.
When love beckons to you, follow him, Though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you yield to him, Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a truth.'
Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know my self, to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its characteristics, its subtleties, and its very atoms.
Nor shall derision prove powerful against those who listen to humanity or those who follow in the footsteps of divinity, for they shall live forever. Forever.
What is this world that is hastening me toward I know not what, viewing me with contempt?
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?
Your friend is your needs answered.
I existed from all eternity and, behold, I am here; and I shall exist till the end of time, for my being has no end.
Love is trembling happiness.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness and let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
Generosity is not giving me that which I need more than you do, but it is giving me that which you need more than I do.
A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand. Is not the mountain far more awe-inspiring and more clearly visible to one passing through the valley than to those who inhabit the mountain?
Would that I were a dry well, and that the people tossed stones into me, for that would be easier than to be a spring of flowing water that the thirsty pass by, and from which they avoid drinking.
You have your ideology and I have mine.
