Khalil Gibran

Zeal is a volcano, the peak of which the grass of indecisiveness does not grow.

If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.

I prefer to be a dreamer among the humblest, with visions to be realized, than lord among those without dreams and desires.

Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.

There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.

When you part from your friend you grieve not For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.

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.

Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper, That we may record our emptiness.

Trust in dreams for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.

You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit.

A hermit is one who renounces the world of fragments that he may enjoy the world wholly and without interruption.

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.

Love that does not renew itself every day becomes a habit and in turn a slavery.

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

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

Many a doctrine is like a window pane. We see truth through it but it divides us from truth.

Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.

Tolerance is love sick with the sickness of haughtiness.

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.

And ever has it been known that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.

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

Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.

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.

A voice cannot carry the tongue and the lips that gave it wings. Alone must it seek the ether. And alone and without his nest shall the eagle fly across the sun.

You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might also pray in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.

Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a truth.'

Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof.

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.

What is this world that is hastening me toward I know not what, viewing me with contempt?

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

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.

Joy and sorrow are inseparable, together they came and where one sits alone with you at the board remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

The person you consider ignorant and insignificant is the one who came from God, that he might learn bliss from grief and knowledge from gloom.

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?

Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge.

Marriage is like a golden ring in a chain, whose beginning is a glance and whose ending is eternity.

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?

I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit.

Pain and foolishness lead to great bliss and complete knowledge for Eternal Wisdom created nothing under the sun in vain.

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.

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.

He who repeats what he does not understand is no better than an ass that is loaded with books.

To be able to look back upon ones life in satisfaction, is to live twice.

In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things does the heart find its morning and is refreshed.

Knowledge cultivates your seeds and does not sow in your seeds.

All that spirits desire, spirits attain.

In one drop of water are found all the secrets of the oceans.

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

Advance, and never halt, for advancing is perfection. Advance and do not fear the thorns in the path, for they draw only corrupt blood.

Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble and beautiful end of a human being.

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.

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.

The just is close to the people's heart, but the merciful is close to the heart of God.

The best of men is he who blushes when you praise him and remains silent when you defame him.

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

Ever has it been that loves knows not its own death until the hour of separation.

Faith is a knowledge within the heart beyond the reach of proof.

March on. Do not tarry. To go forward is to move toward perfection. March on, and fear not the thorns, or the sharp stones on life's path.

Love and doubt have never been on speaking terms.

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.

Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking.

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.

Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.

Love is quivering happiness.

To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to.

Braving obstacles and hardships is braver than retreat to tranquility.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Strange that creatures without backbones have the hardest shells.

The obvious is that which is never seen until someone expresses it simply.

Mother: the most beautiful word on the lips of mankind.

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.

When we turn to one another for counsel we reduce the number of our enemies.

Coming generations will learn equality from poverty, and love from woes.

Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.

Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.

A man can be free without being great but no man can be great without being free.

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.

And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.

Love is timeless. Death does not separate the lover from the beloved.

Love possesses not nor will it be possessed, for love is sufficient unto love.

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

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.

Hell is not in torture; Hell is in an empty heart..

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.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.

The wolves prey upon the lambs in the darkness of the night, but the blood stains remain upon the stones in the valley until the dawn comes, and the sun reveals the crime to all.

The subtlest beauties in our life are unseen and unheard.

And let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may live through its own daily resurrection, and like the phoenix rises above its own ashes.

The lust for comfort that stealthy thing that enters the house as a guest and then becomes a host and then a master.

You are your own forerunner, and the towers you have built are but the foundation of your giant-self. And that self too shall be a foundation.

You often say I would give but only to the deserving. The trees in your orchard say not so nor the flocks in your pasture. They give that they may live for to withhold is to perish.

Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.

Marriage is like a golden ring in a chain whose beginning is a glance and whose ending is eternity.

Love is timeless.... Death does not separate the lover from the beloved.

And alone and without his nest shall the Eagle fly across the sun.