Kahlil Gibran Quotes (113 Quotes)

Solitude has soft, silky hands, but with strong fingers it grasps the heart and makes it ache with sorrow. Solitude is the ally of sorrow as well as a companion of spiritual exaltation.

They tell me If you see a slave sleeping, do not wake him lest he be dreaming of freedom. I tell them If you see a slave sleeping, wake him and explain to him freedom.

Conscience is a just but weak judge. Weakness leaves it powerless to execute its judgment.

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.

It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding.

You would measure time the measureless and the immeasurable. You would adjust your conduct and even direct the course of your spirit according to hours and seasons. Of time you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit and watch its flowing.

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.

God has made many doors opening into truth which He opens to all who knock upon them with hands of faith.

The power to Love is Gods greatest gift to man, For it never will be taken from the Blessed one who loves.

No lower can a man descend than to interpret his dreams into gold and silver

A root is a flower that disdains fame.

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.

The sorrowful spirit finds relaxation in solitude. It abhors people, as a wounded deer deserts the herd and lives in a cave until it is healed or dead.

The significance of a man is not in what he attains, but rather what he longs to attain.

I am a poet who composes what life proses, and who proses what life composes.

Let the wind of the spirit blow between your shores. The great oaks in the forest do not grow in each other's shade.

Let your best be for your friend...

A look which reveals inward stress adds more beauty to the face, no matter how much tragedy and pain it bespeaks but the face which, in silence, does not announce hidden mysteries is not beautiful, regardless of the symmetry of its features.

If indeed you must be candid, be candid beautifully.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself. Love possesses not nor would it be possessed For love is sufficient unto love.

The reality of the other person lies not in what he reveals to you but in what he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says but rather to what he does not say.

The Jews, my beloved, awaited the coming of a Messiah, who had been promised them, and who was to deliver them from bondage. And the Great Soul of the World sensed that the worship of Jupiter and Minerva no longer availed, for the thirsty hearts of men could not be quenched with that wine. In Rome men pondered the divinity of Apollo, a god without pity, and beauty of Venus already fallen into decay. For deep in their hearts, though they did not understand it, these nations hungered and thirsted for the supreme teaching that would transcend any to be found on the earth. They yearned for the spirits freedom that would teach man to rejoice with his neighbor at the light of the sun and the wonder of living. For it is this cherished freedom that brings man close to the Unseen, which he can approach without fear or shame.

A shy failure is nobler than an immodest success.

Love is the only flower that grows and blossoms without the aid of seasons.

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 center of his being, and moving not from love thought to love thought, nor from love deeds to other love deeds.

He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked.

Beauty is not in the face Beauty is a light in the heart.

Braving obstacles and hardships is nobler than retreat to tranquility. The butterfly that hovers around the lamp until it dies is more admirable than the mole that lives in a dark tunnel.

From a sensitive womans heart springs the happiness of mankind, and from the kindness of her noble spirit comes mankinds affection.

Wit is often a mask. If you tear it you will find either genius irritated or cleverness juggling.

When you know a thing, you believe it, and the true believer sees with his spiritual discernment that which the surface investigator cannot see with the eyes of his head, and he understands through his inner thought that which the outside examiner cannot understand with his demanding, acquired process of thought. The believer acquaints himself with the sacred realities through deep senses different from those used by others. A believer looks upon his senses as a great wall surrounding him, and when he walks upon the path he says, 'This city has no exit, but it is perfect within.' The believer lives for all the days and the nights and the unfaithful live but a few hours.

The very strength that protects the heart from injury is the strength that prevents the heart from enlarging to its intended greatness within. The song of the voice is sweet, but the song of the heart is the pure voice of heaven.

Remember, one just man causes the Devil greater affliction than a million blind believers.

Seek ye counsel of the aged, for their eyes have looked on the faces of the years and their ears have hearkened to the voices of Life. Even of their counsel is displeasing to you, pay heed to them.

The soul is an embryo in the body of Man, and the day of death is the Day of awakening, for it is the Great era of labour and the rich Hour of creation.

Reason, ruling alone, is a force confining, and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction. Therefore, let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion.

Only those return to Eternity Who on earth seek out Eternity.

Vain are the beliefs and teachings that make man miserable, and false is the goodness that leads him into sorrow and despair, for it is mans purpose to be happy on this earth and lead the way to felicity and preach its gospel wherever he goes. He who does not see the kingdom of heaven in this life will never see it in the coming life. We came not into this life by exile, but we came as innocent creatures of God, to learn how to worship the holy and eternal spirit and seek the hidden secrets within ourselves from the beauty of life.

Knowledge and understanding are lifes 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.

A woman whom Providence has provided with beauty of spirit and body is a truth, at the same time both open and secret, which we can understand only by love, and touch only by virtue.

He who does not see the angels and devils in the beauty and malice of life will be far removed from knowledge, and his spirit will be empty of affection.

You can muffle the drum, and you can loosen the strings of the lyre, but who shall command the skylark not to sing.

Many are the places of worship, but few indeed are those who worship in Spirit and in truth.

And what is word knowledge but a shadow of wordless knowledge.

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

Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolutions.

When God created Man, he gave him Music as a language different from all other languages. And early man sang his glory in the wilderness and drew the hearts of kings and moved them from their thrones.

Prayer is the song of the heart. It reaches the ear of God even if it is mingled with the cry and the tumult of a thousand men.

Love has no other desire but to fulfull itself. To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.

He who does not prefer exile to slavery is not free by any measure of freedom, truth and duty.