Khalil Gibran Quotes (311 Quotes)

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

Would that I could gather your houses into my hand, and like a sower scatter them in forest and meadow.

And verily he will find the roots of the good and the bad, the fruitful and the fruitless, all entwined together in the silent heart of the earth.

For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst?

The lust for comfort kills the passions of the soul.

Would that you could live on the fragrance of the earth, and like an air plant be sustained by the light.

And when one of you falls down he falls for those behind him, a caution against the stumbling stone.

For what is prayer but the expansion of your self into the living ether?

The mind speaks not more sweetly to the giant Oaks than to the least of all blades of grass, And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving

Would the valleys were your streets, and the green paths your alleys, that you might seek one another through vineyards, and come with the fragrance of the earth in your garments.

As the strings of a lute are apart though they quiver the same music.

God listens not to your words save when He Himself utters them through your lips.

The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm, nor the voice that echoes it.

Yea, I shall return with the tide.

Aye, and he falls for those ahead of him, who, though faster and surer of foot, yet removed not the stumbling stone.

Have you beauty, that leads the heart from things fashioned of wood and stone to the holy mountain?

The self same well from which your laughs rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.

You are the way and the wayfarers.

Is not the beautiful moon, that inspires poets, the same moon which angers the silence of the sea with a terrible roar?

Build of your imaginings a bower in the wilderness ere you build a house within the city walls.

Have you remembrances, the glimmering arches that span the summits of the mind?

THEN said a rich man, Speak to us of Giving.

You have been told that, even like a chain, you are as weak as your weakest link. This is but half the truth. You are also as strong as your strongest link. To measure you by your smallest deed is to reckon the power of ocean by the frailty of its foam. To judge you by your failures is to cast blame upon the seasons for their inconstancy.

Go to the weak man, and take him away!

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

For the breath of life is in the sunlight and the hand of life is in the wind.

And I have found both freedom and safety in my madness. Freedom of loneliness and safety from being understood. For those who understand us enslave something in us.

Yet quietly my captain awaits my silence.

Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.

Exaggeration is truth that has lost its temper.

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.

Who among you does not feel that his power to love is boundless?

Aim not your arrows at him, lest
He takes fright and vanish 'ere he
Pours the secrets blood as a
Sacrifice at the altar of his
Own faith, given him by Deity
When he fashioned him of love and beauty.

Who would give me one moment of love for a handful of gems?

Love is trembling happiness.

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

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

After a few moments of complete silence, I heard the following words uttered with sighs from weather-bitten lips, "Shed not tears, my beloved; love that opens our eyes and enslaves our hearts can give us the blessing of patience.

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

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

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

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

You would know the secret of death.

Another child entered life and that kingdom at the same time.

My heart refuses to deny you its secret.

Could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy.

And the god laughed and cried.

All these things have you said of beauty. Yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied, And beauty is not a need but an ecstasy. It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty hand stretched forth, But rather a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted. It is not the image you would see nor the song you would hear, But rather an image you see though you close your eyes and a song you hear though you shut your ears. It is not the sap within the furrowed bark, nor a wing attached to a claw, But rather a garden for ever in bloom and a flock of angels for ever in flight. People of Orphalese, beauty is life when life unveils her holy face. But you are life and you are the veil. Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror. But you are eternity and your are the mirror.

The giving and receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy

Yesterday is but today's memory, tomorrow is today's dream.