Khalil Gibran Quotes

Beauty is that which attracts your soul, and that which loves to give and not to receive.

The saint and the sinner are twin brothers...one was born but the moment before the other.

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

The snow and the storm destroy the flower; but its seed they cannot kill.

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.

If we were to all sit in a circle and confess our sins, we would laugh at each other for lack of originality.

Between what is said and not meant, and what is meant and not said, most of love is lost.

You work that you may keep peace with the earth and the soul of the earth.

You are good when you walk to your goal firmly and with bold steps. Yet you are not evil when you go thither limping. For those who limp go not backwards. But you who are strong and swift, see that you do not limp before the lame, deeming it kindness.

Where are you now, my beloved? Do you hear my weeping From beyond the ocean? Do you understand my need? Do you know the greatness of my patience?

The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.

For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger.

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

In every winter's heart there is a quivering spring, and behind the veil of each night there is a shining dawn.

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.

I would not exchange the sorrows of my heart for the joys of the multitude. And I would not have the tears that sadness makes to flow from my every part turn into laughter. I would that my life remain a tear and a smile.

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

There are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue; They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.

Even as the holy and the righteous cannot rise beyond the highest which is in each one of you, so the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than the lowest which is in you also.

Of life's two chief prizes, beauty and truth, I found the first in a loving heart and the second in a laborer's hand.

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.

Like sheaves of corn it gathers you unto itself. It threshes you to make you naked. It sifts you to free you from your husks. It grinds you to whiteness. It kneads you until you are pliant. And then it assigns you to its sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast. All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's Heart.

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

Defeat, my defeat, my deathless courage, You and I shall laugh together with the storm, And together we shall dig graves for all that die in us, and we shall stand in the sun with a will, And we shall be dangerous

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

Give me an ear and I will give you a Voice.

There are those who give little of the much which they have - and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome.

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

If any of you would bring judgment the unfaithful wife, let him also weight the heart of her husband in scales, and measure his soul with measurements.

You would know the secret of death. But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life.

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

Now I realize that the trees blossom in Spring and bear fruit in Summer without seeking praise; and they drop their leaves in Autumn and become naked in Winter without fearing blame.

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days. Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God. But let there be spaces in your togetherness, and let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

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

Truth is like the stars; it does not appear except from behind obscurity of the night. Truth is like all beautiful things in the world; it does not disclose its desirability except to those who first feel the influence of falsehood. Truth is a deep kindness that teaches us to be content in our everyday life and share with the people the same happiness.

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

He who does not see the kingdom of heaven in this life will never see it in the coming life.

A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind, and another woman shall bear me.

Wisdom stands at the turn in the road and calls upon us publicly, but we consider it false and despise its adherents.

Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour.

A truth is to be known always, to be uttered sometimes.

Let your best be for your friend.

Love is the only freedom in the world because it so elevates the spirit that the laws of humanity and the phenomena of nature do not alter its course.

Death most resembles a prophet who is without honor in his own land or a poet who is a stranger among his people.

You hate Jesus because someone from the North Country said He was the Son of God. But you hate one another because each of you deems himself too great to be the brother of the next man.

For this I bless you most. You give much and know not that you give at all.

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.

Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.