Khalil Gibran (1883 – 1931) was a Lebanese-American writer, poet, visual artist, and philosopher. Born in a village in the Ottoman Empire, Gibran immigrated with his family to the United States in 1895, where he studied art and began his literary career, writing in both English and Arabic. He was an accomplished visual artist, especially in drawing and watercolor, having attended the Académie Julian art school in Paris from 1908 to 1910. Gibran is best known as the author of The Prophet, which was first published in the United States in 1923 and is one of the best-selling books of all time.
Quotes by Khalil Gibran…
Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
The hidden well-spring of your soul must needs rise and run murmuring to the sea; And the treasure of your infinite depths would be revealed to your eyes. But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure; And seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line. For self is a sea boundless and measureless.
Aye, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff. And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
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. And When he speaks to you believe in him, though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden. For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning. Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth… 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.
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears. And how else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
The mountain veiled in mist is not a hill; an oak tree in the rain is not a weeping willow.
Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit.
If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.
And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
