Kahlil Gibran

“ Once I said to a poet, “We shall not know your worth until you die.”
And he answered saying, “Yes, death is always the revealer. And if indeed you would know my worth it is that I have more in my heart than upon my tongue, and more in my desire than in my hand.”
If you sing of beauty though alone in the heart of the desert you will have an audience.
Poetry is wisdom that enchants the heart.
Wisdom is poetry that sings in the mind.
If we could enchant man’s heart and at the same time sing in his mind,
Then in truth he would live in the shadow of God.
Inspiration will always sing ”

“ But should you hide behind your own shell, then it would be useless for anyone to seek you.
A woman may veil her face with a smile.
How noble is the sad heart who would sing a joyous song with joyous hearts.
He who would understand a woman, or dissect genius, or solve the mystery of silence is the very man who would wake from a beautiful dream to sit at a breakfast table.
I would walk with all those who walk. I would not stand still to watch the procession passing by.
You owe more than gold to him who serves you. Give him of your heart or serve him. ”

“ Many a woman borrows a man’s heart; very few could possess it.
If you would possess you must not claim.
When a man’s hand touches the hand of a woman they both touch the heart of eternity.
Love is the veil between lover and lover.
Every man loves two women; the one is the creation of his imagination, and the other is not yet born.
Men who do not forgive women their little faults will never enjoy their great virtues.
Love that does not renew itself every day becomes a habit and in turn a slavery. ”

“ How often have I attributed to myself crimes I have never committed, so that the other person may feel comfortable in my presence.
Even the masks of life are masks of deeper mystery.
You may judge others only according to your knowledge of yourself.
Tell me now, who among us is guilty and who is unguilty?
The truly just is he who feels half guilty of your misdeeds.
Only an idiot and a genius break man-made laws; and they are the nearest to the heart of God.
It is only when you are pursued that you become swift. ”

“ In truth the other person is your most sensitive self given another body.
How heedless you are when you would have men fly with your wings and you cannot even give them a feather.
Once a man sat at my board and ate my bread and drank my wine and went away laughing at me.
Then he came again for bread and wine, and I spurned him;
And the angels laughed at me.
Hate is a dead thing. Who of you would be a tomb?
It is the honor of the murdered that he is not the murderer.
The tribune of humanity is in its silent heart never its talkative mind. ”

“ The reality of the other person is 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.
Half of what I say is meaningless; but I say it so that the other half may reach you.
A sense of humor is a sense of proportion.
My loneliness was born when men praised my talkative faults and blamed my silent virtues.
When Life does not find a singer to sing her heart she produces a philosopher to speak her mind.
A truth is to be known always, to be uttered sometimes. ”

“ The truly free man is he who bears the load of the bond slave patiently.
A thousand years ago my neighbor said to me, “I hate life, for it is naught but a thing of pain.”
And yesterday I passed by a cemetery and saw life dancing upon his grave.
Strife in nature is but disorder longing for order.
Solitude is a silent storm that breaks down all our dead branches;
Yet it sends our living roots deeper into the living heart of the living earth. ”

“ Your most savory meal is that which you eat at the other person’s table;
Your most comfortable bed is in the other person’s house.
Now tell me, how can you separate yourself from the other person?
Your mind and my heart will never agree until your mind ceases to live in numbers and my heart in the mist.
We shall never understand one another until we reduce the language to seven words.
How shall my heart be unsealed unless it be broken?
Only great sorrow or great joy can reveal your truth.
If you would be revealed you must either dance naked in the sun, or carry your cross. ”

“ Perhaps the sea’s definition of a shell is the pearl.
Perhaps time’s definition of coal is the diamond.
Fame is the shadow of passion standing in the light.
A root is a flower that disdains fame.
There is neither religion nor science beyond beauty.
Every great man I have known had something small in his make-up; and it was that small something which prevented inactivity or madness or suicide.
The truly great man is he who would master no one, and who would be mastered by none. ”

“ How shall your hand be raised in blessing if it is filled with gold?
They say the nightingale pierces his bosom with a thorn when he sings his love song.
So do we all. How else should we sing?
Genius is but a robin’s song at the beginning of a slow spring.
Even the most winged spirit cannot escape physical necessity.
A madman is not less a musician than you or myself; only the instrument on which he plays is a little out of tune.
The song that lies silent in the heart of a mother sings upon the lips of her child. ”

“ The sixth time when she despised the ugliness of a face, and knew not that it was one of her own masks.
And the seventh time when she sang a song of praise, and deemed it a virtue.
I am ignorant of absolute truth. But I am humble before my ignorance and therein lies my honor and my reward.
There is a space between man's imagination and man's attainment that may only be traversed by his longing. ”

“ A poet is a dethroned king sitting among the ashes of his palace trying to fashion an image out of the ashes.
Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.
In vain shall a poet seek the mother of the songs of his heart. ”

“ Only love and death change all things.”
How can I lose faith in the justice of life, when the dreams of those who sleep upon feathers are not more beautiful than the dreams of those who sleep upon the earth? ”

“ No man can draw the line between necessities and luxuries. Only the angels can do that, and the angels are wise and wistful.
Perhaps the angels are our better thoughts in space.
He is the true prince who finds his throne in the heart of the dervish.
Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.
In truth you owe naught to any man. You owe all to all men. ”

“ You cannot laugh and be unkind at the same time.
The nearest to my heart are a king without a kingdom and a poor man who does not know how to beg.
A shy failure is nobler than an immodest success. ”

“ When you enjoy loving your neighbor it ceases to be a virtue.
Love which is not always springing is always dying.
You cannot have youth and the knowledge of it at the same time;
For youth is too busy living to know, and knowledge is too busy seeking itself to live. ”

“ We measure time according to the movement of countless suns; and they measure time by little machines in their little pockets.
Now tell me, how could we ever meet at the same place and the same time?
Space is not space between the earth and the sun to one who looks down from the windows of the Milky Way.
Humanity is a river of light running from ex-eternity to eternity. ”

“ How narrow is the vision that exalts the busyness of the ant above the singing of the grasshopper.
The highest virtue here may be the least in another world.
The deep and the high go to the depth or to the height in a straight line; only the spacious can move in circles. ”

“ I would be the least among men with dreams and the desire to fulfill them, rather than the greatest with no dreams and no desires.
The most pitiful among men is he who turns his dreams into silver and gold.
We are all climbing toward the summit of our hearts’ desire. Should the other climber steal your sack and your purse and wax fat on the one and heavy on the other, you should pity him ”

“ But you are a slave to him whom you love because you love him,
And a slave to him who loves you because he loves you.
We are all beggars at the gate of the temple, and each one of us receives his share of the bounty of the King when he enters the temple, and when he goes out.
But we are all jealous of one another, which is another way of belittling the King.
You cannot consume beyond your appetite. The other half of the loaf belongs to the other person, and there should remain a little bread for the chance guest. ”

“ A forgotten reality may die and leave in its will seven thousand actualities and facts to be spent in its funeral and the building of a tomb.
In truth we talk only to ourselves, but sometimes we talk loud enough that others may hear us. ”

“ You are but a fragment of your giant self, a mouth that seeks bread, and a blind hand that holds the cup for a thirsty mouth.
If you would rise but a cubit above race and country and self you would indeed become godlike. ”

“ Love and doubt have never been on speaking terms.
Love is a word of light, written by a hand of light, upon a page of light.
Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.
If you do not understand your friend under all conditions you will never understand him.
Your most radiant garment is of the other person’s weaving ”

“ Yestereve I saw philosophers in the market-place carrying their heads in baskets, and crying aloud, “Wisdom! Wisdom for sale!”
Poor philosophers! They must needs sell their heads to feed their hearts. ”

“ Should we all confess our sins to one another we would all laugh at one another for our lack of originality.
Should we all reveal our virtues we would also laugh for the same cause.
An individual is above man-made laws until he commits a crime against man-made conventions ”

“ The truly good is he who is one with all those who are deemed bad.
We are all prisoners but some of us are in cells with windows and some without.
Strange that we all defend our wrongs with more vigor than we do our rights. ”

“ Surely it would not be worth while for twenty foxes riding on twenty asses and accompanied by twenty wolves to chase and kill one man.”
It is the mind in us that yields to the laws made by us, but never the spirit in us. ”

“ Original Old Style possesses in a high degree those two qualities by which a book type must be judged: first, legibility, and second, the ability to impart a definite character to a page without intruding itself upon the reader's consciousness. ”

“ There must be something strangely sacred in salt. It is in our tears and in the sea. ”