Khalil Gibran > Quotes

“If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.”
― Khalil Gibran

“For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

“Your other half is not the one you love
It is you in another time
yet in the same space
It is you when you are not”
― Khalil Gibran, Do Not Love Half Lovers

“I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.”
― Khalil Gibran

“But should my voice fade in your ears, and my love vanish in your memory, then I will come again, And with a richer heart and lips more yielding to the spirit will I speak.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

“Nie kochaj półmiłością
Nie gość półprzyjaciół
Nie oddawaj się dziełom na pół uzdolnionych
Nie żyj półżyciem
I nie umieraj półśmiercią
Chcesz milczeć, milcz
Chcesz mówić, mów, aż skończysz
Nie uciszaj się po to, żeby coś powiedzieć
I nie mów po to, by milczeć
Jeśli się zgadzasz, wyraź to dosadnie
Nie ukrywaj tego
Jeśli odmawiasz, odmów jasno,
dwuznaczna odmowa to nic więcej niż słaba zgoda
Nie zgadzaj się na półśrodki
Nie wierz półprawdom
Nie snuj półnadziei
I nie śnij półsnów
Pół napoju nie zgasi twojego pragnienia
Pół posiłku nie zaspokoi głodu
Jeśli przejdziesz pół drogi, donikąd nie dotrzesz
Pół pomysłu niczym nie zaowocuje
Twoja druga połówka to nie ten, kogo kochasz
To ty kiedy indziej, choć w tym samym miejscu
To ty, kiedy cię nie ma
Półżycie to życie, którego nie przeżyłeś
Słowo, którego nie wypowiedziałeś
Uśmiech, który odłożyłeś na potem
Miłość, której nie miałeś
Przyjaźń, której nie znałeś
To dążyć, lecz się nie zjawiać
Pracować i nie pracować
Uczestniczyć, będąc nieobecnym
To przez to dla najbliższych stajesz się kimś obcym,
a oni obcymi dla ciebie
Połowa to tylko chwila, gdy zrobić czegoś nie możesz,
ale ty możesz to zrobić, nie jesteś półistotą
Jesteś całością, istniejesz, by żyć całym życiem,
a nie połową życia.”
― Khalil Gibran

“The wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks than to the least of all the blades of grass; And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

“On Marriage

You were born together
together, and together you shall be for evermore.

You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days. Aye, 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. Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,

Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.

And stand together yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

“Humanity is a river of light running from ex-eternity to eternity.”
― Khalil Gibran, Sand and Foam

“A voice cannot carry the tongue and the lips that gave it wings. Alone must it seek the ether.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

“It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.
Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity:
For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen,
And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with his own sacred tears.”
― Khalil Gibran

“Much of your pain is self-chosen.
It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.
Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity:
For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen,
And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the
Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears.”
― Khalil Gibran

“Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.”
― Khalil Gibran

“for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course."
As much as love allows for our growth, it also acts to prune us so that we grow straight and tall.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

“Whenever you pass by the field where you have laid your ancestors look well there-upon, and you shall see yourselves and your children dancing hand in hand.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

“Fidatevi dei sogni, poiché in essi è nascosta la porta all’eternità.”
― Khalil Gibran, Il profeta - Il giardino del profeta

“Few of us are able to add fact to different fact and make a truth thereof.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Wanderer

“Heavy-laden is my soul with her own ripe fruit;
Heavy-laden is my soul with her fruit.
Who now will come and eat and be fulfilled?
My soul is overflowing with her wine.
Who now will pour and drink and be cooled of the desert heat?

Would that I were a tree flowerless and fruitless,
For the pain of abundance is more bitter than barrenness,
And the sorrow of the rich from whom no one will take
Is greater than the grief of the beggar to whom none would give.

Would that I were a well, dry and parched , and men throwing stones into me;
For this were better and easier to be borne than to be a source of living water
When men pass by and will not drink.

Would that I were a reed trodden under foot,
For that were better than to be a lyre of silvery strings
In a house whose lord has no fingers
And whose children are deaf.”
― Khalil Gibran

“Do not love half lovers
Do not entertain half friends
“Do not indulge in works of the half talented
Do not live half a life
and do not die a half death
If you choose silence, then be silent
When you speak, do so until you are finished.....”
― Khalil Gibran

“Sarete davvero liberi non quando i vostri giorni saranno privi di affanni e le vostre notti saranno senza carenze e dolore,
Ma, piuttosto, quando queste cose cingeranno la vostra vita e tuttavia voi vi leverete al di sopra nudi e senza vincoli.”
― Khalil Gibran, Il profeta - Il giardino del profeta

“Maar als je in je angst slechts liefdes vrede en liefdes vreugde
zoekt,
Dan is het beter dat je je naaktheid bedekt en je terugtrekt
van liefdes dorsvloer,
Terug in de zouteloze wereld waar je zult lachen, maar nooit
uit volle borst,
En huilen, maar nooit al je tranen.
Liefde geeft niets, behalve zichzelf, en ze neemt niets behal-
ve van zichzelf.
Liefde wil niet bezitten en niet bezeten worden;
Want liefde is liefde genoeg.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

“Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you.”
― Khalil Gibran

“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.”
― Khalil Gibran

“The lust for comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house as a guest, and then becomes a host, and then a master.”
― Khalil Gibran

“Love is trembling happiness”
― Khalil Gibran

“Les femmes ont ouvert les fenêtres de mes yeux et les portes de mon esprit. S’il n’y avait pas eu la femme-mère, la femme-sœur, la femme-amie, j’aurais dormi parmi ceux qui cherchent la tranquillité du monde en ronflant.”
― Khalil Gibran, Le Prophète

“Then said Almitra, Speak to us of Love.
And he raised his head and looked upon
the people, and there fell a stillness upon
them. And with a great voice he said:
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.
•
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto
himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his 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.

But if in your fear you would seek only
love’s peace and love’s pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover
your nakedness and pass out of love’s
threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you
shall laugh, but not all of your laughter,
and weep, but not all of your tears.
•
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.

When you love you should not say,
“God is in my heart,” but rather, “I am
in the heart of God.”
And think not you can direct the course
of love, for love, if it finds you worthy,
directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfil
itself.
But if you love and must needs have
desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook
that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own under-
standing of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart
and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate
love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with grati-
tude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the
beloved in your heart and a song of praise
upon your lips.”
― Khalil Gibran

“The poets and writers are trying to understand the reality of woman, but up to this day they
have not understood the hidden secrets of her heart, because they look upon her from behind the sexual veil and see nothing but externals; they look upon her through the magnifying glass of hatefulness and find nothing except weakness and submission.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Broken Wings

“Suffer not yet our eyes to hunger for your face.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

“Would that I would be the peacemaker in your soul, that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet