Quote Search

There is no secret in the mystery of life stronger and more beautiful than that attachment which converts the silence of a virgin's spirit into a perpetual awareness that makes a person forget the past, for it kindles fiercely in the heart the sweet and overwhelming hope of the coming future.

—  Kahlil Gibran

You may chain my hands, you may shackle my feet; you may even throw me into a dark prison; but you shall not enslave my thinking, because it is free.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Love has no other desire but to fulfull itself. To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.

—  Kahlil Gibran

He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked.

—  Kahlil Gibran

If your knowledge teaches you not to rise above human weakness and misery and lead your fellow man on the right path, you are indeed a man of little worth and will remain such till Judgment Day.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Nature reaches out to us with welcoming arms, and bids us enjoy her beauty; but we dread her silence and rush into the crowded cities, there to huddle like sheep fleeing from a ferocious wolf.

—  Kahlil Gibran

A look which reveals inward stress adds more beauty to the face, no matter how much tragedy and pain it bespeaks; but the face which, in silence, does not announce hidden mysteries is not beautiful, regardless of the symmetry of its features.

—  Kahlil Gibran

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

—  Kahlil Gibran

Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.

—  Kahlil Gibran

If indeed you must be candid, be candid beautifully.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Prayer is the song of the heart. It reaches the ear of God even if it is mingled with the cry and the tumult of a thousand men.

—  Kahlil Gibran

The subtlest beauties in our life are unseen and unheard.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Faith is an oasis in the heart which can never be reached by the caravan of thinking.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Dying for Freedom is nobler than living in The shadow of weak submission, for He who embraces death with the sword Of Truth in his hand will eternalize With the Eternity of Truth, for Life Is weaker than Death and Death is Weaker than Truth.

—  Kahlil Gibran

And ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.

—  Kahlil Gibran

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.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Whoever would be a teacher of men let him begin by teaching himself before teaching others; and let him teach by example before teaching by word. For he who teaches himself and rectifies his own ways is more deserving of respect and reverence than he who would teach others and rectify their ways.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Give and Take ... For to the bee a flower is a fountain if life And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love And to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving is a need and an ecstasy.

—  Kahlil Gibran

God created music as a common language for all men. It inspires the poets, the composers and the architects. It lures us to search our souls for the meaning of the mysteries described in ancient books.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.

—  Kahlil Gibran

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

—  Kahlil Gibran

The reality of the other person lies 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.

—  Kahlil Gibran

You can muffle the drum, and you can loosen the strings of the lyre, but who shall command the skylark not to sing?

—  Kahlil Gibran

Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Solitude has soft, silky hands, but with strong fingers it grasps the heart and makes it ache with sorrow. Solitude is the ally of sorrow as well as a companion of spiritual exaltation.

—  Kahlil Gibran

God has given you a spirit with wings on which to soar into the spacious firmament of Love and Freedom. Is it not pitiful than that you cut your wings with your own hands and suffer your soul to crawl like an insect upon the earth?

—  Kahlil Gibran

Many are the places of worship, but few indeed are those who worship in Spirit and in truth.

—  Kahlil Gibran

If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.

—  Kahlil Gibran

The significance of a man is not in what he attains, but rather what he longs to attain.

—  Kahlil Gibran

What is this world that is hastening me toward I know not what, viewing me with contempt?

—  Kahlil Gibran

There is a desire deep within the soul which drives man from the seen to the unseen, to philosophy and to the divine.

—  Kahlil Gibran

The very strength that protects the heart from injury is the strength that prevents the heart from enlarging to its intended greatness within. The song of the voice is sweet, but the song of the heart is the pure voice of heaven.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Spring is beautiful everywhere, but it is more than beautiful in Lebanon. Spring is the spirit of an unknown God speeding through the world, which, as it reaches Lebanon, pauses, because now it is as at home with the souls of the Prophets and Kings hovering over the land, chanting with the brooks of Judea, the eternal Psalms of Solomon, renewing with the Cedars of Lebanon memories of an ancient glory.

—  Kahlil Gibran

He who does not see the angels and devils in the beauty and malice of life will be far removed from knowledge, and his spirit will be empty of affection.

—  Kahlil Gibran

You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you, For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

—  Kahlil Gibran

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

—  Kahlil Gibran

Yes, there is a Nirvana; it is in leading your sheep to a green pasture, and in putting your child to sleep, and in writing the last line of your poem.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolutions.

—  Kahlil Gibran

They tell me: If you see a slave sleeping, do not wake him lest he be dreaming of freedom. I tell them: If you see a slave sleeping, wake him and explain to him freedom.

—  Kahlil Gibran

A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.

—  Kahlil Gibran

You give little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

—  Kahlil Gibran

How narrow is the vision that exalts the busyness of the ant above the singing of the grasshopper.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Life without Freedom is like a body without a soul, and Freedom without Thought is like a confused spirit ... Life, Freedom and Thought are three-in-one, and are everlasting and shall never pass away.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Remember, one just man causes the Devil greater affliction than a million blind believers.

—  Kahlil Gibran

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.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Believing is a fine thing, but placing those beliefs into execution is a test of strength. Many are those who talk like the roar of the sea, gut their lives are shallow and stagnant, like the rotting marshes. Many are those who lift their heads above the mountain tops, but their spirits remain dormant in the obscurity of the caverns.

—  Kahlil Gibran

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.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Poetry, my dear friends, is a sacred incarnation of a smile. Poetry is a sigh that dries the tears. Poetry is a spirit who dwells in the soul, whose nourishment is the heart, whose wine is affection. Poetry that comes not in this form is a false messiah.

—  Kahlil Gibran

A woman whom Providence has provided with beauty of spirit and body is a truth, at the same time both open and secret, which we can understand only by love, and touch only by virtue.

—  Kahlil 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.

—  Kahlil Gibran

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

—  Kahlil Gibran

If your knowledge teaches you not the value of things, and frees you not from the bondage to matter, you shall never come near the throne of Truth.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Each thing that exists remains forever, and that very existence of existence is proof of its eternity. But without that realization, which is the knowledge of perfect being, man would never know whether there was existence or non-existence. If eternal existence is altered, then it must become more beautiful; and if it disappears, it must return with more sublime image; and if it sleeps, it must dream of a better awakening, for it is ever greater upon its rebirth.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Money is like love; it kills slowly and painfully the one who withholds it, and enlivens the other who turns it on his fellow man.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Vain are the beliefs and teachings that make man miserable, and false is the goodness that leads him into sorrow and despair, for it is man's purpose to be happy on this earth and lead the way to felicity and preach its gospel wherever he goes. He who does not see the kingdom of heaven in this life will never see it in the coming life. We came not into this life by exile, but we came as innocent creatures of God, to learn how to worship the holy and eternal spirit and seek the hidden secrets within ourselves from the beauty of life.

—  Kahlil Gibran

When God created Man, he gave him Music as a language different from all other languages. And early man sang his glory in the wilderness; and drew the hearts of kings and moved them from their thrones.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Beauty is not in the face; Beauty is a light in the heart.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Spiritual awakening is the most essential thing in man's life, and it is the the sole purpose of being. Is not civilization, in all its tragic forms, a supreme motive for spiritual awakening?

—  Kahlil Gibran

Wit is often a mask. If you tear it you will find either genius irritated or cleverness juggling.

—  Kahlil Gibran

From a sensitive woman's heart springs the happiness of mankind, and from the kindness of her noble spirit comes mankind's affection.

—  Kahlil Gibran

We shall never understand one another until we reduce the language to seven words.

—  Kahlil Gibran

All you have shall some day be given; Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors'.

—  Kahlil Gibran

God has made many doors opening into truth which He opens to all who knock upon them with hands of faith.

—  Kahlil Gibran

The thirst of soul is sweeter than the wine of material things, and the fear of spirit is dearer than the security of the body.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Art is one step from the visibly known toward the unknown.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself ... You may house their bodies but not their souls, for their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Love is the only flower that grows and blossoms without the aid of seasons.

—  Kahlil Gibran

If you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work.

—  Kahlil Gibran

Remember that Divinity is the true self of Man. It cannot be sold for gold; neither can it be heaped up as are the riches of the world today. The rich man has cast off his Divinity, and has clung to his gold. And the young today have forsaken their Divinity and pursue self-indulgence and pleasure.

—  Kahlil Gibran

You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.

—  Kahlil Gibran

It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding.

—  Kahlil Gibran