Kahlil Gibran

“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the greatest intention.”

“Your reason and your passion are your rudder and sails of your seafaring soul, if either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas. For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.”

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

“And a woman spoke, saying, "Tell us of Pain." And he said: Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy; And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields. And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief. 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.”

“Of the good in you I can speak, but not of the evil.For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst?Verily when good is hungry it seeks food even in dark caves, and when it thirsts it drinks even of dead waters.”

“I wash my hands of those who imagine chattering to be knowledge, silence to be ignorance, and affection to be art.”

“The appearance of things changes according to the emotions; and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves.”

“Die Einsicht eines Menschen verleiht ihre Flügel keinem anderen.”

“Die Vernunft ist, wenn sie allein waltet, eine einengende Kraft; und unbewacht ist die Leidenschaft eine Flamme, die bis zur Selbstzerstörung brennt.”

“[Gemütlichkeit] verspottet euren gesunden Verstand.”

“Für den Freigebigen ist die Suche nach einem, der empfangen soll, eine größere Freude als das Geben.”

“Glaube nicht, du kannst den Lauf der Liebe lenken, denn die Liebe, wenn sie dich für würdig hält, lenkt deinen Lauf.”

“Oftentimes have I heard you speak of one who commits a wrong as though he were not one of you, but a stranger unto you and an intruder upon your world.But I say that 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.And as a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the whole tree,So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all.Like a procession you walk together towards your god-self.You are the way and the wayfarers.And when one of you falls down he falls for those behind him, a caution against the stumbling stone. ”

“You often say,'I would give, but only to the deserving.'The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights, is worthy of all else from you.And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream. ”

“Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.”

“As the strings of a lute are apart though they quiver the same music.”

“Do not fear the thorns in your path, for they draw only corrupt blood.”

“Observe the wonders as they occur around you.Don't claim them. Feel the artistry moving through and be silent.”

“Bangun jalanmu hari ini karena hari esok terlalu tak pasti untuk dijalani”

“Biarkanlah ada jarak di antara kebersamaan anda.”

“Kita berdoa kalau kesusahan dan membutuhkan sesuatu,Mestinya kita juga berdoa dalam kegembiraan besar dan saat rezeki melimpah.”

“One's own religion is after all a matter between oneself and one's Maker and no one else's.”

“Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.”

“A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand. Is not the mountain far more awe-inspiring and more clearly visible to one passing through the valley than to those who inhabit the mountain?”

“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 understanding 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 noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;To return home at eventide with gratitude;And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise on your lips.”

“For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst?”

“Many of us spend our whole lives running from feeling with the mistaken belief that you can not bear the pain. But you have already borne the pain. What you have not done is feel all you are beyond that pain.”

“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.”

“I would not exchange the laughter of my heart for the fortunes of the multitudes.”

“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......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. And think not you can direct the course of 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 understanding of love; And to bleed willingly and joyfully.”

“Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.”

“Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.”

“We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.”

“Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution.”

“For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.”

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

“When you reach the end of what you should know, you will be at the beginning of what you should sense.”

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

“And some of your elders remember pleasures with regret like wrongs committed in drunkenness.But regret is the beclouding of the mind and not its chastisement. They should remember their pleasures with gratitude, as they would the harvest of a summer.”

“An eye for an eye, and the whole world would be blind.”

“Say not, “I have found the truth,” but rather, “I have found a truth.”Say not, “I have found the path of the soul.” Say rather, “I have met the soul walking upon my path.”For the soul walks upon all paths.The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.”

“Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.But you are eternity and you are the mirror.”

“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...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 oflove’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...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 understanding of love;And to bleed willingly and joyfully.”

“The deeper that sorrow carves into your being,the more joy you can contain.Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.”

“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.”

“Trees are poems the earth writes upon the sky, We fell them down and turn them into paper,That we may record our emptiness.”

“You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts.”

“Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.”

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

“The Reality of The Other Person Lies Not In What He Reveals To You, But 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.”