Khalil Gibran

“Words are timeless. You should utter them or write them with a knowledge of their timelessness.”

“My friend, I am not what I seem. Seeming is but a garment I wear — a care-woven garment that protects me from thy questionings and thee from my negligence. The "I" in me, my friend, dwells in the house of silence, and therein it shall remain for ever more, unperceived, unapproachable.”

“Let us disperse from our aloofness and serve the weak who made us strong, and cleanse the country in which we live. Let us teach this miserable nation to smile and rejoice with heaven's bounty and glory of life and freedom. ”

“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.”

“Verily the lust for comfort murders the passion of the soul, and then walks grinning in the funeral.”

“Would that I could gather your houses into my hand, and like a sower scatter them in forest and meadow.”

“And when you crush an apple with your teeth, say to it in your heart:Your seeds shall live in my body,And the buds of your tomorrow shall blossom in my heart,And your fragrance shall be my breath,And together we shall rejoice through all the seasons.”

“Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox, whose philosopher is a juggler, and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking.Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpetings, and farewells him with hootings, only to welcome another ruler with trumpetings again.Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years and whose strong men are yet in the cradle.Pity the nation divided into fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation.”

“When you part from your friend, you grieve not;For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, asthe mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.”

“The feelings we live throughin love and in lonelinessare simply, for us,what high tideand low tide are to the sea.”

“True beauty is a rayThat springs from the sacred depths of the soul,and illuminates the body, just as lifesprings from the kernel of a stone andgives colour and scent to a flower.”

“Darkness may hide the treesand the flowers from the eyesbut it cannot hidelove from the soul.”

“Love is quivering happiness.”

“He who is more mindful of one, loses the love and the faith of both.”

“For Reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and Passion, unattended,is a flame that burns to its own destruction.”

“It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding; and to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving.”

“Amigo mío... yo no soy lo que parezco. Mi aspecto exterior no es sino un traje que llevo puesto; un traje hecho cuidadosamente, que me protege de tus preguntas, y a ti, de mi negligencia.El "yo" que hay en mí, amigo mío, mora en la casa del silencio, y allí permanecerá para siempre, inadvertido, secreto. No quisiera que creyeras en lo que digo ni que confiaras en lo que hago, pues mis palabras no son otra cosa que tus propios pensamientos, hechos sonido, y mis hechos son tus propias esperanzas en acto.Cuando dices: "El viento sopla hacia el Este", digo: "Sí, siempre sopla hacia el Este"; pues no quiero que sepas entonces que mi mente no mora en el viento, sino en el mar.No puedes comprender mis navegantes pensamientos, ni me interesa que los comprendas. Prefiero estar a solas en el mar. Cuando es de día para tí, amigo mío, es de noche para mí; sin embargo, todavía entonces hablo de la luz del día que danza en las montañas, y de la sombra purpúrea que se abre paso por el valle; pues no puedes oír las canciones de mi oscuridad, ni puedes ver mis alas que se agitan contra las estrellas, y no me interesa que oigas ni que veas lo que pasa en mí; prefiero estar a solas con la noche.Cuando tú subes a tu Cielo yo desciendo a mi Infierno. Y aún entonces me llamas a través del golfo infranqueable que nos separa: " ¡Compañero! ¡Camarada!" Y te contesto: "¡Compañero! ¡Camarada!, porque no quiero que veas mi Infierno. Las llamas te cegarían, y el humo te ahogaría. Y me gusta mi Infierno; lo amo al grado de no dejar que lo visites. Prefiero estar solo en mi Infierno.Tu amas la Verdad, la Belleza y lo Justo, y yo, por complacerte, digo que está bien, y finjo amar estas cosas. Pero en el fondo de mi corazón me río de tu amor por estas entidades. Sin embargo, no te dejo ver mi risa: prefiero reír a solas. Amigo mío, eres bueno, discreto y sensato; es más: eres perfecto. Y yo, a mi vez, hablo contigo con sensatez y discreción, pero... estoy loco. Sólo que enmascaro mi locura. Prefiero estar loco, a solas.Amigo mío, tú no eres mi amigo. Pero, ¿cómo hacer que lo comprendas? Mi senda no es tu senda y, sin embargo, caminamos juntos, tomados de la mano.”

“Fue así que me enloquecí.Y en mi locura he hallado libertad y seguridad; la libertad de la soledad y la seguridad de no ser comprendido, pues quienes nos comprenden esclavizan una parte de nuestro ser.”

“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.”

“Then Almitra spoke again and said, and what of Marriage master? And he answered saying: You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days. Ay, 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.”

“There is a space between man's imagination and man's attainment that may only be traversed by his longing.”

“My loneliness was born when men praised my talkative faults and blamed my silent virtues.”

“It was but yesterday I thought myself a fragment quivering without rhythm in the sphere of life. Now I know that I am the sphere, and all life in rhythmic fragments moves within me.”

“And even as each one of you stands alone in God's knowledge, so must each one of you be alone in his knowledge of God and in his understanding of the earth.”

“yo amo demasiado mi infierno para querer que tu lo visites”

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

“فسارق الزهر مذموم ومحتقرٌوسارق الحقل يدعى الباسل الخطرُ!”

“A God who is good knows no segregation amongst words or names. And were a God to deny his blessing to those who pursue a different path to eternity, there would be no human who should offer worship.”

“One day you will ask me which is more important? My life or yours? I will say mine and you will walk away not knowing that you are my life.”

“And if there come the singers and the dancers and the flute players, buy of their gifts also.For they too are gatherers of fruit and frankincense, and that which they bring, though fashioned of dreams, is raiment and food for your soul.”

“Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation”

“Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.”

“Pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. ”

“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.”

“Your joy is your sorrow unmasked...The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain...I say unto you, they are inseparable.Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.”

“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?”

“life unfolds itself in mysteries ways.”

“When you love you should not think you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.”

“I have never agreed with my other self wholly. The truth of the matter seems to lie between us.”

“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.”

“We are all like the bright moon, we still have our darker side.”

“They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold; and I deem them mad because they think my days have a price.”

“Sicher gibt es kein größeres Geschenk für einen Menschen als das, was all seine Ziele zu brennenden Lippen und alles Leben zu einem Brunnen macht.”

“Das freieste Lied dringt nicht durch Gitter und Draht.”

“Schönheit ist Ewigkeit, die sich in einem Spiegel anschaut. - Aber ihr seid die Ewigkeit, und ihr seid der Spiegel.”

“Schönheit ist kein Bedürfnis, sondern eine Verzückung.”

“Bedauern ist die Trübung des Geistes und nicht seine Läuterung.”

“Einige Junge unter euch suchen das Vergnügen, als sei es alles, und sie werden getadelt und verurteilt. - Ich würde sie weder tadeln noch verurteilen. Ich würde sie suchen lassen.”

“Vergnügen ist ein Lied der Freiheit, - Aber es ist keine Freiheit.”

“Ihr seid gut, wenn ihr eins mit euch seid.”