Wisdom from Kahlil Gibran

I finally got around to reading Kahlil Gibran. His writing is wisdom rendered with taste and appeal.

Sharing a few of my favorite excerpts from "The Prophet" and "Sand and Foam" here. Happy reading.

From The Prophet:

On Marriage:

“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.”

On Children:

“Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.

For they have their own thoughts.”

On Friendship:

"Your friend is your needs answered."

“In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things, does the heart find its morning and is refreshed.”

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

On Work:

“When you work you fulfill a part of earth's furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born,

And what is it to work with love?

It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.

It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.

It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.

It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit.

Work is love made visible”

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From Sand and Foam:

“Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.”

“You may forget with whom you laughed, but you will never forget with whom you wept.”

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

“Generosity is not in giving me that which I need more than you do, but it is in giving me that which you need more than I do.”

“Men who do not forgive women their little faults will never enjoy their great virtues.”

“If your heart is a volcano, how shall you expect flowers to bloom?”

“All our words are but crumbs that fall down from the feast of the mind.”

“Remembrance is a form of meeting. Forgetfulness is a form of freedom.”

“Yes, there is a Nirvana; 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”

“You cannot judge any man beyond your knowledge of him, and how small is your knowledge.”

“You may judge others only according to your knowledge of yourself.”

“If the other person laughs at you, you can pity him; but if you laugh at him you may never forgive yourself. If the other person injures you, you may forget the injury; but if you injure him you will always remember. In truth the other person is your most sensitive self given another body.”

“Every thought I have imprisoned in expression I must free by my deeds.”

“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.”

“A root is a flower that disdains fame.”

“You cannot laugh and be unkind at the same time.”

“Love and doubt have never been on speaking terms.”

“If you would rise but a cubit above race and country and self you would indeed become godlike.”

“Poetry is not an opinion expressed. It is a song that rises from a bleeding wound or a smiling mouth.”

“Every man loves two women; the one is the creation of his imagination, and the other is not yet born.”

“An exaggeration is a truth that has lost its temper.”

“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.”

"Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself"

"Even the hands that make crowns of thorns are better than idle hands"

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