KHALIL GIBRAN - QUOTATIONS

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.







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










Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.










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









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.












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.








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











I AM IGNORANT of absolute truth.
But I am humble before my ignorance
and therein lies my honor and my
reward







Yesterday is but today's memory
and tomorrow is today's dream.










If you love somebody, let them go,
for if they return, they were always
yours. If they don't, they never were.











No human relation gives one
possession in another—every two
souls are absolutely different. In friendship or in love, the two side by
side raise hands together to find
what one cannot reach alone.










Your 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












I have learned silence from the
talkative, tolerance from the
intolerant, and kindness from the
unkind. I should not be ungrateful
 to these teachers










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.










We choose our joys and sorrows
long before we experience them












Joy and sorrow are inseparable. . . together they come and when
one sits alone with you . . remember
that the other is asleep upon your bed.









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











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.











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










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







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









To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to









For what is your friend that you
should seek him with hours to kill?

Seek him always with hours to live.

For it is his to fill your need, but not
your emptiness.

And in the sweetness of friendship
let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.

For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.










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.











Friendship is always a sweet
responsibility, never an opportunity







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.










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.









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 tranquility:
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










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.













Solitude has soft, silky hands,
but with strong fingers it grasps
 the heart and makes it ache with
 sorrow









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 me
t 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.










Of life's two chief prizes, beauty
and truth, I found the first in a
loving heart and the second in a
laborer's hand.










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?"










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.










It was love lashed by its own self
that spoke. It was pride half slain
that fluttered in the dust. It was my
hunger for your love that raged from
the housetop, while my own love,
kneeling in silence, prayed your forgiveness.










Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.












Love is the only freedom in the
world because it so elevates the
spirit that the laws of humanity
and the phenomena of nature do
not alter its course.










Faith is a knowledge within the
heart, beyond the reach of proof












You cannot laugh and be unkind
 at the same time








Watercolor Paintings by Fujico Hashimoto