Gibran Khalil Quotes & Sayings

And from that day to this, the wise men of Ishana say one to another secretly, "Is it not known, and has it not been said from of old, that Ishana is ruled by an enemy?"
-Khalil Gibran — Kahlil Gibran

If I accept the sunshine and warmth, then I must also accept the thunder and lightning. — Khalil Gibran

Marriage is like a golden ring in a chain, whose beginning is a glance and whose ending is eternity. — Khalil Gibran

Reason without learning is like the untilled soil, or like the human body that lacks nourishment. — Khalil Gibran

Man is like the foam of the sea, that floats upon the surface of the water. When the wind blows, it vanishes, as if it had never been. Thus are our lives blown away by Death. — Khalil Gibran

And only the sure of foot can give a hand to him who stumbles. — Khalil Gibran

The just is close to the people's heart, but the merciful is close to the heart of God. — Khalil Gibran

Philosophy's work is finding the shortest path between two points. — Khalil Gibran

The power to Love is God's greatest gift to man, For it never will be taken from the Blessed one who loves. — Khalil Gibran

The bird has an honor that man does not have. Man lives in the traps of his abdicated laws and traditions; but the birds live according to the natural law of God who causes the earth to turn around the sun. — Khalil Gibran

Yesterday is ever jealous of ... tomorrow. — Khalil Gibran

Theban who acquires his wealth by inheritance builds his mansion with the weak poor's money. The clergyman erects his temple upon the graves and bones of the devoted worshippers. The prince grasps the fellah's arms while the priest empties his pocket; the ruler looks upon the sobs of the fields with frowning face, and the bishop consoles them with his smile, and between the frown of the tiger and the smile of the wolf the flock is perished; the ruler claims himself as king if the law, and the priest as the representative if god, and between these two, the bodies are destroyed and the souls wither into nothing. — Kahlil Gibran

He who requires urging to do a noble act will never accomplish it. — Khalil 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. — Khalil Gibran

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

The mute grain turns to love songs when swallowed by the nightingale. — Khalil Gibran

Hallow the body as a temple to comeliness and sanctify the heart as a sacrifice to love; love recompenses the adorers. — Khalil Gibran

The shepherd will deny the diseased lamb in fear of the flock. — Khalil Gibran

When I planted my pain in the field of patience it bore fruit of happiness. — Khalil Gibran

And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. — Khalil Gibran

The first part of my name, Khalil Gibran, seems to be paying huge dividends in terms of the artistic life of the poet from whom my name was inspired. — Khalil Gibran Muhammad

Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be. — Khalil Gibran

Work is love made visible. And what is it to work with love? the poet Khalil Gibran wrote. In the hospital, working with love sometimes requires putting people in danger. — Theresa Brown

Even while the Earth sleeps we travel. — Khalil Gibran

Sorrow is too great to exist in small hearts. — Khalil Gibran

He who passes not his days in the realm of dreams is the slave of the days. — Khalil Gibran

You, the strong, have I loved, though the marks of your iron hoofs are yet upon my flesh. — Khalil 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. — Khalil Gibran

A shy failure is nobler than an immodest success. — Khalil Gibran

Marriage is like a temple resting on two pillars. If they come too close to each other the temple will collapse. — Khalil Gibran

Life has two halves: one patient and one afire. Love is the fiery half. Make me, O Lord, food for the flames. — Khalil Gibran

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

For a love to grow through the test of everyday living, one must respect that zone of privacy where one retires to relate to the inside instead of the outside. — Khalil Gibran

Poverty hides itself in thought before it surrenders to purses. — Khalil Gibran

You are your own forerunner, and the towers you have builded are but the foundation of your giant-self. And that self too shall be a foundation. — Khalil Gibran

Life is weaker than Death and Death is weaker than Truth. — Khalil Gibran

That deed which in our guilt we today call weakness, will appear tomorrow as an essential link in the complete chain of Man. — Khalil 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. — Khalil Gibran

At ebb tide I wrote a line upon the sand, and gave it all my heart and all my soul. At flood tide I returned to read what I had inscribed and found my ignorance upon the shore. — Khalil Gibran

Should we all confess our sins to one another we would all laugh at one another for our lack of originality — Khalil Gibran

Cover me with soft earth, and let each handful be mixed With seeds ofjasmine, lilies, and myrtle; and when they Grow above me and thrive on my body's element they will Breathe the fragrance of my heart into space. — Khalil Gibran

The obvious is that which is never seen until someone expresses it simply. — Khalil Gibran

Spare me the political events and power struggles, as the whole earth is my homeland and all men are my fellow countrymen. — Khalil Gibran

Like the ocean is your god-self; It remains for ever undefiled. And like the ether it lifts but the winged. Even like the sun is your god-self; It knows not the ways of the mole nor seeks it the holes of the serpent. But your god-self does not dwell alone in your being. Much in you is still man, and much in you is not yet man, But a shapeless pigmy that walks asleep in the mist searching for its own awakening. — Khalil Gibran

Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in the desert. — Khalil Gibran

You progress not through what has been done, but reaching towards what has yet to be done. — Khalil Gibran

Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon your reason and your judgment wage war against your passion and your appetite. — Kahlil Gibran

I would tell you more of Him, but how shall I? When love becomes vast love becomes wordless. And when memory is overladen it seeks the silent deep. — Khalil Gibran

When you feel Jealousy is a sign that Love should have each other — Khalil Gibran

I do not want you to hear that I LOVE you, but I want you to feel it without me having to say. — Khalil Gibran

Listen to the women when she looks at you, not when she talks to you. — Khalil Gibran

There is within me a friend who consoles me every time that troubles overwhelm me and misfortunes afflict me. The man who does not feel friendship towards himself is a public enemy, and he who finds no confidant within himself will die of despair. For life streams out of man's inner self and in no way from what surrounds him. — Khalil Gibran

I had a second birth when my soul and my body loved one another and were married. — Khalil Gibran

Love has the power that dispels death; charm that conquers the enemy. — Khalil Gibran

He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked.
The wind and the sun will tear no holes in his skin. — Kahlil Gibran

I think Khalil Gibran stated it perfectly in The Prophet: 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, and though they are with you yet they belong not to you. — Wayne W. Dyer

Everyone has experienced that truth: that love, like a running brook, is disregarded, taken for granted; but when the brook freezes over, then people begin to remember how it was when it ran, and they want it to run again. — Khalil Gibran

In truth you owe naught to any man. You owe to all men. — Khalil Gibran

All can hear, but only the sensitive can understand ... — Khalil 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. — Khalil Gibran

The longing for paradise is paradise itself. — Khalil Gibran

No man can reveal to you nothing but that which already lies half-asleep in the dawning of your knowledge. — Khalil Gibran

Between the shores of the oceans and the summit of the highest mountain is a secret route that you must absolutely take before being one with the sons of the Earth. — Khalil Gibran

Time has been transformed, and we have changed; it has advanced and set us in motion; it has unveiled its face, inspiring us with bewilderment and exhilaration. — Khalil Gibran

A thief is a man in need. A liar is a man in fear. — Khalil Gibran

God made the world with a heart full of love,
Then He looked down from Heaven above,
And saw that we all need a helping hand,
Someone to share with, who'll understand.
He made special people to see us through
The glad times and the sad times, too;
A person on whom we can always depend,
Someone we can call a friend.
God made friends so we'll carry a part
Of His perfect love in all our hearts. — Khalil Gibran

Your thought describes laws, courts, judges, punishments. Mine explains that when man makes a law, he either violates it or obeys it. If there is a basic law, we are all one before it. He who disdains the mean is himself mean. He who vaunts his scorn of the sinful vaunts his disdain of all humanity. — Khalil Gibran

Love is timeless ...
Death does not separate the lover from the beloved. — Khalil Gibran

God has bestowed upon you intelligence and knowledge. Do not extinguish the lamp of Divine Grace and do not let the candle of wisdom die out in the darkness of lust and error. For a wise man approaches with his torch to light up the path of mankind. — Khalil Gibran

Hearts united in pain and sorrow
will not be separated by joy and happiness.
Bonds that are woven in sadness
are stronger than the ties of joy and pleasure.
Love that is washed by tears
will remain eternally pure and faithful. — Kahlil Gibran

He who repeats what he does not understand is no better than an ass that is loaded with books. — Khalil Gibran

Love is the gentle smile upon the lips of beauty. — Khalil Gibran

Out of my deeper heart a bird rose and flew skywards.
Higher and higher did it rise, yet larger and larger did it grow.
At first it was but like a swallow, then a lark, then an eagle, then as vast as a spring cloud, and then it filled the starry heavens.
Out of my heart a bird flew skywards. And it waxed larger as it flew. Yet it left not my heart. — Khalil Gibran

Keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life. — Khalil Gibran

When we turn to one another for counsel we reduce the number of our enemies. — Khalil Gibran

Men would bless you or curse you; The curse, a protest against failure, The blessing, a hymn of the hunter Who comes back from the hills With provision for his mate. — Khalil Gibran

If winter should say, 'Spring is in my heart,' who would believe winter? — Khalil Gibran

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

Yet the timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness, And knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream. And that that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space. Who among you does not feel that his power to love is boundless? And yet who does not feel that very love, though boundless, encompassed within the centre of his being, and moving not from love thought to love thought, nor from love deeds to other love deeds? And is not time even as love is, undivided and paceless? — Khalil Gibran

Love is a gracious host to his guests though to the unbidden his house is a mirage and a mockery. — Khalil Gibran

The creator gives no heed to the critic unless he becomes a barren inventor. — Khalil Gibran

The truly good is he who is one with all those who are deemed bad. — Khalil Gibran

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

When we oppose the hidden conscience, it does us hurt. When we betray it, it judges us. — Khalil Gibran

She danced the dance of flames and fire,
and the dance of swords and spears;
she danced the dance of stars and the dance of space,
and then she danced the dance of flowers in the wind. — Khalil Gibran

The soul is an embryo in the body of Man, and the day of death is the Day of awakening, for it is the Great era of labour and the rich Hour of creation. — Khalil Gibran

In truth we gaze but do not see, and hearken but do not hear; we eat and drink but do not taste. And there lies the difference between Jesus of Nazareth and ourselves. His senses were all continually made new, and the world to Him was always a new world. — Khalil Gibran

Love that is cleansed by tears will remain eternally pure and beautiful. — Khalil Gibran

If you are poor, shun association with him who measures men with the yardstick of riches. — Khalil Gibran

Your body is the harp of the soul. — Khalil Gibran

In battling evil, excess is good; for he who is moderate in announcing the truth is presenting half-truth. He conceals the other half out of fear of people's wrath. — Khalil Gibran

God has placed in each soul an apostle to lead us upon the illumined path. Yet many seek life from without, unaware that is within them. — Khalil Gibran

The lust for comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and then becomes a host, and then a master. — Khalil Gibran

Yet you shall not deplore having known blindness, nor regret having been deaf. For in that day you shall know the hidden purposes in all things. And you shall bless darkness as you would bless light. — Khalil 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. — Khalil Gibran

Persecution cannot harm him who stands by Truth. Did not Socrates fall proudly a victim in body? Was not Paul stoned for the sake of the Truth? It is our inner selves that hurt us when we disobey it, and it kills us when we betray it. — Khalil Gibran

Seek ye counsel of the aged for their eyes have looked on the faces of the years and their ears have hardened to the voices of Life. Even if their counsel is displeasing to you, pay heed to them. — Khalil Gibran

The first glance from the eyes of the beloved is like the spirit that moved upon the face of the waters, giving birth to heaven and earth. — Khalil Gibran

Birth and Death are the two noblest expressions of bravery. — Khalil Gibran

Humanity looks upon Jesus the Nazarene as a poor-born Who suffered misery and humiliation with all of the weak. And He is pitied, for Humanity believes He was crucified painfully ... And all that Humanity offers to Him is crying and wailing and lamentation. For centuries Humanity has been worshiping weakness in the person of the Savior. The Nazarene was not weak! He was strong and is strong! But the people refuse to heed the true meaning of strength. — Khalil Gibran