Quotes by Gibran Khalil Gibran

THE PROPHET

… If he is indeed wise, he does not bid you enter the house of wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.

The astronomer may speak to you of his understanding of space, but he cannot give you his understanding.

The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it.

And he who is versed in the science of numbers can tell of the regions of weight and measure, but he cannot conduct you thither.

For the vision of one man lends not its wings to another man.

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.

Pity that the stags cannot teach swiftness to the turtles.    >>>

 THE PROPHET

"Like sheaves of corn it gathers you unto itself.

  It threshes you to make you naked.

  It sifts you to free you from your husks.

  It grinds you to whiteness.

  It kneads you until you are pliant.

  And then it assigns you to its sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast.

  All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge     become a fragment of Life’s Heart."   >>>

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.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the 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 upon your lips.