Quotes & anectdotes from
the wise,
the foolish,
the courageous &
the drunk

Khalil Gibran Philosopher

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: Lebanon
  • Born: Jan 6, 1883
  • Died: Apr 10, 1931

Khalil Gibran was a Lebanese artist, poet, and writer.

Born in the town of Bsharri in the north of modern-day Lebanon, as a young man he immigrated with his family to the United States, where he studied art and began his literary career, writing in both English and Arabic. In the Arab world, Gibran is regarded as a literary and political rebel. His romantic style was at the heart of a renaissance in modern Arabic literature, especially prose poetry, breaking away from the classical school. In Lebanon, he is still celebrated as a literary hero.

He is chiefly known in the English-speaking world for his 1923 book The Prophet, an early example of inspirational fiction including a series of philosophical essays written in poetic English prose. The book sold well despite a cool critical reception, gaining popularity in the 1930s and again especially in the 1960s counterculture. Gibran is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Laozi.

The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.

If my survival caused another to perish, then death would be sweeter and more beloved.

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

Life without liberty is like a body without spirit.

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

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

Truth is a deep kindness that teaches us to be content in our everyday life and share with the people the same happiness.

A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.

To be able to look back upon ones life in satisfaction, is to live twice.

I prefer to be a dreamer among the humblest, with visions to be realized, than lord among those without dreams and desires.

Let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.

Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.

Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love.

Love possesses not nor will it be possessed, for love is sufficient unto love.

Love... it surrounds every being and extends slowly to embrace all that shall be.

Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.

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.

Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.

For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.

Coming generations will learn equality from poverty, and love from woes.

Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.

Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking.

Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.

Exaggeration is truth that has lost its temper.

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

Knowledge cultivates your seeds and does not sow in your seeds.

Love and doubt have never been on speaking terms.

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

Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit.

I existed from all eternity and, behold, I am here and I shall exist till the end of time, for my being has no end.

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

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.

Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge.

Pain and foolishness lead to great bliss and complete knowledge, for Eternal Wisdom created nothing under the sun in vain.

Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a truth.'

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

If you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work.

Advance, and never halt, for advancing is perfection. Advance and do not fear the thorns in the path, for they draw only corrupt blood.

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.

Rebellion without truth is like spring in a bleak, arid desert.

Death most resembles a prophet who is without honor in his own land or a poet who is a stranger among his people.

I wash my hands of those who imagine chattering to be knowledge, silence to be ignorance, and affection to be art.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.

Many a doctrine is like a window pane. We see truth through it but it divides us from truth.

Wisdom stands at the turn in the road and calls upon us publicly, but we consider it false and despise its adherents.

And ever has it been known that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.

Your daily life is your temple and your religion. When you enter into it take with you your all.

Love is trembling happiness.

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.

March on. Do not tarry. To go forward is to move toward perfection. March on, and fear not the thorns, or the sharp stones on life's path.

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

The most pitiful among men is he who turns his dreams into silver and gold.

We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.

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

Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.

Art is a step from what is obvious and well-known toward what is arcane and concealed.