Quotes from Khalil Gibran

Be patient, for it is from doubt that knowledge is born.

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

Vague and nebulous is the beginning of all things, but not their end.

I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers.

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

The tears that you spill, the sorrowful, are sweeter than the laughter of snobs and the guffaws of scoffers.

Do not keep crying when your love has been gone. You only need Smile because he had been given you the opportunity to meet someone who is better.

It was but yesterday I thought myself a fragment quivering without rhythm in the sphere of life. Now I know that I am the sphere, and all life in rhythmic fragments moves within me.

When you have solved all the mysteries of life you long for death, for it is but another mystery of life.

Desire is half of life, indifference is half of death.

He who does not see the kingdom of heaven in this life will never see it in the coming life.

How can I lose faith in the justice of life, when the dreams of those who sleep upon feathers are not more beautiful than the dreams of those who sleep upon the earth?

Where is the justice of political power if it executes the murderer and jails the plunderer, and then itself marches upon neighboring lands, killing thousands and pillaging the very hills?

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

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

The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose.

If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.

We are all prisoners but some of us are in cells with windows and some without.

Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don't claim them. Feel the artistry moving through and be silent.

When you reach the heart of life you shall find beauty in all things, even in the eyes that are blind to beauty.

Strange, the desire for certain pleasures is a part of my pain.

When life does not find a singer to sing her heart she produces a philosopher to speak her mind.

There are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue; They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.

Say not, I have found the path of the soul Say rather, I have met the soul walking upon my path.