Famous for his much-loved philosophical work, The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran was a Lebanese-American artist, poet, and writer.
Born in the town of Bsharri in modern-day Lebanon (then part of Ottoman Mount Lebanon), as a young man Kahlil (sometimes referred to as Khalil Gibran) emigrated with his family to the United States where he studied art and began his literary career.
Although it may come as a surprise to many of Kahlil Gibran’s readers, in the Arab world, he 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 Lao-Tzu. Some of his other works are: The Wanderer, Sand & Foam, Spirit Brides etc.
Here we list some of Kahlil Gibran’s life-altering quotes:
“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”
“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair”
“I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.”
“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.”
“For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.”
“We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.”
“Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
But you are eternity and you are the mirror.”
“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the greatest intention.”
“Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.”
“It is wrong to think that love comes from long companionship and persevering courtship. Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be created for years or even generations.”
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