Kahlil Gibran was born on January 6, 1883, in Lebanon. He is a famous American-Lebanese author, artist, and poet who wrote the book The Prophet.
Gibran’s philosophy of life is that it is difficult to see things as they are. Instead, he says that “the eternal fire of love” leads people to see things as they should be seen instead of how they are. In this sense, Gibran states that people need to overcome the “fearful symmetry” of life and see beyond its limitations.
He is best known for “The Prophet” and his book of short stories, “The Madman’s Diary.” A prophet with a thousand years of history does not look into a crystal ball to see what will happen. He does not believe in fate or predestination. Nor does he live in denial. A prophet sees the present state of affairs as the reflection of a current change that has yet to come.
Kahlil Gibran’s work explores themes such as love, death, spirituality, nature, and freedom in an inspiring way through his understanding of the world and its inhabitants.
Here are some of the most famous and inspirational quotes from his life that will teach you the deep meaning of life and help you find your own success.
71 Inspiring Kahlil Gibran Quotes To Find Your Own Success
“I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.”
“To be able to look back upon one’s life in satisfaction, is to live twice.”
“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”
“Much of your pain is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.”
“Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.”
“When you reach the end of what you should know, you will be at the beginning of what you should sense.”
“I prefer to be a dreamer among the humblest, with visions to be realized, then lord among those without dreams and desires.”
“Your daily life is your temple and your religion. When you enter into it take with you your all.”
“Do not fear the thorns in your path, for they draw only the corrupt blood.”
“Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.”
“A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.”
“Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.”
“Yesterday is but today’s memory, tomorrow is today’s dream.”
“Every man loves two women; the one is the creation of his imagination and the other is not yet born.”
“If you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work.”
“By losing your goal, you have lost your way.”
“No one can reveal to you nothing but that which already lies half-asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.”
“All that spirits desire, spirits attain.”
“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.”
“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.”
“To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to.”
“It is well to give when asked but it is better to give unasked, through understanding.”
“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”
“Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof.”
“You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.”
“The real test of good manners is to be able to put up with bad manners pleasantly.”
“Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.”
“Wisdom stands at the turn in the road and calls upon us publicly, but we consider it false and despise its adherents.”
“I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy.”
“I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.”
“Trust in dreams, for in them is the hidden gate to eternity.”
“Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.”
“I have found both freedom and safety in my madness; the freedom of loneliness and the safety from being understood, for those who understand us enslave something in us.”
“Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.”
“Many seek life without, unaware that is within them.”
“Trust in dreams.”
“The appearance of things changes according to the emotions; and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves.”
“One day you will ask me which is more important? My life or yours? I will say mine and you will walk away not knowing that you are my life.”
“You may forget with whom you laughed, but you will never forget with whom you wept.”
“If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.”
“To belittle, you have to be little.”
“If you reveal your secrets to the wind you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.”
“Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.”
“Music is the language of the spirit. It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife.”
“The lust for comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and then becomes a host, and then a master.”
“Our worst fault is our preoccupation with the faults of others.”
“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.”
“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.”― Kahlil Gibran
“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.”
“Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution.”
“When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music. Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?
“Knowledge cultivates your seeds and does not sow in your seeds.”
“It takes a minute to have a crush on someone, an hour to like someone, and a day to love someone… but it takes a lifetime to forget someone.”
“Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.”
“There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.”
“Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.”
“They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold; and I deem them mad because they think my days have a price.”
“We are all like the bright moon, we still have our darker side.”
“Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know myself, to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its characteristics, its subtleties, and it’s very atoms.”
“Yesterday is but today’s memory, and tomorrow is today’s dream.”
“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the greatest intention.”
“We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.”
“Much of your pain is self-chosen.”
“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 the people’s wrath.”
“Rest in reason; move in passion.”
“You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts.”
“Remembrance is a form of meeting.”
“Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit.”
“If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. If they don’t, they never were.”
“Life without liberty is like a body without spirit.”
“The most pitiful among men is he who turns his dreams into silver and gold.”
