Gibran 3

Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.
Poverty is a veil that obscures the face of greatness. An appeal is a mask covering the face of tribulation.
Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.
Rebellion without truth is like spring in a bleak, arid desert.
Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.
Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble and beautiful end of a human being.
Say not, ‘I have found the truth,’ but rather, ‘I have found a truth.’
The eye of a human being is a microscope, which makes the world seem bigger than it really is.
The just is close to the people’s heart, but the merciful is close to the heart of God.
The lust for comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and then becomes a host, and then a master.
The most pitiful among men is he who turns his dreams into silver and gold.
The obvious is that which is never seen until someone expresses it simply.
The person you consider ignorant and insignificant is the one who came from God, that he might learn bliss from grief and knowledge from gloom.
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.
There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.
They consider me to have sharp and penetrating vision because I see them through the mesh of a sieve.
Time has been transformed, and we have changed; it has advanced and set us in motion; it has unveiled its face, inspiring us with bewilderment and exhilaration.
To be able to look back upon ones life in satisfaction, is to live twice.
To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to.
Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Truth is a deep kindness that teaches us to be content in our everyday life and share with the people the same happiness.
We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.
What difference is there between us, save a restless dream that follows my soul but fears to come near you?
What is this world that is hastening me toward I know not what, viewing me with contempt?
When love beckons to you, follow him, Though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you yield to him, Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
When we turn to one another for counsel we reduce the number of our enemies.
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. 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.
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.
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?
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?
Where is the justice of political power if it executes the murderer and jails the plunderer?
Where is the justice of political power if it… marches upon neighboring lands, killing thousands and pillaging the very hills?
Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.
Wisdom stands at the turn in the road and calls upon us publicly, but we consider it false and despise its adherents.
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.
Would that I were a dry well, and that the people tossed stones into me, for that would be easier than to be a spring of flowing water that the thirsty pass by, and from which they avoid drinking.
Yesterday is but today’s memory, and tomorrow is today’s dream.
Yesterday is but today’s memory, tomorrow is today’s dream.
Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
You have your ideology and I have mine.
You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might also pray in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.
Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They came through you but not from you and though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
Your daily life is your temple and your religion. When you enter into it take with you your all.
Your friend is your needs answered.
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.
Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
Zeal is a volcano, the peak of which the grass of indecisiveness does not grow.