Quotes of Gibran Khalil Gibran (G->H)
I have seen you, my brother, sitting upon the throne of glory, and around you stood your people acclaiming your majesty, and singing praises of your great deeds, extolling your wisdom, and gazing upon you as though in the presence of a prophet, their spirits exulting even to the canopy of heaven.
And as you gazed upon your subjects, I saw in your face the marks of happiness and power and triumph, as if you were the soul of their body.
but when I looked again, behold I found you alone in your loneliness, standing by the side of your throne, and exile stretching his hand in every direction, as if pleading for mercy and kindness from invisible ghosts-begging for shelter, even such as has naught in it but warmth and friendliness.
Man has worshipped his own self since the beginning, calling that self by appropriate titles, until now, when he employs the word "God" to mean that same self. SH-T-391
Most religions speak of God in the masculine gender. To me He is as much a mother as he is a Father. he is both the father and the mother in one; and Woman is God-Mother. The God-Father may be reached through the mind or the imagination. But the God-Mother can be reached through the heart only - through love. And Love is that holy wine which the gods distill from their hearts and pour into the hearts of men. Those only taste it pure and divine whose hearts have been cleansed of all the animal lusts. For clean hearts to be drunk with love is to be drunk with God. Those, on the other hand, who drink it mixed with the wines of earthly passions taste but the orgies of devils in Hell. KG-P-94
Gold leads into gold, then into restlessness, and finally into crushing misery.TL-T-403
The life that the rich man spends in heaping up gold is in truth like the life of the worms in the grave. it is a sign of fear.
I sought happiness in my solitude, and
As I drew close to her I heard my soul
Whisper into my heart, saying, "The
Happiness you seek is a virgin, born
And reared in the depths of each heart,
And she emerges not from her birthplace."
And when I opened my heart to find her,
I discovered in its domain only her
Mirror and her cradle and her raiment,
And happiness was not there.
SH-T-101
For man is happy only in
His aspiration to the heights;
When he attains his goal, he cools
And longs for other distant flights.
P-57
The angels count of every tear shed by sorrow; and they bring to the ears of the spirits hovering in the heavens of the Infinite each song of Joy wrought from our affections.
There, in the world to come, we shall see and feel all the vibrations of our feelings and the motions of our hearts. We shall understand the meaning of the divinity within us, whom we condemn because we are prompted by Despair. WM-ST-32
Humanity is the spirit of the Supreme Being on earth, and that humanity is standing amidst ruins, hiding its nakedness behind tattered rags, shedding tears upon hollow cheeks, and calling for its children with pitiful voice. But the children are busy singing their clan's anthem; they are busy sharpening the swords and cannot hear the cry of their mothers.
Humainty is the spirit of the Supreme Being on earth, and that Supreme Being preaches love and good-will. But the people ridicule such teachings?. The Nazarene Jesus listened, and crucifixiion was his lot; Socrates heard the voice and followed it, and he too fell victim in body. The followers of the Nazarene and Socrates are the followers of Deity, and since people will not kill them, they deride them, sayihng, "Ridicule is more bitter than killing."TL-T-5
My soul preached to me and showed me that I am neither more than the pygmy, nor less than the giant.
Ere my soul preached to me, I looked upon humanity as two men: one weak, whom I pitied, and the other strong, whom I followed or resisted in definace.
But now I have learned that I was as both are and made from the same elements. My origin is their origin, my conscience is their conscience, my contention is their contention, and my pilgrimage is their pilgrimage.
If they sin, I am also a sinner. If they do well, I take pride in their well-doing. If they rise, I rise with them. If they stay inert, I share their slothfulness. TM-ST-31
