Quotes of Gibran Khalil Gibran (I->K)



IGNORANCE

In the house of Ignorance there is no mirror in whcih to view your soul.
SH-T-87

ILLUSION

Man's will is a floating shadow
In the midn he conceives,
And the irghts of mankind pass and
Perish like the Autumn leaves.
P-51

IMAGINATION

Thoughts have a higher dewlling place than the visible world, and its skies are not clouded by sensuality. Imagination finds a road to the realm of the gods, and there man can glimpse that which is to be after the souls' liberation fromt he world of substance.
TM-ST-74

With one leap it [the imagiantion] would reach the core of life, divest it of all excerescences, then burn these excrescences and fling their ashes into the eyes of those who brought them into being. So must all imaginations be.
KG-P-24

IMITATION

The people of the city feign great
Wisdom and knowledge, but their
Fancy remains false forever, for
They are but experts of imitation.
It gives them pride to calculate
That a barter will bring no loss
Or gain. The idiot imagines himself
A king and no power can alter his
Great thoughts and dreams. The
Proud fool mistakes his mirror for
The sky, and his shadow for a
Moon that gleams high from the
Heavens.
T-368

IMMORTALITY

Death on earth, to son of earth
Is final, but to him who is
Ethereal, it is but the start
Of triumph certain to be his.

If one embraces dawn in dreams,
He is immortal! Should he sleep
His long night through, he surely fades
int a sea of slumber deep.

For he who closely husg the ground
When wide awake will crawl 'til end.
And death, like sea, who braves it light
Will cross it. Weighted will descend.
P-70

If I did not covet immortality, I would never have learned the song which has been sung through all of time.
Rather, I would have been a suicide, nothing remaining of me except my ashes hidden within the tomb....
Life is a darkness which ends as in the sunburst of the day.
The yearning of my heart tells me there is peace in the grave.
If some fool tells you the sould perishes like the body and that which dies never returns, tell him the flower perishes but the seed remains and lies before us as the secret of life everlasting.
MS-58

IMPERMANENCE

mankind is like verses written
Upont the surface of the rills.
P-35

INDICTMENT

I will gladly exchange my outcries for cheerful laugher, speak eulogies instead of indictments, replace excess with moderation, provided you show me a just governor, a lawyer of integrity, a religious heirarch who practices, a husband who looks upon his wife with the same eyes as he looks upon himself.
TM-ST-96

INFINITE

We are naught but frail atoms inthe heavens of the infinite; and we cannot but obey and surrender to will of Providence. If we love, our love is neither from us, nor is it for us. if we rejoice, our joy is not in us, but in Life itself. If we suffer, our pain lies not in our wounds, but int he very heart of Nature.
WM-ST-23

INTOXICATION

The human turns to drugging,
As to nursing from the breast;
Coming to age of weaning
Only when he's put to rest.
P-39

ISLAND

Life is an island in an ocean of loneliness, an island whose rocks are hopes, whose trees are dreams, whose flowers are solitude, and whose brooks are thirst.
Your life, my fellow men, is an island separated from all other islands and regions. No matter how many are the ships that leave your shores for other climes, no matter how many are the fleets that touch your coast, you remain a solitary island, suffering the pangs of loneliness and yearning for happiness. You are unknown to your fellow men and far removed from their sympathy and understanding.
WM-ST-41

JOURNALIST

Are you a journalist who sells his principles in the markets of slaves and who fattens on gossip and misfortune and crime? If so, you are like a ravenous vulture preying upon rotting carrion.
WM-ST-35

JUDGEMENT

The learned man who has not judgment is like an unarmed soldier proceeding into battle. His wrath will poison the pure sping of the life of his community and he will be like the grain of aloes in a pitcher of pure water.
WM-ST-54

JUSTICE

Justice on earth would cause the Jinn
To cry at misuse of the word,
And were teh dead to witness it,
they'd mock at fairness in this world.

Yea, death and prison we mete out
To small offenders of the laws,
While honor, wealth, and full respect
On greater pirates we bestow.

To steal a flower we call mean,
To rob a field is chivalry;
Who kills the body he must die,
Who kills the spirit he goes free.
P-47

What justice does authority display when it kills the killer? When it imprisons the robber? When it descends on a neighbouring country and slays its people? What does justice think of the authority under which a killer punishes the one who kills, and a thief sentences the one who steals?
TL-T-9 When a man kills another man, the people say he is a murdere, but when the Emir kills him, the Emir is just. When a man robs a monastery, they say he is a thief, but when the Emir robs him of his life, the Emir is honourable. When a woman betrays her husband, they say she is an adulteress, but when the Emir makes her walk naked in the streets and stones her later, the Emir is noble. Shedding of blood is forbidden, but who made it lawful for the Emir? Stealing one's monye is a crime, but taking away one's life is a noble act. Betrayal of a husband may be an ugly deed, but stoning of living souls is a beauitiful sight. Shall we meet evil with evil and say this is the Law? Shall we fight corruption with greater corruption and say this is the Rule? Shall we conquer crimes with more crimes and say this is justice.
SR-T-315 The gifts which derive from justice are greater than those that spring from charity.
WM-ST-65

KINDNESS

From a sensitive woman's heart springs the happinesss of mankind, and from the kindness of her noble spirit comes mankind's affection.
SR-T-262

The kindness of the poeple is but an
Empty shell containing no gem or
Precious pearl. With two hearts do
people live; a small one of deep
Softness, the other of steel. And
Kindness is too often a shield,
And generosity too often a sword.

T-367

KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

Vain are the beliefs and teachings thta make man miserable, and false is the goodness that leads him into sorrow and despair, for it is man's purpose to be happy on this earth and lead the way to felicity and preach its gospel whereever he goes. He who does not see the kingdom of heaven in this life will never see it in the coming life. We came into this life by exile, but we came as innocent creature of God, to learnhow to worship the holy and eternal spirit and seek the hidden secrets within ourselves fromt he beauty of life.
SR-T-256

KNOWLEDGE

Learning follows various roads.
We not the start but not the end.
For Time and Fate must rule the course,
While we see not beyond the bend.

The best of knowledge is a dream
The gainer holds stedfast, uncowed
By ridicule, and moves serene,
Despised and lowly in the crowd.
P-52