Quotes from The Prophet

“You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“Let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together, yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“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. And when he speaks to you believe in him, Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden. For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning. Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth......

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure, Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor, Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears. Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; For love is sufficient unto love. And think not you can direct the course of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course. Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself."

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires: To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To know the pain of too much tenderness. To be wounded by your own understanding of love; And to bleed willingly and joyfully.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“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.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“Some of you say, “Joy is greater than sorrow,” and others say, “Nay, sorrow is the greater.”
But I say unto you, they are inseparable.
Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“To belittle, you have to be little.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“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.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
But you are eternity and you are the mirror.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as
the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“And a woman spoke, saying, "Tell us of Pain."
And he said: Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.
And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;
And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.
And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.
Much of your pain is self-chosen.
It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.
Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity:
For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen,
And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the
Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“Love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“ما أنبل القلب الحزين الذي لايمنعه حزنه على ان ينشد أغنية مع القلوب الفرحة”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“We wanderers, ever seeking the lonelier way, begin no day where we have ended another day; and no sunrise finds us where sunset left us. Even while the earth sleeps we travel. We are the seeds of the tenacious plant, and it is in our ripeness and our fullness of heart that we are given to the wind and are scattered.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“You have been told that, even like a chain, you are as weak as your weakest link.
This is but half the truth.
You are also as strong as your strongest link.
To measure you by your smallest deed is to reckon the power of the ocean
by the frailty of its foam.
To judge you by your failures is to cast blame upon the seasons for their inconstancy.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill?

Seek him always with hours to live.

For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.

And in th sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.

For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.
The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.
If he is indeed wise he does not bid you enter the house of his wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things, does the heart find its morning and is refreshed.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“إن ما تشعرون به من الألم هو انكسار القشرة التي تغلف إدراككم . وكما أن القشرة الصلدة التي تحجب الثمرة يجب أن تتحطم حتى يبرز قلبها من ظلمة الأرض إلى نور الشمس .. هكذا أنتم أيضاً .. يجب أن تحطم الآلام قشوركم قبل أن تعرفوا معنى الحياة .. لأنكم لو استطعتم أن تعيروا عجائب حياتكم اليومية حقها من التأمل والدهشة لما كنتم ترون ألامكم أقل غرابة من أفراحكم .. أنتم مخيرون في الكثير من آلامكم .. وهذا الكثير من آلامكم هو الجرعة الشديدة المرارة التي بواسطتها يَشفي الطبيب الحكيم الساهر في أعماقكم أسقام نفوسكم البشرية ..”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst?”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“Say not, “I have found the truth,” but rather, “I have found a truth.”
Say not, “I have found the path of the soul.” Say rather, “I have met the soul walking upon my path.”
For the soul walks upon all paths.
The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.
The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“أحبوا بعضكم بعضا ولكن لا تحيلوا الحب إلى قيد:
بل أتيحوا له بالأحرى أن يكون بحرا يموج بين شطآن أرواحكم ..
ليملأ الواحد كأس الآخر ... لكن لا تشربوا من كأس واحدة
وليعط الآخر من خبزه .. لكن لا تأكلوا من نفس الرغيف
غنوا وارقصوا معا ، وافرحوا ، لكن ليبق كل واحد منكم وحيدا
مثلما تبقى أوتار الفيتارة وحدها ، رغم أنها ترتعش بنفس الموسيقى”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“كلٌمـا عمٌق الحزنٌ حفرَةً في كينونتك , ازدادت قُدرتك على احتواء فَرح أكثر”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“أولادكم ليسوا لكم
أولادكم أبناء الحياة المشتاقة إلى نفسها, بكم يأتون إلى العالم, ولكن ليس منكم.
ومع أنهم يعيشون معكم, فهم ليسوا ملكاً لكم.
أنتم تستطيعون أن تمنحوهم محبتكم, ولكنكم لا تقدرون أن تغرسوا فيهم بذور أفكاركم, لأن لهم أفكارأً خاصةً بهم.
وفي طاقتكم أن تصنعوا المساكم لأجسادكم.
ولكن نفوسهم لا تقطن في مساكنكم.
فهي تقطن في مسكن الغد, الذي لا تستطيعون أن تزوروه حتى ولا في أحلامكم.
وإن لكم أن تجاهدوا لكي تصيروا مثلهم.
ولكنكم عبثاً تحاولون أن تجعلوهم مثلكم.
لأن الحياة لا ترجع إلى الوراء, ولا تلذ لها الإقامة في منزل الأمس.
أنتم الأقواس وأولادكم سهام حية قد رمت بها الحياة عن أقواسكم.
فإن رامي السهام ينظر العلامة المنصوبة على طريق اللانهاية, فيلويكم بقدرته لكي تكون سهامه سريعة بعيدة المدى.
لذلك, فليكن التواؤكم بين يدي رامي السهام الحكيم لأجل المسرة والغبطة.
لأنه, كما يحب السهم الذي يطير من قوسه, هكذا يحب القوس الذي يثبت بين يديه.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

“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.
And When he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden...

But if in your fear you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of
love’s threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter,
and weep, but not all of your tears...

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.”
― Kahlil Gibran, quote from The Prophet

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.