Treasured Writings of Kahlil Gibran

by Kahlil Gibran

  BW-ST-51

  The purpose of the spirit in the

  Heart is concealed, and by outer

  Appearance cannot be judged.

  T-372

  ART

  Art must be a direct communication between the artist’s imagination and that of the looker. For that reason, I avoid, so much as possible, busying the looker’s eye with too many details in order that his imagination may roam wide and far. As to the physical molds, art is forced to create for expressing itself; they must be beautiful molds. Otherwise, art defeats its purpose.

  KG-P-102

  Is it really God that created Man, or is it the opposite? Imagination is the only creator, its nearest and clearest manifestation is Art; yes, art is life, life is art; all else is trite and empty in comparison.

  KG-P-97

  Art is one step from the visibly known toward the unknown.

  MS-71

  ARTIST

  I should be a traitor to my art if I were to borrow my sitter’s eyes. The face is a marvelous mirror that reflects most faithfully the innermost of the soul; the artist’s business is to see that and portray it; otherwise he is not fit to be called an artist.

  KG-P-97

  AUTHORITY

  Selfishness, my brother, is the cause of blind superiority, and superiority creates clanship, and clanship creates authority which leads to discord and subjugation.

  The soul believes in the power of knowledge and justice over dark ignorance; it denies the authority that supplies the swords to defend and strengthen ignorance and oppression—that authority which destroyed Babylon and shook the foundation of Jerusalem and left Rome in ruins. It is that which made people call criminals great men; made writers respect their names; made historians relate the stories of their inhumanity in manner of praise.

  TL-T-8

  B

  BARRENNESS

  How many flowers

  Possess no fragrance from the day

  Of their birth! How many clouds

  Gather in the sky, barren of rain,

  Dropping no pearls!

  T-373

  BEAUTY

  Beauty is that which attracts your soul, and that which loves to give and not to receive. When you meet Beauty, you feel that the hands deep within your inner self are stretched forth to bring her into the domain of your heart. It is a magnificence combined of sorrow and joy; it is the Unseen which you see, and the Vague which you understand, and the Mute which you hear—it is the Holy of Holies that begins in yourself and ends vastly beyond your earthly imagination.

  TL-T-407

  Are you troubled by the many faiths that Mankind professes? Are you lost in the valley of conflicting beliefs? Do you think that the freedom of heresy is less burdensome than the yoke of submission, and the liberty of dissent safer than the stronghold of acquiescence?

  If such be the case, then make Beauty your religion, and worship her as your godhead; for she is the visible, manifest and perfect handiwork of God. Cast off those who have toyed with godliness as if it were a sham, joining together greed and arrogance; but believe instead in the divinity of beauty that is at once the beginning of your worship of Life, and the source of your hunger for Happiness.

  Do penance before Beauty, and atone for your sins, for Beauty brings your heart closer to the throne of woman, who is the mirror of your affections and the teacher of your heart in the ways of Nature, which is your life’s home.

  WM-ST-33

  Only our spirits can understand beauty, or live and grow with it. It puzzles our minds; we are unable to describe it in words; it is a sensation that our eyes cannot see, derived from both the one who observes and the one who is looked upon. Real beauty is a ray which emanates from the holy of holies of the spirit, and illuminates the body, as life comes from the depths of the earth and gives color and scent to a flower.

  BW-ST-34

  Beauty is that harmony between joy and sorrow which begins in our holy of holies and ends beyond the scope of our imagination.

  KG-P-93

  Beauty is not in the face;

  Beauty is a light in the heart.

  MS-75

  BEING

  It is impossible for the mirror of the soul to reflect in the imagination anything which does not stand before it. It is impossible for the calm lake to show in its depth the figure of any mountain or the picture of any tree or cloud that does not exist close by the lake. It is impossible for the light to throw upon the earth a shadow of an object that has no being. Nothing can be seen, heard, or otherwise sensed unless it has actual being.

  SH-T-149

  BELIEVER

  When you know a thing, you believe it, and the true believer sees with his spiritual discernment that which the surface investigator cannot see with the eyes of his head, and he understands through his inner thought that which the outside examiner cannot understand with his demanding, acquired process of thought.

  The believer acquaints himself with the sacred realities through deep senses different from those used by others. A believer looks upon his senses as a great wall surrounding him, and when he walks upon the path he says, “This city has no exit, but it is perfect within.” The believer lives for all the days and the nights and the unfaithful live but a few hours.

  SH-T-149

  BODY

  He who endeavours to cleave the body from the spirit, or the spirit from the body, is directing his heart away from truth. The flower and its fragrance are one, and the blind who deny the colour and the image of the flower, believing that it possesses only a fragrance vibrating the ether, are like those with pinched nostrils who believe that flowers are naught but pictures and colours, possessing no fragrance.

  SH-T-139

  Life is naked. A nude body is the truest and noblest symbol of life. If I draw a mountain as a heap of human forms and paint a waterfall in the shape of tumbling human bodies, it is because I see in the mountain a heap of living things, and in the waterfall a precipitate current of life.

  KG-P-102

  BOSTON

  This city was called in the past the city of science and art, but today it is the city of traditions. The souls of its inhabitants are petrified; even their thoughts are old and worn-out. The strange thing about this city is that the petrified is always proud and boastful, and the worn-out and old holds its chin high.

  SP-ST-53

  BOUNTY

  An eternal hunger for love and beauty is my desire; I know now that those who possess bounty alone are naught but miserable, but to my spirit the sighs of lovers are more soothing than music of the lyre.

  T-413

  BRAVERY

  Bravery is a volcano; the seed of wavering does not grow on its crater.

  MS-72

  BROTHERHOOD

  I love you because you are weak before the strong oppressor, and poor before the greedy rich. For these reasons I shed tears and comfort you; and from behind my tears I see you embraced in the arms of Justice, smiling and forgiving your persecutors. You are my brother and I love you.

  TL-T-7

  I love you, my brother, whoever you are—whether you worship in your church, kneel in your temple, or pray in your mosque. You and I are all children of one faith, for the divers paths of religion are fingers of the loving hand of one Supreme Being, a hand extended to all, offering completeness of spirit to all, eager to receive all.

  WM-ST-69

  C

  CHAINS

  Not everyone in chains is subdued;

  At times, a chain is greater than a necklace.

  MS-74

  CHARITY

  The coin which you drop into

  The withered hand stretching toward

  You is the only golden chain that

  Binds your rich heart to the

  Loving heart of God….

  SH-T-345

  CHATTER

  I abstain from the people who consider insolence, bravery and tenderness cowardice. And I abstain from those who consider chatter
wisdom and silence ignorance.

  MS-71

  CHILDHOOD

  The things which the child loves remain in the domain of the heart until old age. The most beautiful thing in life is that our souls remain hovering over the places where we once enjoyed ourselves.

  SP-ST-27

  CHURCHES

  Oh Jesus, they have built these churches for the sake of their own glory, and embellished them with silk and melted gold…. They left the bodies of Thy chosen poor wrapped in tattered raiment in the cold night…. They filled the sky with the smoke of burning candles and incense and left the bodies of Thy faithful worshippers empty of bread…. They raised their voices with hymns of praise, but deafened themselves to the cry and moan of the widows and orphans.

  Come again, O Living Jesus, and drive the vendors of Thy faith from Thy sacred temple, for they have turned it into a dark cave where vipers of hypocrisy and falsehood crawl and abound.

  SH-T-81

  CITIZENSHIP

  What is it to be a good citizen?

  It is to acknowledge the other person’s rights before asserting your own, but always to be conscious of your own.

  It is to create the useful and the beautiful with your own hands, and to admire what others have created in love and with faith.

  It is to create the useful and the beautiful with you own hands, and to admire what others have created in love and with faith.

  It is to produce by labor and only by labor and to spend less than you have produced that your children may not be dependent upon the state for support when you are no more.

  MS-35

  CITY

  Oh people of the noisome city, who are living in darkness, hastening toward misery, preaching falsehood, and speaking with stupidity … until when shall you remain ignorant? Until when shall you abide in the filth of life and continue to desert its gardens? Why wear your tattered robes of narrowness while the silk raiment of Nature’s beauty is fashioned for you? The lamp of wisdom is dimming; it is time to furnish it with oil. The house of true fortune is being destroyed; it is time to rebuild it and guard it. The thieves of ignorance have stolen the treasure of your peace; it is time to retake it!

  TL-T-403

  CIVILIZATION

  The misery of our Oriental nations is the misery of the world, and what you call civilization in the West is naught but another spectre of the many phantoms of tragic deception.

  SH-T-25

  Inventions and discoveries are but amusement and comfort for the body when it is tired and weary. The conquest of distance and the victory over the seas are but false fruit which do not satisfy the soul, nor nourish the heart, neither lift the spirit, for they are afar from nature. And those structures and theories which man calls knowledge and art are naught except shackles and golden chains which man drags, and he rejoices with their glittering reflections and ringing sounds. They are strong cages whose bars man commenced fabricating ages ago, unaware that he was building from the inside, and that he would soon become his own prisoner to eternity.

  SH-T-26

  CLERGYMAN

  The clergyman erects his temple upon the graves and bones of the devoted worshippers.

  SR-T-269

  CONCEALMENT

  Conceal your passion; your sickness is also your medicine because love to the soul is as wine in a glass—what you see is liquid, what is hidden is its spirit….

  Conceal your troubles; then, should the seas roar and the skies fall, you will be safe.

  MS-76

  CONSCIENCE

  Conscience is a just but weak judge. Weakness leaves it powerless to execute its judgment.

  TM-ST-118

  CONTENTMENT

  Be not satisfied with partial contentment, for he who engulfs the spring of life with one empty jar will depart with two full jars.

  SH-T-136

  Fortune craves not Contentment, for it is an earthly hope, and its desires are embraced by union with objects, while Contentment is naught but heartfelt.

  TL-T-92

  CONTRADICTION

  Contradiction is a lower degree of intelligence.

  MS-72

  COUNSEL

  My brothers, seek counsel of one another, for therein lies the way out of error and futile repentance. The wisdom of the many is your shield against tyranny. For when we turn to one another for counsel we reduce the number of our enemies.

  WM-ST-67

  My soul is my counsel and has taught me to give ear to the voices which are neither created by tongues nor uttered by throats.

  Before my soul became my counsel, I was dull, and weak of hearing, reflecting only upon the tumult and the cry. But, now, I can listen to silence with serenity and can hear in the silence the hymns of ages chanting exaltation to the sky and revealing the secrets of eternity.

  MS-V

  COUNTRY LIFE

  We who live amid the excitements of the city know nothing of the life of the mountain villagers. We are swept into the current of urban existence, until we forget the peaceful rhythms of simple country life, reap in autumn, rest in winter, imitating nature in all her cycles. We are wealthier than the villagers in silver or gold, but they are richer in spirit. What we sow we reap not; they reap what they sow. We are slaves of gain, and they the children of contentment. Our draught from the cup of life is mixed with bitterness and despair, fear and weariness; but they drink the pure nectar of life’s fulfillment.

  TM-ST-53

  COURAGE

  The spirit who has seen the spectre of death cannot be scared by the faces of thieves; the soldier who has seen the swords glittering over his head and streams of blood under his feet does not care about rocks thrown at him by the children on the streets.

  BW-ST-106

  COURSER

  My soul, living is like a courser of the night; the swifter its flight, the nearer the dawn.

  WM-ST-69

  CREEDS

  People’s creeds come forth, then perish

  Like the shadows in the night.

  P-46

  CRIMINAL

  For the Criminal who is weak and poor the

  Narrow cell of death awaits; but

  Honour and glory await the rich who

  Conceal their crimes behind their

  Gold and silver and inherited glory.

  T-364

  D

  DARKNESS

  God has bestowed upon you intelligence and knowledge. Do not extinguish the lamp of Divine Grace and do not let the candle of wisdom die out in the darkness of lust and error. For a wise man approaches with his torch to light up the path of mankind.

  WM-ST-62

  DEATH

  Man is like the foam of the sea, that floats upon the surface of the water. When the wind blows, it vanishes, as if it had never been. Thus are our lives blown away by Death.

  WM-ST-31

  The Reality of Life is Life itself, whose beginning is not in the womb, and whose ending is not in the grave. For the years that pass are naught but a moment in eternal life; and the world of matter and all in it is but a dream compared to the awakening which we call the terror of Death.

  WM-ST-32

  The soul is an embryo in the body of

  Man, and the day of death is the

  Day of awakening, for it is the

  Great era of labour and the rich

  Hour of creation.

  T-373

  Death is an ending to the son of

  The earth, but to the soul it is

  The start, the triumph of life.

  T-374

  Death removes but the

  Touch, and not the awareness of

  All good. And he who has lived

  One spring or more possesses the

  Spiritual life of one who has

  Lived a score of springs.

  T-375

  A child in the womb, no sooner born than returned to the earth—such is the fate of man, the fate of nations and of the sun, the moon, and the stars.

>   S

  DESPAIR

  Despair is an ebb for every flow in the heart; it’s a mute affection.

  SP-ST-57

  Despair weakens our sight and closes our ears. We can see nothing but spectres of doom, and can hear only the beating of our agitated hearts.

  BW-ST-98

  DESPOT

  The ignorant nations arrest their good men and turn them into their despots; and a country, ruled by a tyrant, persecutes those who try to free the people from the yoke of slavery.

  SR-T-274

  DESTINY

  Man possesses a destiny

  Which impels his thoughts and

  Actions and words, and that not

  Sufficing, directs his footsteps to

  A place of unwilling abode.

  T-376

  DESTRUCTION

  I am indeed a fanatic and I am inclined toward destruction as well as construction. There is hatred in my heart for that which my detractors sanctify, and love for that which they reject. And if I could uproot certain customs, beliefs, and traditions of the people, I would do so without hesitation. When they said my books were poison, they were speaking truth about themselves, for what I say is poison to them. But they falsified when they said I mix honey into it, for I apply the poison full strength and pour it from transparent glass. Those who call me an idealist becalmed in clouds are the very ones who turn away from the transparent glass they call poison, knowing that their stomachs cannot digest it.

  TM-ST-91

  DEVIL

  Remember, one just man causes the Devil greater affliction than a million blind believers.

  WM-ST-62

  DICHOTOMY

  He who does not see the angels and devils in the beauty and malice of life will be far removed from knowledge, and his spirit will be empty of affection.

  BW-ST-20

  DIVINITY

  Remember that Divinity is the true self of Man. It cannot be sold for gold; neither can it be heaped up as are the riches of the world today. The rich man has cast off his Divinity, and has clung to his gold. And the young today have forsaken their Divinity and pursue self-indulgence and pleasure.

  WM-ST-65

  DOCTORS

  Since the beginning of the world, the doctors have been trying to save the people from their disorders; some used knives, while others used potions, but pestilence spread hopelessly. It is my wish that the patient would content himself with remaining in his filthy bed, meditating his long-continued sores; but instead, he stretches his hands from under the robe and clutches at the neck of each who comes to visit him, choking him to death. What irony it is! The evil patient kills the doctor, and then closes his eyes and says within himself, “He was a great physician.”