The Khalil Gibran-athon

16 quotes (and life lessons) from a reading of The Prophet

On a chilly weekend in winter, I decided to re-read The Prophet by Khalil Gibran. Coincidentally, this year is the 100th anniversary of the book’s publishing and the 20th of when I first read it.

As someone who thinks and speaks in metaphor, it was the restorative activity I didn’t know I needed. Words in the hands of a true poet are beautiful things—a striking contrast to the commentary, witticisms, and one-offs that fill social media. This weekend’s activity was another reminder to seek beauty and not be spoon-fed by algorithms.

Here are the quotes that resonated deeply as I read…

1

A voice cannot carry the tongue and the lips that gave it wings. Alone must it seek the ether.

2

And ever has it been that loves knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.

3

When love beckons you, follow him,

Though his ways are hard and steep.

4

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

5

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

6

You often say, “I would give, but only to the deserving.”

The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.

They give that they may love, for to withhold is to perish.

7

Work is love made visible.

8

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

9

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

10

Your house is your larger body.

It grows in the sun and sleeps in the stillness of the night; and it is not dreamless.

11

Verily the lust for comfort murders the passion of the soul, and then walks grinning in the funeral.

12

You are the way and the wayfarers.

And when one of you falls down he falls for those behind him, a caution against the stumbling stone.

Ay, and he falls for those ahead of him, who though faster and surer of foot, yet removed not the stumbling stone.

13

Verily all things move within your being in constant half embrace, the desired and the dreaded, the repugnant and the cherished, the pursued and that which you would escape.

These things move within you as lights and shadows in pairs that cling.

14

Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul.

15

For in the dew of little things the heart finds its mornings and is refreshed.

16

Surely there is no greater gift to a man than that which turns all his aims into parching lips and all life into a fountain.