God has placed a torch of knowledge and beauty within our hearts. It's a sin to let that torch fade away and be buried in ashes.
Explore
Sufi
Kahlil Gibran
Sufi1883 – 1931Bsharri, Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate, Ottoman Syria99 quotes· 2 sources
Kahlil Gibran was a Lebanese-American poet, philosopher, and visual artist whose 1923 masterwork The Prophet became one of the best-selling books of the 20th century, translated into more than 100 languages. Blending Christian, Sufi, and Romantic influences, his lyrical prose explored love, death, freedom, joy, sorrow, and the human longing for the divine.
Born in the village of Bsharri in what is now Lebanon, Gibran emigrated to Boston as a child with his family and later studied art in Paris before settling in New York, where he became a central figure in the Arabic literary renaissance (Al-Mahjar movement). Deeply influenced by William Blake, Friedrich Nietzsche, and the mystical strands of both Christianity and Sufism, he developed a lyrical, aphoristic style that bridged Eastern and Western spiritual sensibilities. The Prophet (1923), presented as the farewell discourses of a prophet named Almustafa on topics from love to work to death, has never been out of print and has provided comfort and inspiration to readers across cultures and generations. He also wrote extensively in Arabic, producing works of social criticism, romantic poetry, and mystical prose, and was a gifted visual artist whose paintings carry a strong symbolic and spiritual quality. Gibran died of cirrhosis of the liver in New York at the age of 48, leaving behind a body of work that continues to be cited at weddings, funerals, and spiritual gatherings worldwide.
Wisdom
And his soul cried out to them, 'Sons of my ancestral mother, you who ride the tides, how often have you sailed in my dreams?'
When love calls to you, follow it. Love's path can be difficult and demanding, but yield to it nonetheless. Love can hurt and shatter your dreams, yet believe in it anyway. Love will both uplift and challenge you, helping you grow while also pruning away what's unnecessary.
Love only gives itself and takes from itself. Love doesn't possess, nor does it want to be possessed, because love is enough on its own.
You give very little when you give only your possessions. True giving happens when you give of yourself.
And then there are those who give with joy, and that joy itself is their reward.
In reality, it's life that gives to life. You, who consider yourself a giver, are merely a witness to this process.
To be idle is to become disconnected from the rhythms of nature and to fall out of step with the progression of life, which moves forward with dignity and humility towards the infinite.
All knowledge is useless unless it is applied through work, and all work is meaningless unless it is done with love. When you work with love, you connect yourself with yourself, with others, and with God.
Work is love made visible. If you can't work with love, it's better to leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple, taking alms from those who work with joy.
Do you have peace, the quiet urge that reveals your power?
पृथ्वी आपको अपना फल देती है, और यदि आप अपने हाथों को भरने का तरीका जानते हैं, तो आपको इसकी कमी नहीं होगी।
The master spirit of the earth will not rest peacefully in the wind until the needs of the most vulnerable among you are met.
And you who want to be fair judges, how will you judge someone who is honest in their actions but dishonest in their heart? What punishment will you give to someone who harms others but is also harming themselves? How will you deal with someone who deceives and oppresses others, yet is also hurt and outraged themselves?
You who walk facing the sun, what images drawn on the earth can stop you? You who travel with the wind, what compass will guide your path?
Yes, in the temple garden and in the shadow of the citadel, I have seen even the freest among you wear their freedom like a yoke and a handcuff. And my heart was pained; because you can only be truly free when the desire for freedom itself becomes a burden to you, and when
You will truly be free when you can rise above the challenges and difficulties that are a part of life, without being controlled by them.
The human soul is often a battleground where reason and passion are in conflict.
Balance your reason and passion so that they can work together in harmony, allowing you to grow and rise above challenges.
Your pain is what breaks the shell that encloses your understanding.