Many a doctrine is like a window pane. We see truth through it but it divides us from truth.
— Khalil Gibran
A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand. Is not the mountain far more awe-inspiring and more clearly visible to one passing through the valley than to those who inhabit the mountain?
Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.
The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.
You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.
Would that I were a dry well, and that the people tossed stones into me, for that would be easier than to be a spring of flowing water that the thirsty pass by, and from which they avoid drinking.
Rebellion without truth is like spring in a bleak, arid desert.
The person you consider ignorant and insignificant is the one who came from God, that he might learn bliss from grief and knowledge from gloom.
Generosity is not giving me that which I need more than you do, but it is giving me that which you need more than I do.
Death most resembles a prophet who is without honor in his own land or a poet who is a stranger among his people.
Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble and beautiful end of a human being.
What difference is there between us, save a restless dream that follows my soul but fears to come near you?
All that spirits desire, spirits attain.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be.
Poverty is a veil that obscures the face of greatness. An appeal is a mask covering the face of tribulation.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.
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.
The most pitiful among men is he who turns his dreams into silver and gold.
Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge.
Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.
If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.
Time has been transformed, and we have changed; it has advanced and set us in motion; it has unveiled its face, inspiring us with bewilderment and exhilaration.
If the grandfather of the grandfather of Jesus had known what was hidden within him, he would have stood humble and awe-struck before his soul.
Coming generations will learn equality from poverty, and love from woes.
What is this world that is hastening me toward I know not what, viewing me with contempt?
Hallow the body as a temple to comeliness and sanctify the heart as a sacrifice to love; love recompenses the adorers.
Wisdom stands at the turn in the road and calls upon us publicly, but we consider it false and despise its adherents.
They consider me to have sharp and penetrating vision because I see them through the mesh of a sieve.
Pain and foolishness lead to great bliss and complete knowledge, for Eternal Wisdom created nothing under the sun in vain.
Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
When we turn to one another for counsel we reduce the number of our enemies.
I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit.
The obvious is that which is never seen until someone expresses it simply.
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.
You have your ideology and I have mine.
Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.
Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.
Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.
I existed from all eternity and, behold, I am here; and I shall exist till the end of time, for my being has no end.
Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love.
Life without liberty is like a body without spirit.
Nor shall derision prove powerful against those who listen to humanity or those who follow in the footsteps of divinity, for they shall live forever. Forever.
Advance, and never halt, for advancing is perfection. Advance and do not fear the thorns in the path, for they draw only corrupt blood.
Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know my self, to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its characteristics, its subtleties, and its very atoms.
The eye of a human being is a microscope, which makes the world seem bigger than it really is.
Art is a step from what is obvious and well-known toward what is arcane and concealed.
Zeal is a volcano, the peak of which the grass of indecisiveness does not grow.
If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. And if they don't, they never were.
A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.
