The Prophet

by Kahlil Gibran

Long were the days of pain I have spent within its walls, and long were the nights of aloneness; and who can depart from his pain and his aloneness without regret?

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

And alone and without his nest shall the eagle fly across the sun.

Am I a harp that the hand of the mighty may touch me, or a flute that his breath may pass through me?

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

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

When you love you should not say, “God is in my heart,” but rather, “I am in the heart of God.”

And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to f...

But let there be spaces in your togetherness,

And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

Love one another, but make not a ...

Let it rather be a moving sea between the shore...

For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward. And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism. And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue; They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space.

It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding;

For in truth it is life that gives unto life – while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.

It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.

It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.

It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your belo...

Work is love made visible.

And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better than you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.

For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds...

if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a...

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

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

Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven? And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you ...

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.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy. Only when you are empty are yo...

It shall not be a glistening film that covers a wound, but an eyelid that guards the eye.

You shall not dwell in tombs made by the dead for the living.

For that which is boundless in you abides in the mansion of the sky, whose door is the morning mist, and whose windows are the songs and the silences of night.

For the breath of life is in the sunlight and the hand of life is in the wind.

And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.

Invoke then the master spirit of the earth, to come into your midst and sanctify the scales and the reckoning that weighs value against value.

But I say that even as the holy and the righteous cannot rise beyond the highest which is in each one of you, So the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than the lowest which is in you also.

And that the cornerstone of the temple is not higher than the lowest stone in its foundation.

What of the old serpent who cannot shed his skin, and calls all others naked and shameless?

You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief, But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.

For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction. Therefore, let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion, that it may sing;

Among the hills, when you sit in the cool shade of the white poplars, sharing the peace and serenity of distant fields and meadows – then let your heart say in silence, “God rests in reason.” And when the storm comes, and the mighty wind shakes the forest, and thunder and lightning proclaim the majesty of the sky – then let your heart say in awe, “God moves in passion.”

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.

Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights.

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.”

The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.

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.