A Tribute to Gibran

Gibran Khalil Gibran, or as Westerners call him (Kahlil Gibran), was born on these days in 1883 (6 Jan.), is one of my favorite all-time writers.

As a tribute to his memory, and his birthday, here are some of his quotes, I hope you like them.

Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.

God made Truth with many doors to welcome every believer who knocks on them.

I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.

If you reveal your secrets to the wind you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.

Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a truth.'

The lights of stars that were extinguished ages ago still reach us. So it is with great men who died centuries ago, but still reach us with the radiations of their personalities.

And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter and the sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

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

Let your best be for your friend...

It is wrong to think that love comes from long companionship and persevering courtship.

Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be created for years or even generations.

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?

Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.

Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.

Your friend is your needs answered.

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

Life is indeed darkness save when there is urge, and all urge is blind save when there is knowledge, and all knowledge is vain save when there is work, and all work is empty save when there is love.

Faith is knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof.

In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls .

Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair but manifestations of strength and resolution .

To be able to look back upon ones life in satisfaction, is to live twice .

Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love.

Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble and beautiful end of a human being.

Yesterday is but today's memory, tomorrow is today's dream.

You may forget the one with whom you have laughed, but never the one with whom you have wept.

Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart .

a man's true wealth is the good he does in the world.

One may not reach the dawn save by the path of the night.

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.

The just is close to the people's heart, but the merciful is close to the heart of God.

Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you, or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in the desert .

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 remaining over the places where we once enjoyed ourselves

And finally,

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.