Kahlil Gibran

The Prophet

The Prophet is probably the most known of all Kahlil Gibran's book. It's a relatively short essay of deep wisdom, beautifully written in prose style. A master piece of insight, elevation, and poetic writing.

Since the whole book can already be found on the net, I only web on this page my three personal favorite excerpts.

Work

 

And what is it to work with love?

It is to weave the cloth with treads drawn from our 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 beloved were to eat the fruit.

It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit, and to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.

...

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.

For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger.

And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine.

And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man's ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.

 

http://www.dzn.com/~laverne/Prophet-Work.html (link doesn't work anymore)

 

Giving

 

You give but little when you give of your possessions.

It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?

And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the over prudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?

...

There are those who give little of the much which they have and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome.

And there are those who have little and give it all.

These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty.

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.

Through the hands of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes He smiles upon the earth.

 

http://www.dzn.com/~laverne/Prophet-Giving.html (link doesn't work anymore)

 

Knowledge

 

No man can reveal to you aught but that which already lies half asleep in the dawning of your knowledge.

The teacher who walks in the shadow of the temple, among his followers, gives not of his wisdom but rather of his faith and his lovingness.

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.

...

And there are those who have the truth within them, but they tell it not in words.

In the bosom of such as these the spirit dwells in rhythmic silence.

When you meet your friend on the roadside or in the market place, let spirit in you move your lips and direct your tongue.

Let the voice within your voice speak to the ear of his ear;

for his soul will keep the truth of your heart as the taste of the wine is remembered when the color is forgotten and the vessel is no more.

 

http://www.dzn.com/~laverne/Prophet-Knowledge.html (link doesn't work anymore)