The Prophet Quotes

“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the faith: all know how to die but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.”
― Winston Churchill, The River War

“We took the liberty to make some enquiries concerning the ground of their pretensions to make war upon nations who had done them no injury, and observed that we considered all mankind as our friends who had done us no wrong, nor had given us any provocation.

The Ambassador [of Tripoli] answered us that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.

{Letter from the commissioners, John Adams & Thomas Jefferson, to John Jay, 28 March 1786}”
― Thomas Jefferson, Letters of Thomas Jefferson

“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. And when he speaks to you believe in him,Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.”
― Kahlil Gibran , The Prophet

“You have been told that, even like a chain, you are as weak as your weakest link.
This is but half the truth.
You are also as strong as your strongest link.
To measure you by your smallest deed is to reckon the power of ocean by the frailty of its foam.
To judge you by your failures is to cast blame upon the seasons for their inconstancy.
Aye, you are like an ocean,
And though heavy-grounded ships await the tide upon your shores, yet, even like an ocean, you cannot hasten your tides.
And like the seasons you are also,
And though in your winter you deny your spring,
Yet spring, reposing within you, smiles in her drowsiness and is not offended.”
― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

“I only speak to you in words of that which you yourselves know in thought.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

“നിങ്ങളുടെ പല്ലുകള്‍ കൊണ്ട് നിങ്ങള്‍ ഒരു ആപ്പിള്‍ ചതയ്ക്കുമ്പോള്‍ നിങ്ങളുടെ ഹൃദയത്തില്‍ അതിനോട് പറയുക :
'നിന്റെ വിത്തുകള്‍ എന്റെ ശരീരത്തില്‍ വളരും '
'നിന്റെ നാളെയുടെ മൊട്ടുകള്‍ എന്റെ ശരീരത്തില്‍ പുഷ്പിക്കും'
'നിന്റെ സൌരഭ്യം എന്റെ ശ്വാസമായിരിക്കും '
'നമ്മള്‍ ഒരുമിച്ചു എല്ലാ ഋതുക്കളിലും ആഹ്ലാദിക്കും”
― Kahlil Gibran

“Pleasure is a freedom-song,
But it is not freedom.
It is the blossoming of your desires,
But it is not their fruit.
It is a depth calling unto a height,
But it is not the deep nor the high.
It is the caged taking wing,
But it is not space encompassed.
Aye, in very truth, pleasure is a freedom-song.
And I fain would have you sing it with fullness of heart; yet I would not have you lose your hearts in the singing.”
― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

“The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind undo the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

“And if you would know God be not therefore a solver of riddles.

Rather look about you and you shall see Him playing with your children.
And look into space and you shall see Him walking in the cloud, outstretching His arms in the lightning and descending in rain.
You shall see Him smiling in flowers, and rising and waving His hands in trees.”
― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

“Only another breath will I breathe in this still air, only another look cast backward,
Then I shall stand among you, a seafarer among seafarers.”
― Kahlil Gibran

“The deeper sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.”
― Kahlil Gibran

“On Love"

For even as love crowns you, so shall he crucify you.

Even as he is for your growth, so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth”
― Kahiil Gibran

“How shall I go in peace and without sorrow? Nay, not without a wound in the spirit shall I leave this city.

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?

Too many fragments of the spirit have I scattered in these streets, and too many are the children of my longing that walk naked among these hills, and I cannot withdraw from them without a burden and an ache.

It is not a garment I cast off this day, but a skin that I tear with my own hands.

Nor is it a thought I leave behind me, but a heart made sweet with hunger and with thirst.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

“The six stories of dirt and mile of distance between us and the Citizens of Iris is far from insurmountable, but we will never be one. Something far stronger than distance, dirt, and a huge concrete wall divides us. As long as our memories still exist and our hearts still beat, we will never look upon the faces of the Citizens and see equals. Some will always see superiors. Others will always see inferiors. But none of us will ever see equals.”
― Megan I Tennant

“It's like Kahlil Gibran wrote in The Prophet: 'Your children are not your children. They come through you but not from you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you, for life goes not backward, nor tarries with yesterday.”
― Hillary Rodham Clinton, What Happened

“That which seems most feeble and bewildered in you is the strongest and most determined.
Is it not your breath that has erected and hardened the structure of your bones?
And is it not a dream which none of you re member having dreamt, that built your city and fashioned all there is in it?
Could you but see the tides of that breath you would cease to see all else,
And if you could hear the whispering of the dream you would hear no other sound.
But you do not see, nor do you hear, and it is well.”
― Kahlil Gibran

“How shall I go in peace and without sorrow? Nay, not without a wound in the spirit shall I leave this city. 8Long 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?

Too many fragments of the spirit have I scattered in these streets, and too many are the children of my longing that walk naked among these hills, and I cannot withdraw from them without a burden and an ache.

It is not a garment I cast off this day, but a skin that I tear with my own hands.

Nor is it a thought I leave behind me, but a heart made sweet with hunger and with thirst.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

“You can't question my faith, but you can question your understanding.”
― Anthony T. Hincks

“When you near your journey's end, then you will understand that your true journey has only just started.”
― Anthony T. Hincks

“Truth lays in the heart of the believer.”
― Anthony T. Hincks

“It is not a garment I cast off this day, but a skin that I tear with my own hands.
Nor is it a thought I leave behind me, but a heart made sweet with hunger and with thirst.
Yet I cannot tarry longer.
The sea that calls all things unto her calls me, and I must embark.
For to stay, though the hours burn in the night, is to freeze and crystallize and be bound in a mould.”
― Kahlil Gibran

“The wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks than to the least of all the blades of grass; And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

“Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy. Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

“Your soul is oftimes a battlefield, upon which your reason and your judgement wage war against your passion and your appetite.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

“Would that I would be the peacemaker in your soul, that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody.”
― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet