جبرأن

Camel Train ,Dubai, UAE. Khalil Gibran was born in Lebanon, so this picture probably isn't totally relevant to this post...


Upon the bank of the Nile at eventide, a hyena met a crocodile and they stopped and greeted one another.
The hyena spoke and said, "How goes the day with you, Sir?"
And the crocodile answered saying, "It goes badly with me. Sometimes in my pain and sorrow I weep, and then the creatures always say, 'They are but crocodile tears.' And this wounds me beyond all telling."
Then the hyena said, "You speak of your pain and your sorrow, but think of me also, for a moment. I gaze at the beauty of the world, its wonders and its miracles, and out of sheer joy I laugh even as the day laughs. And then the people of the jungle say, 'It is but the laughter of a hyena.'"

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SEVENTY

The poet youth said to the princess, "I love you." And the princess answered, "And I love you too, my child."
"But I am not your child. I am a man and I love you."
And she said, "I am the mother of sons and daughters, and they are fathers and mothers of sons and daughters; and one of the sons of my sons is older than you."
And the poet youth said, "But I love you."
It was not long after that the princess died. But ere her last breath was received again by the greater breath of earth, she said within her soul, "My beloved, mine only son, my youth-poet, it may yet be that some day we shall meet again, and I shall not be seventy."
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"And think not you can guide the course of love. For love, if it finds you worthy, shall guide your course"


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


"Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof"

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

"They deem me mad for I will not sell my days for gold, I deem them mad for they think my days have a price."

Every man loves two women; the one is the creation of his imagination, and the other is not yet born.

When you see a man led to prison say in your heart, "Mayhap he is escaping from a narrower prison."
And when you see a man drunken say in your heart, "Mayhap he sought escape from something still more unbeautiful."

Only those beneath me can envy or hate me. I have never been envied nor hated; I am above no one. Only those above me can praise or belittle me. I have never been praised nor belittled; I am below no one.

If the other person laughs at you, you can pity him; but if you laugh at him you may never forgive yourself. If the other person injures you, you may forget the injury; but if you injure him you will always remember. In truth the other person is your most sensitive self given another body.

You cannot judge any man beyond your knowledge of him, and how small is your knowledge.

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