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Letter to Horace Greeley. August 22, 1862 My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause.

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Apr 22, 2026

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Vain are the beliefs and teachings that make man miserable, and false is the goodness that leads him into sorrow and despair, for it is man’s purpose to be happy on this earth and lead the way to felicity and preach its gospel wherever he goes. He who does not see the kingdom of heaven in this life will never see it in the coming life. We came not into this life by exile, but we came as innocent creatures of God, to learn how to worship the holy and eternal spirit and seek the hidden secrets within ourselves from the beauty of life.
Khalil Gibran

Quote Author: Khalil Gibran

Khalil Gibran

Khalil Gibran

Khalil Gibran (also known as Kahlil Gibran; born Gibran Khalil Gibran, Arabic: جبران خليل جبران, (January 6, 1883 - April 10, 1931) was a Lebanese American artist, poet and writer. He was born in Lebanon (at the time a Syrian Province of the Ottoman Empire) and spent much of his productive life in the United States.

Other Khalil Gibran Quotes

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

Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit.

Nor shall derision prove powerful against those who listen to humanity or those who follow in the footsteps of divinity, for they shall live forever. Forever.

Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.

Art is a step from what is obvious and well-known toward what is arcane and concealed.

If you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work.

Death most resembles a prophet who is without honor in his own land or a poet who is a stranger among his people.

For what is it to die, But to stand in the sun and melt into the wind?

The most pitiful among men is he who turns his dreams into silver and gold.

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.

Let there be spaces in your togetherness.

Let the wind of the spirit blow between your shores. The great oaks in the forest do not grow in each other's shade.

Women opened the windows of my eyes and the doors of my spirit. Had it not been for the woman-mother, the woman-sister, and the woman-friend, I would have been sleeping among those who seek the tranquility of the world with their snoring.

If your knowledge teaches you not to rise above human weakness and misery and lead your fellow man on the right path, you are indeed a man of little worth and will remain such till Judgment Day.

Work is love made visible.

Life without love is like a tree without blossom and fruit.

The heart's affections are divided like the branches of the cedar tree; if the tree loses one strong branch; it will suffer but it does not die; it will pour all its vitality into the next branch so that it will grow and fill the empty place.

You can muffle the drum, and you can loosen the strings of the lyre, but who shall command the skylark not to sing?

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

Love has no other desire but to fulfull itself. To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.

Money is like love; it kills slowly and painfully the one who withholds it, and enlivens the other who turns it on his fellow man.

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

Be like the flower, turn your faces to the sun.

Give and Take ... For to the bee a flower is a fountain if life And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love And to both, bee and flower, the giving and the receiving is a need and an ecstasy.

Faith is an oasis in the heart which can never be reached by the caravan of thinking.

Man is like the foam of the sea, that floats upon the surface of the water. When the wind blows, it vanishes, as if it had never been. Thus are our lives blown away by Death.

A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.

Believing is a fine thing, but placing those beliefs into execution is a test of strength. Many are those who talk like the roar of the sea, gut their lives are shallow and stagnant, like the rotting marshes. Many are those who lift their heads above the mountain tops, but their spirits remain dormant in the obscurity of the caverns.

Said one oyster to a neighboring oyster, 'I have a very great pain within me. It is heavy and round and I am in distress.' And the other oyster replied with haughty complacence, 'Praise be to the heavens and to the sea, I have no pain within me. I am well and whole both within and without.' At that moment a crab was passing by and heard the two oysters, and he said to the one who was well and whole both within and without, 'Yes, you are well and whole; but the pain that your neighbor bears is a pearl of exceeding beauty.'

He who does not seek advice is a fool. His folly blinds him to Truth and makes him evil, stubborn, and a danger to his fellow man.

My brothers, seek counsel of one another, for therein lies the way out of error and futile repentance. The wisdom of the many is your shield against tyranny. For when we turn to one another for counsel we reduce the number of our enemies.

Seek ye counsel of the aged, for their eyes have looked on the faces of the years and their ears have hearkened to the voices of Life. Even of their counsel is displeasing to you, pay heed to them.

Oh Jesus, they have built these churches for the sake of their own glory, and embellished them with silk and melted gold.... They left the bodies of Thy chosen poor wrapped in tattered raiment in the cold night.... They filled the sky with the smoke of burning candles and incense and left the bodies of Thy faithful worshipers empty of bread.... They raised their voices with hymns of praise, but deafened themselves to the cry and moan of the widows and orphans. Come again, Oh Living Jesus, and drive the vendors of Thy faith from Thy sacred temple, for they have turned it into a dark cave where vipers of hypocrisy and falsehood crawl and abound.

Art is one step from the visibly known toward the unknown.

To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to.

If indeed you must be candid, be candid beautifully.

Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.

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

Upon a day Beauty and Ugliness met on the shore of a sea. And they said to one another, 'Let us bathe in the sea.' Then they disrobed and swam in the waters. And after a while Ugliness came back to shore and garmented himself with the garments of Beauty and walked his way. And Beauty too came out of the sea, and found not her raiment, and she was too shy to be naked, therefore she dressed herself with the raiment of Ugliness. And Beauty walked her way. And to this very day men and women mistake the one for the other. Yet some there are who have beheld the face of Beauty, and they know her notwithstanding her garments. And some there be who know the face of Ugliness, and the cloth conceals him not from their eyes.

When you know a thing, you believe it, and the true believer sees with his spiritual discernment that which the surface investigator cannot see with the eyes of his head, and he understands through his inner thought that which the outside examiner cannot understand with his demanding, acquired process of thought. The believer acquaints himself with the sacred realities through deep senses different from those used by others. A believer looks upon his senses as a great wall surrounding him, and when he walks upon the path he says, 'This city has no exit, but it is perfect within.' The believer lives for all the days and the nights and the unfaithful live but a few hours.

How narrow is the vision that exalts the busyness of the ant above the singing of the grasshopper.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you, For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

I am a poet who composes what life proses, and who proses what life composes.

Conscience is a just but weak judge. Weakness leaves it powerless to execute its judgment.

What is this world that is hastening me toward I know not what, viewing me with contempt?

Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country. See Cicero & J.F. Kennedy

God has bestowed upon you intelligence and knowledge. Do not extinguish the lamp of Divine Grace and do not let the candle of wisdom die out in the darkness of lust and error. For a wise man approaches with his torch to light up the path of mankind.

The significance of a man is not in what he attains, but rather what he longs to attain.

He who does not see the angels and devils in the beauty and malice of life will be far removed from knowledge, and his spirit will be empty of affection.

Remember that Divinity is the true self of Man. It cannot be sold for gold; neither can it be heaped up as are the riches of the world today. The rich man has cast off his Divinity, and has clung to his gold. And the young today have forsaken their Divinity and pursue self-indulgence and pleasure.

Each thing that exists remains forever, and that very existence of existence is proof of its eternity. But without that realization, which is the knowledge of perfect being, man would never know whether there was existence or non-existence. If eternal existence is altered, then it must become more beautiful; and if it disappears, it must return with more sublime image; and if it sleeps, it must dream of a better awakening, for it is ever greater upon its rebirth.

He who does not prefer exile to slavery is not free by any measure of freedom, truth and duty.

A look which reveals inward stress adds more beauty to the face, no matter how much tragedy and pain it bespeaks; but the face which, in silence, does not announce hidden mysteries is not beautiful, regardless of the symmetry of its features.

God has made many doors opening into truth which He opens to all who knock upon them with hands of faith.

The Jews, my beloved, awaited the coming of a Messiah, who had been promised them, and who was to deliver them from bondage. And the Great Soul of the World sensed that the worship of Jupiter and Minerva no longer availed, for the thirsty hearts of men could not be quenched with that wine. In Rome men pondered the divinity of Apollo, a god without pity, and beauty of Venus already fallen into decay. For deep in their hearts, though they did not understand it, these nations hungered and thirsted for the supreme teaching that would transcend any to be found on the earth. They yearned for the spirit’s freedom that would teach man to rejoice with his neighbor at the light of the sun and the wonder of living. For it is this cherished freedom that brings man close to the Unseen, which he can approach without fear or shame.

I once heard a learned man say, 'Every evil has its remedy, except folly. To reprimand an obstinate fool or to preach to a dolt is like writing upon the water. Christ healed the blind, the halt, the palsied, and the leprous. But the fool He could not cure.'

The fool sees naught but folly; and the madman only madness. Yesterday I asked a foolish man to count the fools among us. He laughed and said, 'This is too hard a thing to do, and it will take too long. Were it not better to count only the wise?'

Dying for Freedom is nobler than living in The shadow of weak submission, for He who embraces death with the sword Of Truth in his hand will eternalize With the Eternity of Truth, for Life Is weaker than Death and Death is Weaker than Truth.

Life without Freedom is like a body without a soul, and Freedom without Thought is like a confused spirit.... Life, Freedom and Thought are three-in-one, and are everlasting and shall never pass away.

They tell me: If you see a slave sleeping, do not wake him lest he be dreaming of freedom. I tell them: If you see a slave sleeping, wake him and explain to him freedom.

They have exiled me now from their society and I am pleased, because humanity does not exile except the one whose noble spirit rebels against despotism and oppression. He who does not prefer exile to slavery is not free by any measure of freedom, truth and duty.

Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.

The reality of the other person lies not in what he reveals to you but in what he cannot reveal to you. Therefore, if you would understand him, listen not to what he says but rather to what he does not say.

All you have shall some day be given; Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors'.

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

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 you receivers—and you are all receivers—assume no weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives. Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings; For to be overmindful of your debt, is to doubt his generosity who has the free hearted earth for mother, and God for father.

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

My house says to me, 'do not leave me, for here dwells your past.' And the road says to me, 'Come and follow me, for I am your future.' And I say to both my house and the road, 'I have no past, nor have I a future. If I stay here, there is a going in my staying; and if I go there is a staying in my going. Only love and death change all things.'

Happiness is a myth we seek, If manifested surely irks; Like river speeding to the plain, On its arrival slows and murks. For man is happy only in His aspiration to the heights; When he attains his goal, he cools And longs for other distant flights.

Spring is beautiful everywhere, but it is more than beautiful in Lebanon. Spring is the spirit of an unknown God speeding through the world, which, as it reaches Lebanon, pauses, because now it is as at home with the souls of the Prophets and Kings hovering over the land, chanting with the brooks of Judea, the eternal Psalms of Solomon, renewing with the Cedars of Lebanon memories of an ancient glory.

Many are the places of worship, but few indeed are those who worship in Spirit and in truth.

Humanity looks upon Jesus the Nazarene as a poor-born Who suffered misery and humiliation with all of the weak. And He is pitied, for Humanity believes He was crucified painfully.... And all that Humanity offers to Him is crying and wailing and lamentation. For centuries Humanity has been worshiping weakness in the person of the Savior. The Nazarene was not weak! He was strong and is strong! But the people refuse to heed the true meaning of strength.

Remember, one just man causes the Devil greater affliction than a million blind believers.

Yea, death and prison we mete out To small offenders of the laws, While honor, wealth, and full respect On greater pirates we bestow. To steal a flower we call mean. To rob a field is chivalry; Who kills the body he must die, Who kills the spirit he goes free.

From a sensitive woman’s heart springs the happiness of mankind, and from the kindness of her noble spirit comes mankind’s affection.

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

Vain are the beliefs and teachings that make man miserable, and false is the goodness that leads him into sorrow and despair, for it is man’s purpose to be happy on this earth and lead the way to felicity and preach its gospel wherever he goes. He who does not see the kingdom of heaven in this life will never see it in the coming life. We came not into this life by exile, but we came as innocent creatures of God, to learn how to worship the holy and eternal spirit and seek the hidden secrets within ourselves from the beauty of life.

And what is word knowledge but a shadow of wordless knowledge?

He who repeats what he does not understand is no better than an ass that is loaded with books.

Knowledge and understanding are life’s faithful companions who will never prove untrue to you. For knowledge is your crown, and understanding your staff; and when they are with you, you can possess no greater treasures.

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

Love is the only flower that grows and blossoms without the aid of seasons.

Love one another but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup but drink not of one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

The power to Love is God’s greatest gift to man, For it never will be taken from the Blessed one who loves.

He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked.

The mother is everything—she is our consolation in sorrow, our hope in misery, and our strength in weakness. She is the source of love, mercy, sympathy, and forgiveness. He who loses his mother loses a pure soul who blesses and guards him constantly.

God created music as a common language for all men. It inspires the poets, the composers and the architects. It lures us to search our souls for the meaning of the mysteries described in ancient books.

When God created Man, he gave him Music as a language different from all other languages. And early man sang his glory in the wilderness; and drew the hearts of kings and moved them from their thrones.

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

Nature reaches out to us with welcoming arms, and bids us enjoy her beauty; but we dread her silence and rush into the crowded cities, there to huddle like sheep fleeing from a ferocious wolf.

Yes, there is a Nirvana; it is in leading your sheep to a green pasture, and in putting your child to sleep, and in writing the last line of your poem.

Braving obstacles and hardships is nobler than retreat to tranquility. The butterfly that hovers around the lamp until it dies is more admirable than the mole that lives in a dark tunnel.

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.

Perplexity is the beginning of knowledge.

There is a desire deep within the soul which drives man from the seen to the unseen, to philosophy and to the divine.

Poetry, my dear friends, is a sacred incarnation of a smile. Poetry is a sigh that dries the tears. Poetry is a spirit who dwells in the soul, whose nourishment is the heart, whose wine is affection. Poetry that comes not in this form is a false messiah.

Who among you does not feel that his power to love is boundless? And yet who does not feel that very love, though boundless, encompassed within the center of his being, and moving not from love thought to love thought, nor from love deeds to other love deeds?

Now I realize that the trees blossom in Spring and bear fruit in Summer without seeking praise; and they drop their leaves in Autumn and become naked in Winter without fearing blame.

Prayer is the song of the heart. It reaches the ear of God even if it is mingled with the cry and the tumult of a thousand men.

You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.

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!

Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.

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

Only those return to Eternity Who on earth seek out Eternity.

A shy failure is nobler than an immodest success.

Solitude has soft, silky hands, but with strong fingers it grasps the heart and makes it ache with sorrow. Solitude is the ally of sorrow as well as a companion of spiritual exaltation.

The sorrowful spirit finds relaxation in solitude. It abhors people, as a wounded deer deserts the herd and lives in a cave until it is healed or dead.

He who has not looked on Sorrow will never see Joy.

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

God has given you a spirit with wings on which to soar into the spacious firmament of Love and Freedom. Is it not pitiful than that you cut your wings with your own hands and suffer your soul to crawl like an insect upon the earth?

Spiritual awakening is the most essential thing in man’s life, and it is the the sole purpose of being. Is not civilization, in all its tragic forms, a supreme motive for spiritual awakening?

The very strength that protects the heart from injury is the strength that prevents the heart from enlarging to its intended greatness within. The song of the voice is sweet, but the song of the heart is the pure voice of heaven.

The subtlest beauties in our life are unseen and unheard.

I am bored with gabbers and their gab; my soul abhors them.... Is there any place where there is no traffic in empty talk? Is there on this earth one who does not worship himself talking?

Whoever would be a teacher of men let him begin by teaching himself before teaching others; and let him teach by example before teaching by word. For he who teaches himself and rectifies his own ways is more deserving of respect and reverence than he who would teach others and rectify their ways.

I would not exchange the laughter of my heart for the fortunes of the multitudes; nor would I be content with converting my tears, invited by my agonized self, into calm. It is my fervent hope that my whole life on this earth will ever be tears and laughter.

The soul is an embryo in the body of Man, and the day of death is the Day of awakening, for it is the Great era of labour and the rich Hour of creation.

You may chain my hands, you may shackle my feet; you may even throw me into a dark prison; but you shall not enslave my thinking, because it is free.

The thirst of soul is sweeter than the wine of material things, and the fear of spirit is dearer than the security of the body.

But if in your thought you must measure time into seasons, let each season encircle all the other seasons, And let today embrace the past with remembrance and the future with longing.

Yet the timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness, And knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream.

You would measure time the measureless and the immeasurable. You would adjust your conduct and even direct the course of your spirit according to hours and seasons. Of time you would make a stream upon whose bank you would sit and watch its flowing.

If your knowledge teaches you not the value of things, and frees you not from the bondage to matter, you shall never come near the throne of Truth.

Truth is like the stars; it does not appear except from behind obscurity of the night. Truth is like all beautiful things in the world; it does not disclose its desirability except to those who first feel the influence of falsehood. Truth is a deep kindness that teaches us to be content in our everyday life and share with the people the same happiness.

Upon the road of Zaad a traveler met a man who lived in a nearby village, and the traveler, pointing with his hand to a vast field, asked the man saying, 'Was not this the battleground where King Ahlam overcame his enemies?' And the man answered and said,

The human heart cries out for help; the human soul implores us for deliverance; but we do not heed their cries, for we neither hear nor understand. But the man who hears and understands we call mad, and flee from him. Thus the nights pass, and we live in unawareness; and the days greet us and embrace us. But we live in constant dread of day and night.

He who understands you is greater kin to you than your own brother. For even your own kindred neither understand you nor know your true worth.

We shall never understand one another until we reduce the language to seven words.

There is no secret in the mystery of life stronger and more beautiful than that attachment which converts the silence of a virgin’s spirit into a perpetual awareness that makes a person forget the past, for it kindles fiercely in the heart the sweet and overwhelming hope of the coming future.

The true wealth of a nation lies not in its gold or silver but in its learning, wisdom, and in the uprightness of its sons.

Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.

Wisdom is not in words; Wisdom is meaning within words.

Wit is often a mask. If you tear it you will find either genius irritated or cleverness juggling.

A woman whom Providence has provided with beauty of spirit and body is a truth, at the same time both open and secret, which we can understand only by love, and touch only by virtue.

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; is the second, then you are an oasis in a desert.

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