Gibran Khalil Gibran
___________________________________________________________________

Artist, poet, novelist, and philosopher, Gibran Khalil Gibran emigrated from Lebanon to the United States in 1895. In 1904, he had his first exhibit in Boston and by 1908 he was attending the Académie Julian in Paris, where he exhibited his work in the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. During that time, he also studied with the sculptor Auguste Rodin. In 1912, Gibran settled in New York, where he would remain until his death. His drawings and paintings are mystical, with lyrical movements of ethereal figures or portraits that enter a landscape like apparitions. His work often explores the symbols and elements of nature, time, and space while pushing the boundaries between physicality and spirituality. Gibran is best known for his writings, specifically The Prophet, which has been translated into more than twenty languages.

Sketch for Jesus the Son of Man, ca. 1923
Gibran Khalil Gibran (American, born Lebanon, 1883–1931)

“The reality of the other person lies not in what he reveals to you, but 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.”

“ I was dead. I was a woman who had divorced her soul”

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

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

• 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.

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

• The reality of the other person lies not in what he reveals to you, but 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.

• If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. And if they don't, they never were.

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

• Strange that creatures without backbones have the hardest shells.

• Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.

• There must be something strangely sacred about salt. It is in our tears and in the sea.

• When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

• For Kahlil Gibran no single religious tradition revealed the whole truth about life so he wove together insights from Eastern Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, American Transcendentalism, and the folklore of his native Lebanon to create his own universal "Anthem of Humanity" ... he attacks narrow-mindedness, clerical hypocrisy and political injustice, and issues a declaration of faith in life itself.
• Editorial synopsis on the back jacket of the Penguin edition of The Vision: Reflections on the Way of the Soul (1994) as translated by Juan R. I. Cole

• In truth, The Prophet is a work of such universal appeal that there is little to be gained from speculating on the identity of persons or places represented in it. For Gibran's purpose was a lofty one, and his belief in the 'unity of being', which led him to call for universal fellowship and the unification of the human race, is a message which retains its potency today as do the messages of all great poets. Inspired by his experiences in a country far from the land of his origins, he strove to resolve cultural and human conflict, in the process developing a unique genre of writing, and transcending the barriers of East and West as few have done before or since. He became not only Gibran of Lebanon, but Gibran of America, indeed Gibran the voice of global consciousness: a voice which increasingly demands to be heard in the continuing Age of Anxiety.
• Dr. Suheil Bashrui, editor of Kahlil Gibran: A Spiritual Treasury, as quoted in "Khalil Gibran (1883-1931) - A Voice of Consciousness" by Manbir Singh Chowdhary in SikhSpectrum.com Quarterly No.16 (May 2004)

_______________________________________________________________________