The relation between you and me is the most beautiful thing in my life.
It is the most wonderful thing that I have known in any life. It is eternal.
(Kahlil Gibran from Mary Haskell’s Journal. September 11, 1922.)
Kahlil Gibran and Mary Haskell shared an amazing love that spanned almost three complete decades.
Reading his words evokes many different emotions in such an array of people, but not many realize there was an inspiration behind every book, every poem, every work of art. They say that behind every great man, there is a great woman. The woman behind Kahlil Gibran was Mary Haskell.
When I first read The Prophet I absorbed it and appreciated the technical value of the book. I appreciated Gibran’s insight and his poetic license – I often felt his words… But I didn’t appreciate his words as something completely felt by him. As I looked up and studied more about the man and his works, I was inspired by his passion. His lust for the things he wished to share with the world. But still I was unaware of his true heart.
Then I discovered A book compiling letters exchanged between Gibran and Mary Haskell, and her journal entries concerning their meetings. If they had published every letter and journal entry the book would have been several thousand pages long. (Which I would have gladly read.) As is the book is about 450 pages and spans nearly 25 years of friendship – the ups and downs – the ins and outs – feelings and day to day activities.
Mary inspired Kahlil.
He discussed everything with her. He read his work to her and she gave him her feelings and suggestions. He took everything she ever said or did to heart. Words he wrote in his letters to her, are words he used in his books.
Their love was pure.
Just reading the first few letters touched me. I understood then that every word he wrote he indeed felt, probably deeper than any person I have ever met. It made me go back and read The Prophet once more… this time, knowing that every passage meant something real to him, and were not just words.
He was her diamond in the rough.
She was his life long muse.
She was someone he trusted more than anyone else. And he was the one she loved more than all others. I felt I comprehended more about them as human beings. I never realized how attractive it was to feel someone else’s feelings until I read their expressions in written word.
The heart is a beautiful obsession.
(I will add to this soon, I am just reconstructing the profile right now. I hope to be done in the next few days)
Every man loves two women;the one is the creation of his imagination and the other is not yet born.
Kahlil Gibran
Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.
Kahlil Gibran
- More quotations on: [Giving] [Pride]
God made Truth with many doors to welcome every believer who knocks on them.
Kahlil Gibran
I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.
Kahlil Gibran
- More quotations on: [Tolerance]
If indeed you must be candid, be candid beautifully.
Kahlil Gibran
If you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work.
Kahlil Gibran
If you reveal your secrets to the wind you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.
Kahlil Gibran
- More quotations on: [Secrets]
In the sweetness of friendship; let there be laughter and the sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.
Kahlil Gibran
It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding.
Kahlil Gibran
Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.
Kahlil Gibran
Say not, 'I have found the truth,' but rather, 'I have found a truth.'
Kahlil Gibran
- More quotations on: [Truth]
The deeper sorrow carves into your being the more joy you can contain.
Kahlil Gibran
The lights of stars that were extinguished ages ago still reaches us. So it is with great men who died centuries ago, but still reach us with the radiations of their personalities.
Kahlil Gibran
The optomist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious of the rose.
Kahlil Gibran
To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but at what he aspires to do.
Kahlil Gibran
Yesterday is but today's memory, tomorrow is today's dream.
Kahlil Gibran
In battling evil, excess is good; for he who is moderate in announcing the truth is presenting half-truth. He conceals the other half out of fear of the people's wrath.
Kahlil Gibran,
'Narcotics and Dissecting Knives,' Thoughts and Meditations, 1960
It is well to give when asked but it is better to give unasked, through understanding.
Kahlil Gibran,
'On Giving,' The Prophet, 1923
Yes, there is a Nirvanah; it is leading your sheep to a green pasture, and in putting your child to sleep, and in writing the last line of your poem.
Kahlil Gibran,
Essay on Robert Frost, quoted in N. Y.. Times: Obit-Editorial, April 1982
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter and the sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.
Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
A TRIBUTE TO KAHLIL GIBRAN (from you tube)
