Khalil Gibran

If I extend an empty hand and in retrieving it and finding it still empty, I feel disappointment, that is foolishness; yet if I extend a hand which is full and yet find no one to receive it, then that is hopelessness.

Extreme torture is mute, and so we sat silent, petrified, like columns of marble buried under the sand of an earthquake. Neither wished to listen to the other because our heart-threads had become weak and even breathing would have broken them.

Love provided me with a tongue and tears.

A truly religious man does not embrace a religion; and he who embraces one has no religion.

Qualities of Good Citizens... is to admire what others have created in love and faith

You may forget with whom you laughed, but you will never forget with whom you wept.

We wanderers, ever seeking the lonelier way, begin no day where we have ended another, and no sunrise finds us where left by sunset. Even while the earth sleeps we travel. We are the seeds of that tenacious plant, and it is in our ripeness and our fullness of heart that we are given to the wind to be scattered.

Is not dread of thirst when your well is full, the thirst that is unquenchable?

The optimist sees the rose and not its thorns; the pessimist stares at the thorns, oblivious to the rose.

Thus with my lips have I denounced you, while my heart, bleeding within me, called you tender names.

When life does not find a singer to sing her heart she produces a philosopher to speak her mind.

They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold; and I deem them mad because they think my days have a price.

As the strings of a lute are apart though they quiver the same music.

And your fragrance shall be my breath, And together we shall rejoice through all the seasons.

Hearts united in pain and sorrow will not be separated by joy and happiness. Bonds that are woven in sadness are stronger than the ties of joy and pleasure. Love that is washed by tears will remain eternally pure and faithful.