KAHLIL GIBRAN Boundless Sorrow & Unclouded Joy: (Selected Quotes & Poems)

By Kahlil Gibran and Murat Durmus

The beauty of Kahlil Gibran's thoughts is that they are not filled with any dogmas. They are accessible to everyone, no matter what faith community one belongs to.

I hope this little booklet with a selection of some of his most beautiful and inspiring quotes and poems will touch you as much as it has touched me.

"God judges a tree by its fruits and not by its roots."

~ Paulo Coelho

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jun 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781471666056

Kahlil Gibran

Kahlil Gibran was a Lebanese-American writer, poet, and a philosopher best known for his, The Prophet. Born to a Maronite-Christian family in a village occupied by Ottoman rule, Gibran and his family immigrated to the United States in 1895 in search of a better life. Studying art and literature, and inevitably ensconced in the world of political activism as a young man dealing with the ramifications of having to leave his home-land, Gibran hoped to make his living as an artist. With the weight of political and religious upheaval on his shoulders, Gibran's work aimed to inspire a revolution of free though and artistic expression. Gibran's, The Prophet has become one of the best-selling books of all time, leaving behind a legacy of accolades and establishing him as both a literary rebel and hero in his country of Lebanon. Gibran is considered to be the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lao Tzu.

Book preview

Foreword

For most, the name Gibran brings to mind his famous work The Prophet, which first appeared in New York in 1923 and quickly became a worldwide cult book. The editions in many languages indicate how extensive and existentially intense this poet's work is.

He also left lasting impressions as a painter. He has become an essential bridge-builder between religions through his life between the Levant, Europe, and America, his poetry, his many aphorisms, and his unique stories.

I hope this little booklet with a selection of some of his most beautiful and inspiring quotes and poems will touch you as much as it has touched me.

God judges a tree by its fruits and not by its roots.

~ Paulo Coelho

Murat Durmus

14 June 2022

Introduction

Kahlil Gibran was born in January 1883 in Bisharri, Lebanon. In 1895 he emigrated with his mother, sisters, and half-brother to Boston in the USA.

Kamila Gibran, his mother, was the daughter of the priest Istiphan Rahmeh. The misspelling of Kahlil Gibran is due to the anglicization of his name in the Boston elementary school he attended.

In his youth, Gibran was a protégé of photographer and publicist F. Holland Day. After returning to Lebanon, Gibran studied art, French, Arabic, and Arabic literature in 1897.

In 1899, he returned to Boston via Paris. In 1903 his mother, his half-brother Butrus (* 1877), and his younger sister Sultanah (* 1887) died of tuberculosis. In 1904 he had his first success as a painter.

From 1908 he studied art and European literature in Paris. In 1912 he moved to New York.

The autobiographical novel Broken Wings appeared in the same year. Finally, in 1918, The Madman appeared, the first book he had written in English.

He was the founding president of the literary association Arrabitah and belonged to the Maronite Christian Church.

He died of liver cancer in New York on April 10, 1931, and was buried in his birthplace in Lebanon.

Work and thought

The central motifs of his poetry and philosophical thought revolve around the idea that life, love, and death should be the essentials for us humans.

His work is seen as a link between the philosophical directions of the Orient, e.g., Sufism, and the Western philosophies influenced by Christianity.

The Prophet, published in 1923, is considered his best known as Gibran's preparatory work. Like many of his other writings, it was illustrated by himself.

Gibran wrote most of his early works in Arabic, but from 1918 onward, he wrote mainly in English; His poetic and linguistically panoramic images are particularly captivating.

In his spiritual aphorisms and worldly wisdom, he was always concerned with touching the heart of his listeners.

Kahlil Gibran

(January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931)

You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts.

(The Prophet)

Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.

If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they