Selected Quotes & Excerpts From Sand & Foam by Khalil Gibran

Music:
Twice Born(Venuto al Mondo)-Eduardo Cruz

I AM FOREVER walking upon these shores,
Betwixt the sand and the foam,
The high tide will erase my foot-prints,
And the wind will blow away the foam.
But the sea and the shore will remain
Forever.

They say to me in their awakening, "You and the world you live
in are but a grain of sand upon the infinite shore of an infinite sea."
And in my dream I say to them, "I am the infinite sea, and all
worlds are but grains of sand upon my shore."

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 will
change all things.

How can I lose faith in the justice of life, when the dreams of those
who sleep upon feathers are not more beautiful than the dreams of those
who sleep upon the earth? Strange, the desire for certain pleasures is a part of my pain.

Seven times have I despised my soul:
The first time when I saw her being meek that she might attain height.
The second time when I saw her limping before the crippled.
The third time when she was given to choose between
the hard and the easy, and she chose the easy.
The fourth time when she committed a wrong, and comforted
herself that others also commit wrong.

The fifth time when she forbore for weakness,
and attributed her patience to strength.
The sixth time when she despised the ugliness of a face,
and knew not that it was one of her own masks.
And the seventh time when she sang a song of praise,
and deemed it a virtue.

A traveler am I and a navigator, and every day
I discover a new region within my soul.

We are all prisoners but some of us are in cells
with windows and some without.

Though the wave of words is forever upon us,
yet our depth is forever silent.

You are blind and I am deaf and dumb,
so let us touch hands and understand.

The voice of life in me cannot reach the ear of life in you;
but let us talk that we may not feel lonely.

They say to me, "Should you know yourself you would know all men.
And I say, "Only when I seek all men shall I know myself.

MAN IS TWO men; one is awake in darkness, the other is asleep in light.
If you can see only what light reveals and hear only what sound announces,
Then in truth you do not see nor do you hear.

Some of us are like ink and some like paper.
And if it were not for the blackness of some of us, some of us would be dumb;
And if it were not for the whiteness of some of us, some of us would be blind.

Love is a word of light, written by a hand
of light, upon a page of light.

Love that does not renew itself every day becomes
a habit and in turn a slavery.

Lovers embrace that which is between
them rather than each other.

Love and doubt have never been on speaking terms.

Every man loves two women; the one is the creation
of his imagination, and the other is not yet born.

Men who do not forgive women their little faults
will never enjoy their great virtues.

When a man's hand touches the hand of a woman
they both touch the heart of eternity.

Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.

If you do not understand your friend under all
conditions you will never understand him.

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

Had I filled myself with all that you know what room
should I have for all that you do not know?

Please do not whitewash your inherent faults with your acquired virtues.
I would have the faults; they are like mine own.

The reality of the other person is 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.

Your most radiant garment is of the other person's weaving;
You most savory meal is that which you eat at the other person's table;
Your most comfortable bed is in the other person's house.
Now tell me, how can you separate yourself from the other person?

If the other person laughs at you, you can pity him;
but if you laugh at him you may never forgive yourself.
If the other person injures you, you may forget the injury;
but if you injure him you will always remember.
In truth the other person is your most sensitive self given another body.

Hate is a dead thing. Who of you would be a tomb?

Oftentimes I have hated in self-defense; but if I were stronger
I would not have used such a weapon.

How stupid is he who would patch the hatred
in his eyes with the smile of his lips.

If your heart is a volcano how shall you expect
flowers to bloom in your hands?

When you see a man led to prison say in your heart,
"Mayhap he is escaping from a narrower prison.
And when you see a man drunken say in your heart,
"Mayhap he sought escape from something still more unbeautiful.

You cannot have youth and the knowledge of it at the same time;
For youth is too busy living to know, and knowledge is too busy seeking itself to live. You may sit at your window watching the passersby. And watching you may see a nun walking toward your right hand, and a prostitute toward your left hand.

And you may say in your innocence, "How noble is the one and how ignoble is the other. But should you close your eyes and listen awhile you would hear a voice whispering in the ether, "One seeks me in prayer, and the other in pain. And in the spirit of each there is a bower for my spirit.

There are three miracles of our Brother Jesus not yet recorded in the Book:
the first that He was a man like you and me, the second that He had a sense
of humour, and the third that He knew He was a conqueror though conquered.

Crucified One, you are crucified upon my heart;
and the nails that pierce your hands pierce the walls of my heart.
And tomorrow when a stranger passes by this Golgotha he will not know that two bled here. He will deem it the blood of one man.

You may have heard of the Blessed Mountain.
It is the highest mountain in our world.
Should you reach the summit you would have only one desire,
and that to descend and be with those who dwell in the deepest valley.
That is why it is called the Blessed Mountain.