Skip to content
Khalil Gibran
inspiration

Khalil Gibran

1883 – 1931

5Quotes
5Themes
48Years

About Khalil Gibran

Khalil Gibran (1883–1931) was a Lebanese-American poet, artist, and mystic philosopher who became one of the bestselling poets of the 20th century. Born in the Maronite Christian town of Bsharri in Ottoman-controlled Lebanon, he emigrated to Boston at age 12, suffered the deaths of his mother and two siblings from tuberculosis, and eventually settled in New York. His masterwork, The Prophet (1923) — a collection of 26 prose poems delivered by a fictional sage named Almustafa — has never gone out of print and has been translated into more than 100 languages.

Influenced by William Blake, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sufi mysticism, Gibran's writing sits at the intersection of Eastern philosophy, Christian spirituality, and Romantic idealism.

Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.

Khalil Gibran

Quick Facts

Born
1883
Died
1931
Lifespan
48 years
Domain
inspiration
Quotes
5 collected
Key Themes
DreamsRelationshipsParentingWorkResilience

Khalil Gibran's Famous Quotes

5 quotes

Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.

Widely attributed to Gibran — possibly from The Madman (1918) or Sand and Foam (1926)

Dreams

Let there be spaces in your togetherness.

The Prophet (1923), chapter "On Marriage"

Relationships

Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

The Prophet (1923), chapter "On Children"

Parenting

Work is love made visible.

The Prophet (1923), chapter "On Work"

Work

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

Widely attributed to Gibran — appears in various collections of his sayings

Resilience

Explore Related Content

Articles and guides inspired by inspiration thinkers like Khalil Gibran

More inspiration

Browse all authors →
Arundhati Roy

Arundhati Roy

Arundhati Roy (born 1961) is an Indian author and activist whose debut novel *The God of Small Things* (1997) won the Booker Prize and sold more than eight million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling novels ever by a non-expatriate Indian author. Born in Shillong and raised in Kerala, Roy trained as an architect before writing her debut. After its success, she turned primarily to political essays — opposing nuclear testing, the Narmada Dam displacement, and the U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq — collected in *The Algebra of Infinite Justice* (2002) and *Listening to Grasshoppers* (2009). Her second novel, *The Ministry of Utmost Happiness* (2017), arrived twenty years after her first. She remains one of India's most fearless public intellectuals.

Mo Yan

Mo Yan

Mo Yan (born 1955) is a Chinese author who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2012, cited for his "hallucinatory realism" that "merges folk tales, history and the contemporary." Born Guan Moye in Gaomi, Shandong — a rural area that becomes the setting of much of his fiction — he left school during the Cultural Revolution to work in the fields, then served in the People's Liberation Army. His international reputation was established by *Red Sorghum* (1987), a visceral novel of wartime Shandong that was adapted into a Zhang Yimou film. His subsequent novels — *The Republic of Wine* (1992), *Big Breasts and Wide Hips* (1995), and *Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out* (2006) — blend Chinese folklore, Rabelaisian excess, and political critique. The Nobel Prize generated controversy because of his silence on the imprisonment of Liu Xiaobo, but he remains the most internationally recognized Chinese author.

Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart Tolle

Eckhart Tolle is a renowned spiritual teacher and author, best known for his books "The Power of Now" and "A New Earth." His teachings focus on the importance of presence, mindfulness, and awakening to one's true self. Tolle's work has inspired millions to live more consciously and find peace in the present moment.

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou (1928–2014) was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist whose seven-volume autobiography, beginning with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), transformed American literature. Born Marguerite Annie Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri, she endured a childhood marked by racial segregation, sexual trauma, and years of voluntary muteness. She became a dancer, singer, actress, journalist, playwright, and eventually one of the most celebrated poets in American history. In 1993 she delivered her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at President Bill Clinton's inauguration. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. Her work is inseparable from the Civil Rights Movement — she was a close friend and collaborator of both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

Frequently Asked Questions

Khalil Gibran (1883–1931) was a Lebanese-American poet, artist, and mystic philosopher who became one of the bestselling poets of the 20th century. Born in the Maronite Christian town of Bsharri in Ottoman-controlled Lebanon, he emigrated to Boston at age 12, suffered the deaths of his mother and two siblings from tuberculosis, and eventually settled in New York. His masterwork, The Prophet (1923) — a collection of 26 prose poems delivered by a fictional sage named Almustafa — has never gone out of print and has been translated into more than 100 languages. Influenced by William Blake, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Sufi mysticism, Gibran's writing sits at the intersection of Eastern philosophy, Christian spirituality, and Romantic idealism. Khalil Gibran lived 1883 – 1931.