Random thoughts on the other man

It's been one of those long days which feels like it will never end. You get a feeling deep in your gut that life is nothing but a routine everyday, and there seems to be nothing to look forward to...

So to keep my spirits up, I've re-read a book on the other fave author in my life: Kahlil Gibran, Lebanese American poet, artist and writer. Most of Gibran's work deals with Christianity, especially on the topic of spiritual love.

Gibran's best-known work is The Prophet, a book that composed of twenty-six poetic essays. Since it was first published in 1923, this book has never been out of print. Having been translated into more than forty languages, it was one of the bestselling books of the twentieth century in the United States. And I'm so proud to say I owe a beautiful hardcover copy of this book which was given to me as a X'mas gift two years ago by my sister and Jackson.

Some of my fave Gibran's random yet, beautifuls words:

1) Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity.

2) Advance, and never halt, for advancing is perfection. Advance and do not fear the thorns in the path, for they draw only corrupt blood. All that spirits desire, spirits attain.

3) An eye for an eye, and the whole world would be blind.
If the other person injures you, you may forget the injury; but if you injure him you will always remember.

4) Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children.

5) I wash my hands of those who imagine chattering to be knowledge, silence to be ignorance, and affection to be art.

6) And ever has it been known that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.
If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. And if they don’t, they never were.

7) If you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work.

8) If you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.

9) If your heart is a volcano, how shall you expect flowers to bloom?

10) Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need.

11) Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof. Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking.

12) Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is its twin brother.