Kahlil Gibran (1883 - 1931) was a Lebanese-American artist, poet, and author. After immigrating to the United States with his family, he studied art and started a literary career, writing in both English and Arabic. His most popular work, The Prophet, was released in 1922 and is a prime example of inspirational fiction. A 2015 animated film presents eight of his profound and poetic wisdom teachings.

Neil Douglas-Klotz is a world-renowned scholar in religious studies, spirituality, and psychology. A longtime interpreter of mystical writing, he is the editor of this paperback, the third of a four-volume series on Gibran's writing.

In the Introduction, Douglas-Klotz writes about this visionary's fascination with puzzles and riddles, his penchant for seeing things from two points of view, his search for balance and meaning, and his love of mysticism. This book collects Gibran's words on life's big questions and the mysteries of the spiritual path.

Here are a few of our favorite selections from the book:

  • "The flowers of spring
    are winter's dreams
    elated at the breakfast table
    of the angels."
  • "If all they say of good and evil were true,
    then my life is but one long crime."
  • "Everything in existence
    resides in your core,
    and all of what is in your core
    resides in existence.
    There is no separation
    between the closest of things and the farthest
    or between the highest or the lowest
    or between the smallest and the largest.
    In a single drop of water
    are all the secrets of the seas.
    In a single atom
    are all the elements of the Earth.
    In a single motion of thought
    are all of the motions and laws of the world."