Book Review: The Eye of the Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

The Eye of the Prophet is another interesting book by Kahlil Gibran. It is brief, but it touches upon topics such as life, youth, woman, love, social relations, slavery, law, understanding, music, art, religion, wisdom etc. I quote here some of Gibran from this particular book.

He says: “The man who does not feel friendship towards himself is a public enemy, and he who finds no confidant within himself will dies of despair.” At another place he writes: “…for he who has never looked at suffering cannot claim to see joy”. On life he says: “Life without rebellion is like the seasons without spring. And rebellion without rights is like spring in a barren desert.” On woman Gibran writes: “The woman of yesterday was a happy woman, but the woman of today is a wretched mistress”. Writing about love Gibran espouses that “Hell lies not in torture. Hell lies in an empty heart.” Regarding mother Gibran thinks: “The mother is everything in life. She is the consolation in our sadness, the hope in our distress, the strength in our weakness. She is the source of compassion, she is love and grace. He who loses his mother loses a breast on which to lay his head, a hand that blesses him, a gaze that protects him.”

On courage he says: “The moth that flutters round the fire until its own death is more admirable than the mole who lives in a dark tunnel.” He further writes in the book: “To die for liberty is more noble than living in the shadow of cowardly submission.” On Truth Gibran mentions: “Truth is like stars: it shows only in the darkness of the night.” The whole elaboration under ‘Earth’ is really fascinating.

Some of his other quotes are:

• Friendliness with an ignorant man is just as absurd as discussion with a drunkard.
• Before teaching others begin by educating yourselves. Teach by example before teaching by words.
• Knowledge makes your seeds germinate but never sows them.
• Understanding forms, the only set of riches which tyrants cannot take away from you.
• The true riches of a nation lie not in its gold or silver but in its aptitude to educate itself and in the degree of integrity possessed by its children.
• The riches of the mind embellish the face of a man and earn sympathy and respect. The mind of a being is reflected in his eyes and in all the movements and gestures of his body.
• The people of the cities pretend to be wise and knowing. But their imagination remains unreliable, for they are none other than experts in imitation.
• Beauty is not in the face. Beauty is a light in the heart.
• Poetry, today, is a consumer product and not a breath of immortality.
• Ask counsel from people wrinkled with age. Their eyes have looked the years directly in the face, and their eyes have listened to the voices of Life. And even if their counsel were to displease you, do not fail to give them a little of your attention.
• Is faith not the sense of the heart just as sight is the sense of the eyes?
• Remember that a single just man causes the demon more trouble than a thousand blind believers.
• Tomorrow is conceived in the womb of yesterday.
• Do not call me wise, unless you call all man wise. I am merely an unripe fruit still hanging on the branch, only yesterday I was still a flower.

Overall this book presents a reflection of Kahlil Gibran inspiration and wisdom.

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