The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

[zengatsu]

---

heres one on laws:

You delight in laying down laws,
Yet you delight more in breaking them.

tinood jud ni, then ang mag una una ug break pa jud are the one making the laws..

[splendid moonlight]

Here's another one about Giving

And you receivers -- and you are all receivers -- assume no weight of gratitude,
lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives.
Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings;
For to be overmindful of your debt is to doubt his generosity
who has the free-hearted earth for mother, and God for father.

the lines speak for themselves I guess. it just makes me think nga kung kinsa'y mamangka ninyu, as much as possible a'y gyud ug balibad. hehe.

there is in our culture (and in some cultures) what we call "utang kabubut-on." maybe it is good to an extent. but notice how we sometimes feel awkward when we know someone feels that way about us after having done them a favor? it's as if they see us only in that light and do not know anything about us at all. somehow it puts a barrier. and instead of being friends they become someone who needs to be payed. as if unless they are payed, then they will never be even. it's as if there is then a sort of measurement - one is above and one is below - when there shouldn't be any. its hurts! i think that's what he means when he said "rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings." you should not put yourself below him who was generous, if only because you should not put yourself above whom you are being generous to. [br]Date Posted: May 31, 2006, 11:55:43 AM_________________________________________________i was browsing through the links zengatsu posted and I found this quote by the same author --

One day you will ask me which is more important? my life or yours? I will say mine and you will walk away not knowing that you are my life.

it literally made me gasp.

[Nezumix22]

One day you will ask me which is more important? my life or yours? I will say mine and you will walk away not knowing that you are my life.

yep, yep, this is one quote that has been used, reused and abused in lots of writings out there. But this is by far the best rendition of that theme.

I couldn't resist and got myself a copy from a friend.. so Ms. Gwyn, I took ur advice and made notes and all, so it looks like a little diary and soon I'm gonna make a blog posting of it.. it was a really nice idea though easily dismissed by many..

[samokan]

yeah me too.. i also write quotes that i like, ako na ning tarungon.. just found an empty journal which i took from my sister.. just started reading "The Prophet" still on page 4 but really nice.. not boring...

[tolstoi]

wow im beggining to like Gibran's poems..tnx

btw here's where i'm reading it:

http://www.columbia.edu/~gm84/gibtable.html

[splendid moonlight]

@nezumi: i have no idea kadaghan na diay na nagamit. karon pa gyud ko ka bagat ana nga quote. hehe.

i also have journals. i have one which is very little that i made for myself and i put there my favorite quotes. the ones that really had an impact on me at a certain time. that one's certainly going there!

[tolstoi]

Much of your pain is self-chosen.

It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.

Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity:

For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen,

And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears.

payter :mrgreen:

[Nezumix22]

@nezumi: i have no idea kadaghan na diay na nagamit. karon pa gyud ko ka bagat ana nga quote. hehe.

yup, Actually not the exact quote but the theme.. I've read it in around 6 different renditions, mostly in novels.. usually mga classic and a few new ones so Gibran has actually lifted this theme from old novels but made a better rendition of the theme so iyang single sentence quote is easily the best.. and many other recent authors try to capture that theme in simple ways such as that quote but haven't been able to replicate its impact as to its conciseness.. It's simple statement but striking, later authors who tried to use the theme came out with a short story or even a novel that doesn't have as much impact nor conciseness as that quote..

We had a literature class about "themes in literary works" and this one was a favorite and this has been used (as far as I can remember lang, dugay na man to college days nako..) in Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment, War and Peace ug uban pa to I really forgot, gonna check back on some notes kung makit-an pa to nako.. basta it's a theme about love, sacrifice and betrayal..

[splendid moonlight]

bitaw diay no. kung ang theme lang mismo ka daghan na nagamit. perhaps one example is this story circulating over the internet about a boy who donated his eyes to his girlfriend following an accident. the girlfriend after recovering and finding out that the boy was blind, left him. unbeknownst to her it was the guy's eyes she was using.

perhaps the quote's effectiveness, aside from its simplicity, was the first two words: one day. it denotes a span of time, and time is.. well.. i think a span of time denotes a number of feelings and emotions, so there are many feelings and emotions involved in that quote more than its number of words can be believed to contain. it is probably why it is so immediately catching. so readily felt by the heart.

[Gwynhuever]

wow im beggining to like Gibran's poems..tnx

btw here's where i'm reading it:

http://www.columbia.edu/~gm84/gibtable.html

hello bro...good to hear that you like him too....nice pod ni nga thread kay people are so open to share their interpretations and feelings ....especially si Luthienne...abtik kaayo makakita ug "power" quotes....

please come back and share with us sad ha....