Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Prophet
    The Prophet
    The Prophet
    Ebook88 pages1 hour

    The Prophet

    By Khalil Gibran

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The Prophet' is a truly ground breaking inspirational book of poetry consisting of a series of prose poems. Each poem discussing an important aspect of the human condition such as love, death, friendship, and good and evil. Gibran’s insights into the human condition are considerable and inspiring. Truly a book for the ages.

    'The Prophet' has sold more than ten million copies and been translated into more than one hundred languages. A timeless classic.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWilder Publications, Inc.
    Release dateFeb 27, 2019
    ISBN9781515439363

    Read more from Khalil Gibran

    Related to The Prophet

    Related ebooks

    Poetry For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Paulo Coelho

      Dec 10, 2020

      Paulo Coelho
      3 min read

    • Article

      Echo and Narcissus

      Mar 7, 2022

      Echo and Narcissus
      7 min read

    • Article

      Death

      Mar 2, 2023

      Death
      1 min read

    • Article

      The Island (catullus 64)

      Mar 1, 2022

      Back then the evergreens tumbled downriverfrom the glaze-white runoff to the boot-stirred puddlesof amber young men who fulfilled our destiny,who clambered into ships, on horses, and in wagonspainting the newfound landscapes ours.Our calling was nobl

      9 min read

    • Article

      Bard In The Woods

      Nov 30, 2020

      Bard In The Woods
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Epic Of Gilgamesh

      Jan 1, 2020

      My friends, who can reach heaven? The monster bellows like a river swollen with flood.Many are consumed in his fiery breath. My friends, who can reach heaven? Let us ask the mountain for a sign.Let us cut the spirits from the cedars. My friends, who

      3 min read

    • Article

      from 36 WAYS OF WRITING A VIETNAMESE POEM

      Feb 28, 2023

      You can’t go far wrong with violence.You’ll go far, my boy.You’ll cross oceans, my boy. Start with the Fall, go back or forth,Through bombs or boats,Across all the killing fields of thought. You can’t make it upBecause it’s all yours—by blood.By righ

      4 min read

    • Article

      from BLACK PASTORAL

      Nov 1, 2023

      somewheres, some lifetimes ago I have run so far, so long.There is nowhere I haven’t beenBut here, in this field, a bodyLength from the ragged brinkThat gives way to forest.I collapsed here, the thin, hard slipOf me whittled at both ends.I want badly

      4 min read

    • Article

      Four Poems

      Jul 1, 2022

      The embers of a Thousand YearsUncovered by the HandThat fondled them when they were FireWill stir and understand——from Emily Dickinson’s “1383” Remember when we hurriedourselves into the evening’s sacral blaze: Our coal-covered bridal gownsdrenched i

      6 min read

    • Article

      [FROM THE GRIMOIRE]: Spell For Binding A Man To A Man

      Jun 3, 2021

      Not by amulets but by words and scents and signs:the air awake and still, blue as flag or water hyacinth.Tone of neutrality. Color of equality. A middle spacewhere like things congregate, all motion all energy— as the bond was with my Lord and his Ap

      1 min read

    • Article

      Four Poems

      Jan 1, 2023

      And god created the waves and we the graves beneath, bodies madeparticulate by the force of water against water, water against rock, againsttime. I descend into the deep in a kind of prayer, listen to its centuries.Make me pay, will you, make me hurt

      3 min read

    • Article

      My Bull-faced Tender Friend Was Right About Everything I Consume One Nasturtium After Another Wishing I’d Been Alive When He Found Me First

      May 1, 2020

      but I wasn’t / I was / somebody else’s eurydice and he had none nor any bride though sirens mobbed him and mopped his brow and stole his breath and laughed deep throated laughs around their thighs around his torso as mine would be hands braced agains

      2 min read

    • Article

      Five Poems

      Sep 1, 2021

      You don’t understand, he says, again,from the backseat of the car, my son, who only months ago, could not fallasleep before whispering, first, some secret in my ear. When I lookin the rearview, he turns toward peaks in the distance, and when I ask hi

      2 min read

    • Article

      Ilse Kleyn Prophetic Artist

      Jun 24, 2019

      Ilse Kleyn Prophetic Artist
      7 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      Sep 1, 2023

      This poem is for everyperson who will neverread it either by choiceor circumstance I writeit in silence wherethe most realparts of our liveslive like a shoe lostin an alley or an emptyboat in a black sea butmore like the fallenleaf on the other sideo

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Call Of The Wild

      Nov 30, 2020

      The Call Of The Wild
      2 min read

    • Article

      Five Poems

      May 1, 2019

      “My arm is so brown and so beautiful,” is a thought I haveas I’m about to turn off the lamp and go to sleep.I look at it a moment in the soft glow, and see it, briefly,as though it belonged to someone else. A reddishkind of brown, like a toasted almo

      7 min read

    • Article

      Queen Of Salt

      Feb 6, 2020

      Queen Of Salt
      10 min read

    • Article

      Five Poems

      Mar 4, 2019

      for William Gifford, 1928–2015 The river. Always the same, never the same.Poughkeepsie. A place north of where I am.To remember you is to remember Poughkeepsie.To remember Poughkeepsie is to remember the river.I am downriver now & you are a memoryI

      3 min read

    • Article

      Toby Martinez De Las Rivas

      Dec 15, 2018

      III. Is belief, like love, first a touch, a feeling,an inclination toward rightness?But I have known—known—myself right somany times & been so, só wrong.Is it a mode of dying? Of benediction?Acceptance of suffering?It is benediction.I am ill. There i

      2 min read

    • Article

      Jasmine Fingers

      Aug 22, 2019

      Jasmine Fingers
      14 min read

    • Article

      A Change Takes Place

      Oct 28, 2019

      A Change Takes Place
      5 min read

    • Article

      Joyous, You

      May 5, 2022

      today, as you lay on the spider swingthat I pushed gently to the rhythm of my breath,you closed your eyes, and the light rested on your face,and the birds flew back to the trees, and farawaya storm was brewing like a rumour, no one wouldbelieve it; I

      1 min read

    • Article

      Three Letters from Switzerland

      Aug 15, 2019

      Three Letters from Switzerland
      4 min read

    • Article

      Two Poems

      Nov 1, 2023

      As when listening to a story, children always want to knowthe next thing before sleep until they wake and the morning becomesancient, so too those beginning at love first ask, Is it real?—and then years later,Was it a memory?—only to stare at a vast

      1 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Prophet

    4/5

    2,209 ratings58 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      While reading this, it occurred to me that I would like to be drinking whatever Gibran was drinking while he wrote it. This is a book I have seen here and there, sometimes among shelves of old books in people's houses, ever since I was old enough to notice books. I don't think we had a copy in our home, but I could be mistaken. Certainly it hasn't come down into my possession as did many of my favorite books of my father's. In any case, the best word to describe "The Prophet" is drivel. Sure, it has a few nice quotes: "Let there be spaces in your togetherness" being a pretty clever one. And its assertion that live and death, pleasure and pain, etc. etc. etc. are just opposite sides of the same coin are certainly true to an extent. But the language is just pretty silly. Compared to other religious books--and I would treat this as such--it is pretty harmless, however.
    • 4/5
      I read The Prophet perhaps way way too quickly - its short enough to be read in a few hours, but deep enough to take years to digest. There's lots in there that would be good quotes to remember. It reminded me a little bit of the song 'Best of all possible worlds' in Candide(?) where this one know-it-all explains his unrelenting optimism.
    • 5/5
      What can one say? Wisdom and beauty combined.
    • 5/5
      I picked up a First Edition copy at Thrift Store! The Greatest Find of My life!
    • 5/5
      Beautiful and inspiring.
    • 2/5
      I feel like I'm supposed to love this book, but it just didn't do much for me. At its best the writing is quite lyrical and there are some wonderfully quotable passages, but taken as a whole it felt like Gibran had tried to find universals among world religions and that road had just led him to rather obvious truisms.
    • 5/5
      I read this years ago. I'm not a religious person in the slightest. I might consider myself spiritual. This book was to me what I suppose the Bible or Koran, or Torah or whatever is to people of religion. It's a go-to book for learning how to be a better person. Provides insight into emotions, and ideas about work and life.
    • 4/5
      I selected The Prophet as an Around the World For A Good Book choice for Lebanon but really I've been meaning to read this book for quite some time. Especially since a I few years ago when I met Kahlil Gibran's cousin and godson - also named Kahlil Gibran - on a sculpture tour of Forest Hills Cemetery. The Prophet is a series of lessons given by a prophet to the townsfolk on topics varying from "Children," "Self-Knowledge," and "Good and Evil." It has many of the paradoxical formations found in many works of inspirational literature including Lao-Tzu's "Way of Life", the teachings of the Buddha and The Beatitudes of Jesus Christ. Like those other works, it's not really a read once and remember book, it's more of a come back to again and again and find a different pearl of wisdom book.Favorite Passages:from "On Eating and Drinking":But since you must kill to eat, and rob the newly born of its mother' s milk to quench your thirst, let it then be an act of worship. - p. 23from "On Self-Knowledge":Say not, "I have found the truth," but rather, "I have found a truth." Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path." For the soul walks upon all paths. - p. 55from "On Death":Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the shall claim your limbs, then you shall truly dance. - p. 81
    • 3/5
      It's ok, not earth shattering or anything. May require re-reading.
    • 4/5
      This was a surprisingly good read. The pithy statements are full of wisdom and poetic grace and the entire whole is abounded by a sense of care and compassion towards the reader. Although I am not religious, I found this to be a particularly gripping book that held my attention from start to finish.

      Great read. Recommended for poets, scholars, those with religious reasons, and curiosity-seekers.
    • 4/5
      This new edition seemed a good opportunity to take in this classic. You don't hear so much about Kahlil Gibran nowadays, but when I was in my teens he seemed to be all over the place.To be honest, I'm not sure what I think. The work captures the cadence and impression of a solid work of philosophy -- much better than the other forms I was also consuming in my teens, like Richard Bach. And I found his real world pragmatism on issues reassuring. Unlike the Christian platitudes on marriage about becoming one, Gibran urged the partners to maintain their individuality however much they are together. Similarly, parents are encouraged to allow their children to become their own persons. Parents may strive to be like their children, but they should not work to make their children like them. All true. On the other hand, I tend not to appreciate arguments of the form of clever wordplay that seek to find deep wisdom by inverting the terms. A and not-A. A chain is only as weak as the weakest link, but also as strong as the strongest one. That's ridiculous. Were I a different kind of person, or even the same person at a different, probably earlier stage of life, I may have the time and inclination to puzzle over these brief expositions on selected topics. But that's not what's going to happen. In truth, I found the new introduction to be the most memorable, with the story of how reading the right book at the right time can change one's life. That's what we really need to be reminded of.This edition introduced a new error into the text, on page 19. Publishers do not pay as much attention to copy editing as they did in the old days, sadly.
    • 5/5
      Gibran is the one of the most popular poets gracefully standing in this vale of tears. Only Shakespeare and Lao-Tze are more often quoted and published. The Prophet is not Jesus -- for there is no crucifixion, no salvation in blood. The Prophet is not Mohammed -- for there is no war, no jihad, no vilification, no second-class sex or tribe, and no obsession with "being clean" in an impure world. Possibly, he is Manes, because there are revenant themes of Christic Persian mystery -- but there is no hard line drawn between the infinite possibilities of Good and Evil. It is all about grace, seeing inside, understanding outside.Gibran is one of the diaspora of great men and women who fled and flee from the Middle East (Lebanon). Thousands of great poets are still fleeing the persecutions and the stifling monopoly of Islam. In the West, his talent for grace was appreciated. He flourished, and so will any reader.
    • 4/5
      a treasure.. i keep going back to it
    • 5/5
      Read this when I was 10 & it stayed with me forever. My buddy in college used to tease me that it was my bible :-p
    • 3/5
      This is an interesting piece of philosophy, well worth a couple rereads. Basically this prophet comes to town, and the people of the town ask him all kinds of questions, and he answers them. There's some good advice about infusing your every action with love and stuff like that, and some confusing advice that may be encouraging nudity and/or anarchy. Like I said, it's worth multiple reads. And it's short enough that rereading is no burden. A good choice if you're in the mood to ponder the Big Issues.
    • 3/5
      his is a very interesting listen. The Prophet is not so much a story as treatise on Gibran's understanding of philosphy and religion. There are some beautiful points made, but others that seem confusing. The narration was rather odd. Paul Sparer has an amazing voice, but it would work better in an epic fantasy, and therefore gave the whole work a feel of the fantastic.
    • 5/5
      There are spiritual gems sprinkled throughout the pages. A book of wisdom and a spiritual classic.
    • 2/5
      "Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth."

      What a great line! Little did I know it was far and away the high-point of a book that is otherwise filled with platitudes and skin-deep truths.
    • 5/5
      Humbling, inspiring, and definitely a book to keep on your bedside table...
    • 5/5
      Sometimes you read a book, sometimes a book reads you.
    • 5/5
      I feel like this is one of those essential books that everyone should read at least once in their lives. And, while it took me longer than it probably should have, I've finally read it.So much insight in Gibran's narrative, things that are timeless because they speak to the basics of human nature, which regardless of how much we "advance" as a society, will always remain true.Freedom, Time, Beauty, Crime & Punishment, Beauty, Teaching, Speaking; all concepts that the Prophet touches upon. Just do yourself a favor and pick this one up, it's definitely worth the read.This is one I'm going to keep close to me so I can reference it often.
    • 4/5
      Pretty quick read with some wise insights into human nature and our relationship with God. Some favorites:

      "Verily the lust for comfort murders the passion of the soul, and then walks grinning in the funeral."

      On search for freedom:
      "And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment."

      On the mystery of death and afterlife:
      "In the depths of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
      And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.
      Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity."
    • 5/5
      I'm not very religious, but this had some great and beautiful thoughts and advice in it.
    • 4/5
      20 years ago my sister passed away and a professor at my university handed me this book to read "On Joy and Sorrow". It stayed with me for the next 20 years until I finally tracked it down to this book. The message in "On Joy and Sorrow" is one I've tried to pass on to a friend or two when it seemed it would be helpful.

      Having just finished the whole book, there are many passages here that are as thought provoking. Just about every aspect of life is covered in this small tome, and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys looking at the deeper meanings in everyday life.
    • 5/5
      I just now got around to reading The Prophet. A lot of what's in here is common sense, easily recognized truths. One wishes that human beings would live by these sentiments, rather than just nodding their heads when they read them and then forgetting them in the context of real life. Some of the talk about God didn't appeal to me, although I recognize that Gibran seems to be talking about God more in the sense of a benign force in the universe rather than a being to be worshipped. Other bits flew right past me and would require rereading and further thought. And the ending bit about reincarnation--well, isn't it pretty to think so?Even though this reads like an early version of the New Age self-help books that are now ubiquitous, Gibran certainly had a gift for poetic language and simple but evocative imagery, which elevates his writing above all that other claptrap. This is a book that I can see myself returning to often. Read in 2014 for the RandomCAT Challenge.
    • 5/5
      another MUST read for EVERYONE
    • 5/5
      Reminds me of Wisdom and Proverbs. Very insightful and soothing to wounded souls.
    • 2/5
      Was not quite my cup of tea. Might re-read. Might re-rate then.
      But I just say - "It was okay"
    • 5/5
      a great look at life. a spiritual read on all topics of life. it has taken on a new meaning every time I read it.
    • 4/5
      (Read in 2002.) Favorite quotes:“And ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.”“All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of life’s heart.”“The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.”

    Book preview

    The Prophet - Khalil Gibran

    The Prophet

    by Khalil Gibran

    ©2019 Wilder Publications

    Cover Image © Can Stock Photo / NomadSoul1

    All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission except for brief quotations for review purposes only.

    ISBN: 978-1-5154-3936-3

    Table of Contents

    The Coming of the Ship

    On Love

    On Marriage

    On Children

    On Giving

    On Eating and Drinking

    On Work

    On Joy and Sorrow

    On Houses

    On Clothes

    On Buying and Selling

    On Crime and Punishment

    On Laws

    On Freedom

    On Reason and Passion

    On Pain

    On Self-Knowledge

    On Teaching

    On Friendship

    On Talking

    On Time

    On Good and Evil

    On Prayer

    On Pleasure

    On Beauty

    On Religion

    On Death

    The Farewell

    The Coming of the Ship

    Almustafa, the chosen and the beloved, who was a dawn unto his own day, had waited twelve years in the city of Orphalese for his ship that was to return and bear him back to the isle of his birth.

    And in the twelfth year, on the seventh day of Ielool, the month of reaping, he climbed the hill without the city walls and looked seaward; and he beheld his ship coming with the mist.

    Then the gates of his heart were flung open, and his joy flew far over the sea. And he closed his eyes and prayed in the silences of his soul.

    *

    But as he descended the hill, a sadness came upon him, and he thought in his heart:

    How shall I go in peace and without sorrow? Nay, not without a wound in the spirit shall I leave this city.

    Long were the days of pain I have spent within its walls, and long were the nights of aloneness; and who can depart from his pain and his aloneness without regret?

    Too many fragments of the spirit have I scattered in these streets, and too many are the children of my longing that walk naked among these hills, and I cannot withdraw from them without a burden and an ache.

    It is not a garment I cast off this day, but a skin that I tear with my own hands.

    Nor is it a thought I leave behind me, but a heart made sweet with hunger and with thirst.

    *

    Yet I cannot tarry longer.

    The sea that calls all things unto her calls me, and I must embark.

    For to stay, though the hours burn in the night, is to freeze and crystallize and be bound in a mould.

    Fain would I take with me all that is here. But how shall I?

    A voice cannot carry the tongue and the lips that gave it wings. Alone must it seek the ether.

    And alone and without his nest shall the eagle fly across the sun.

    *

    Now when he reached the foot of the hill, he turned again towards the sea, and he saw his ship approaching the harbour, and upon her prow the mariners, the men of his own land.

    And his soul cried out to them, and he said:

    Sons of my ancient mother, you riders of the tides,

    How often have you sailed in my dreams. And now you come in my awakening, which is my deeper dream.

    Ready am I to go, and my eagerness with sails full set awaits the wind.

    Only another breath will I breathe in this still air, only another loving look cast backward,

    And then I shall stand among you, a seafarer among seafarers.

    And you, vast sea, sleepless mother,

    Who alone are peace and freedom to the river and the stream,

    Only another winding will

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1