The Prophet ; ebook

But let there be spaces in your togetherness. And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. LOVE one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and

For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

WHEN you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."

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

BUT if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure, Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing–floor, Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

And your body is the harp of your soul, And it is yours to bring forth sweet music from it or confused sounds.

GIVE your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

YOUR reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid–seas.

WORK is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.