The Prophet in 100+ Books in 2025

Sep 03, 2009 Dolly rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, iran-persia, religion-philosophy

I received this book as a gift over 20 years ago and never read it. I rediscovered it recently and read it in the span of just over an hour. It's a good book, a concise litany of advice and spiritual musings that has a lot of goodness in it. I especially appreciated the subjects of Giving, Freedom, Self-Knowledge, Good and Evil, and Death. The passages written there touched me deeply and I read them several times to try to absorb their meaning. There were parts that seemed to be less coherent an I received this book as a gift over 20 years ago and never read it. I rediscovered it recently and read it in the span of just over an hour. It's a good book, a concise litany of advice and spiritual musings that has a lot of goodness in it. I especially appreciated the subjects of Giving, Freedom, Self-Knowledge, Good and Evil, and Death. The passages written there touched me deeply and I read them several times to try to absorb their meaning. There were parts that seemed to be less coherent and rambling, but on the whole, I really enjoyed this book.

The following are the passages that struck me the most as being worthy of remembering:

p. 24. "You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. For what are possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow?"

p. 56. "You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief, but rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound."

p. 66. "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. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals."

p. 69. "Your friend is your needs answered. He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving. And he is your board and your fireside. For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace."

p. 70. "And let your best be for your friend. If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also. For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill? Seek him always with hours to live. For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness. And in the sweetness of friendship, let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things, the heart finds its morning and is refreshed."

p. 94. "For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and melt into the sun? And what is it to cease breathing but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered? 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 earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance."

p. 102. "You have been told that, even like a chain, you are as weak as your weakest link. This is but half the truth. You are also as strong as your strongest link. To measure you by your smallest deed is to reckon the power of the ocean by the frailty of its foam. To judge you by your failures is to cast blame upon the seasons for their inconsistancy." ...more

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Aug 11, 2010 Ryan rated it really liked it

Shelves: philosophy, 100-in-2010, classics

I liked The Prophet much more than I was expecting to like it. It's a classic and I'm not sure I could analyze it any further than it already has been. Essentially it's a collection of pretty good advice, of how to live your life. There were only a few areas where I rolled my eyes or shook my head in liberal, secular disapproval. He goes from birth to death, work to leisure, love to loneliness. You've heard a chunk of his marriage advice plenty of times at weddings. It's well written, once you'r ...more

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Feb 12, 2007 Courtney rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: poetry, philosophy

Just beautiful.

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Jul 23, 2008 Lorie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics, spirituality, cwc, life-philosophy

A very good friend recommended recently that I read this book. I had heard of it, and I just never got around to reading it. So, with no book to read and an hour for lunch, I pulled this one off the shelf and soon found myself lost in it.
If only we could capture the thoughts and truly live in this way. The world would be a much better place, would be how we can dream and envision it to be, if everyone would read and absorb this philosophy.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

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