Khalil Gibran

Lebanese-American writer, poet, and painter (1883–1931)

Fame79.2
Momentum1.7
Turkey rank#8

Source-basedStable

Fame79.2
Momentum1.7
Turkey rank#8
Writers rank#86
Wikipedia59.6K

Lived 1883–1931, aged 48Turkey

Turkey WritersWriter / Author

Wikipedia
106 languages
Cross-language footprint
Rank in Turkey
#8
Writers
Era
1883–1931
Aged 48
Known for
We Carry It Within Us
2017

Summary

Updated 2026-06-21

The Prophet has sold more copies than almost any book written in the last century, translated into over 100 languages, and its author — a Lebanese emigrant who painted as much as he wrote — died at 48 never seeing the full reach of what he'd made.

Biography

About

Gibran left the mountains of Ottoman Lebanon for Boston in 1895, where a teacher spotted his talent and connected him to publisher F. Holland Day. Sent back at fifteen to study in Beirut, he returned to the U.S. in 1902 after his sister's death, then lost his mother and half-brother the next year. He showed drawings in 1904, published his first Arabic book in 1905, and with backing from benefactress Mary Haskell studied art in Paris from 1908 to 1910, mixing with Syrian rebels whose anti-Ottoman ideas he echoed in writings later banned. Settling in New York in 1911, he published The Madman in…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Khalil Gibran

Khalil Gibran

said1918

For the first time the sun kissed my own naked face and my soul was inflamed with love for the sun, and I wanted my masks no more.

— Introduction

Khalil Gibran

said1918

My friend, I am not what I seem. Seeming is but a garment I wear — a care-woven garment that protects me from thy questionings and thee from my negligence.

— My Friend

Khalil Gibran

said1918