Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.
The first time I heard these words, it was in the television while I was in my room. though I came running out to find, who what and why of it, it was gone. It was years before I would ever encounter these words again. It was not because I searched less or in sources that were somehow limited, but the first few words were what I was left with and with that I had to searched. They may be true but I searched and continued to do so. Then one day when I least expected, in a place I least expected I ran into the book that because of its sheer petiteness that I chose to read it. And Voila there they were the same words, in all its majesty there they lay. So true and so profound and here I share it with you the words that I so loved and searched for during much of my life.
Pages off Life 
i hope im wrong,bt i think its khalil gibran if u meant the philosopher..
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Nope dear, I was on the wrong here. Thanks for pointing it out to me.
It was very considerate of you.
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u cn delete d above comments..its just that i admire and love his philosophies.. 🙂
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It doesnt bother me, let it remain. 🙂
I too admire him very much. It so mind boggling, the sheer amount of wisdom packed into a few tens of pages. Isnt it?
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Love this!
A friend of mine gave me a copy of the Prophet, a long time ago and it was this part of the book (on children) that stood out the most. The essence of these lines never left my mind.
If only I'd known you were going through so much trouble try to find these lines… 🙂
It's really sweet that you wanted to share this with your readers. I hope you are doing well, Mr. Wind. 🙂
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I am gook D? Long time no see huh!
Next time I have trouble finding a couple of lines, you will be the first to know.
🙂
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I know, few years back I found him lying in a book fair in mud among many other prolific writers, read few quotes and fell in love with his words of wisdom…bought the book for a meagre 200 rs and since then he influences my thinking..
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he has that ability, something about the way he conducts his ideas that influences minds. He is awesome
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profound wisdom. Some of the lines are eye openers.
Some posts really make yo say thank you.
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Thanks for sharing these beautiful lines of wisdom 🙂 So good to read this! 🙂
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Indeed it is. 🙂
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😉
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