Kahlil Gibran quotes
1883 – 1931 · Mount Lebanon (Ottoman), 19th–20th centuries · writer, poet, essayist and visual artist
About Kahlil Gibran
Born in 1883 in Bsharri (then Ottoman Mount Lebanon), he emigrated to Boston in 1895, studied in Beirut and Paris, and settled in New York, where he died in 1931. Working in Arabic and English, he combined biblical and Sufi imagery, Romantic and modernist influences, social critique and visual art.
Works: The Prophet; Broken Wings; The Madman
Quotes
“Every man is two men; one is awake in the darkness, the other asleep in the light.”
Source: Sand and Foam, 1926 · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The aphorism appears in Sand and Foam (1926); the printed text presents the image of a single person containing two states.
- What remains uncertain
- Wording online often differs slightly from the book (e.g., adding “Every” and articles); these are editorial or memory changes, not evidence of different authorship.
Gibran captures a paradox: clarity often arises amid hardship, while comfort can lull the mind. The line—drawn from Sand and Foam (1926)—summarizes his poetic blend of mystical metaphor and psychological insight about a divided self.