Kalamdan

Kahlil Gibran

The Prophet

Philosophy and Wisdom

Cover of The Prophet

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Language
English
First published
1923
Reading time
54 minutes
Chapters
28 chapters

About this book

Before sailing home after twelve years away, a wise man named Almustafa is stopped by the people of the city, who ask him to speak about love, marriage, children, work, freedom, joy and sorrow, death and much more.

His answers, in Kahlil Gibran's rhythmic and poetic prose, fill twenty-six short sections. Since 1923 the book has been translated into dozens of languages and read aloud at weddings and funerals around the world. Read it slowly, one section at a time.

Almustafa, the chosen and the beloved, who was a dawn unto his own day, had waited twelve years in the city of Orphalese for his ship that was to return and bear him back to the isle of his birth.

The Coming of the Ship

About this edition

  • Source

    Project Gutenberg (eBook #58585)

    Text version

    Project Gutenberg eBook #58585 (updated 10 February 2026), downloaded 7 November 2026, from the first edition (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1923). The title page, publisher's note and the author's twelve drawings were not imported. The text has no headings, so the section names from the book's own contents list were placed above each section; the text itself is unchanged.

  • License

    Public domain

    Copyright status last verified: 9 November 2026

  • Category

    Philosophy and Wisdom

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Chapters

28 chapters
  1. The Coming of the Ship6 min
  2. On Love3 min
  3. On Marriage1 min
  4. On Children1 min
  5. On Giving3 min
  6. On Eating and Drinking2 min
  7. On Work3 min
  8. On Joy and Sorrow2 min
  9. On Houses3 min
  10. On Clothes1 min
  11. On Buying and Selling2 min
  12. On Crime and Punishment4 min
  13. On Laws2 min
  14. On Freedom2 min
  15. On Reason and Passion2 min
  16. On Pain1 min
  17. On Self-Knowledge1 min
  18. On Teaching1 min
  19. On Friendship2 min
  20. On Talking1 min
  21. On Time1 min
  22. On Good and Evil2 min
  23. On Prayer2 min
  24. On Pleasure3 min
  25. On Beauty2 min
  26. On Religion2 min
  27. On Death2 min
  28. The Farewell10 min

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