Khalil Gibran For Our Time

THE PLUTOCRAT

In my wanderings I once saw upon an island a man-headed iron-hoofed monster who ate of the earth and drank of the sea incessantly. And for a long while I watched him. Then I approached him and said, ‘Have you never enough; is younger hunger never satisfied and your thirst never quenced?’

And he answered saying, ‘Yes, I am satisfied, nay, I am weary of eating and drinking; but I am afraid that tomorrow there will be no more earth to eat and no more sea to drink.’

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WAR AND THE SMALL NATIONS

Once, high above a pasture, where a sheep and a lamb were grazing, an eagle was circling and gazing hungrily down upon the lamb. And as he was about to descend and seize his prey, another eagle appeared and hovered above the sheep and her young with the same hungry intent. Then the two rivals began to fight, filling the sky with their fierce cries.

The sheep looked up and was much astonished. She turned to the lamb and said:

‘How strange, my child, that these two noble birds should attack one another. Is not the vast sky large enough for both of them? Pray, my little one, pray in your heart that God may make peace between your winged brothers.’

And the lamb prayed in his heart.

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And, one of my absolute favourites from Khalil Gibran:

A sense of humour is a sense of proportion.