“Solitude has soft, silky hands, but with strong fingers it grasps the heart and makes it ache with sorrow.”

Lebanese-American writer, poet, and visual artist

Kahlil Gibran was a Lebanese-American writer, poet, and visual artist. Active in the early 20th century, he is best known for The Prophet, a book first published in the United States in 1923. He was also regarded by many as a philosopher, though he did not accept that label himself. The Prophet became one of the best-selling books of all time and was translated into more than 100 languages, helping make his work widely known far beyond its original publication.