Kahlil Gibran, whose books have been international bestsellers for more than fifty years, was born near the Holy Cedars of Lebanon. While Kahlil was a young boy, his family migrated to the United States. After several years in Boston schools, Gibran's family sent him back to Lebanon to be educated at a college in Beirut. Later, he was sent to Paris for further education. Gibran then returned to the United States, where he applied his brush to painting and his pen to writing in Arabic. Through his first art exhibit, in Boston, he met Miss Mary Haskell, who became patron of his further art studies in Paris. Because of his cosmopolitan background and education, Kahlil Gibran became first a student of and then an interpreter of the Middle East, Europe and America. Thus, through him, the twain, East and West in great fulfillment, met. He brought to his readers of Arabic the simplicity of English expression, a refreshing freedom of thought and a frankness which demanded reform. In Arabic, his style and concepts were revolutionary. To his readers in English, he brought the poetry, family traditions, sagacity and philosophy of the Middle East: the great sweep of Christianity, Islam and Judaism, as well as their ancient roots . . . Gibran's essays, poems and stories are salted with nuggets of wisdom: thus his writing, although simple, is unique and immortal. Within the covers of this work there is a collection of those nuggets, reflecting his philosophy and his unique expression . . .