Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.
— Kahlil Gibran
More Motivational, Inspiring Quotes
More from Bright Star
What’s really easy to get into, and hard to get out of?
“To tell someone not to be emotional is to tell them to be dead.”
ON CHILDREN
Successful people do what unsuccessful people are not willing to do. Don’t wish it were easier; wish you were better.
Don’t mistake silence for weakness. Smart people don’t plan big moves out loud.
