"Words" Seeking Truth -- Correction of the Source of Network Quotes

We have gone so far that we forget why we started.

　　（We already walked too far, down to we had forgotten why embarked.）

——Kahlil Gibran

I saw this sentence in a composition book when I was in primary school, and used it as a quotation at the beginning of the article. The author - "Anonymous". It can be said that this sentence is my favorite, longest and most used one. It is still the first choice for personal signature in my major social accounts.

I have never thought of its origin before. Curious Baidu said it was from Gibran's collection of essays -《 prophet 》A book is a passage in a poem written by Gibran after he settled in the United States.

There are celebrity endorsements, book sources, and original English texts. At this stage, it seems that there is no problem. This is what Gibran said.

But can it really be determined in this way? In the spirit of seeking truth and pragmatism, we still need to trace back to the source and find out the specific passage from that chapter.

Fortunately, the full text of "The Prophet" is not long. I roughly searched the full text and found no similar sentence in each chapter

In addition, the original English version of this sentence is used to search Google, and there are only a few links. As long as there is a source of this sentence, it must be followed by a Chinese translation. That is to say, only the Chinese know this classic quote of Gibran, and the Chinese are quoting it.

At this time, it can be basically concluded that this is another false famous saying. But such a famous saying, in the Chinese famous sentence, I dare not say that every sentence is false, and there will be no truth if there is a line separated by a number.

Why should we be so serious? Even if we find the truth, we should ask ourselves why we take so much time and effort to find the source of a sentence. If we must find a reason, that is—— Seeking truth 。

I'm afraid that a lie will become true if it is repeated too much. In a hundred years' time, this famous saying echoed by the good doers will appear in the newly revised book "The Prophet", which will be passed on by people and become true.

At that time, even if Gibran is reincarnated, I am afraid that there will be no argument.

In that case, it is the greatest sorrow of literature.

The meaning of the existence of dictionaries in Sanpu Ziyuan's Compilation of Boats is also relevant at this time.

"A dictionary is a ship that crosses the ocean of words," said Araki as if pouring out the voice of his soul. If there is no dictionary, we can only stand in front of this vast sea and stand still. "

The purpose of words is to use the most appropriate words to convey ideas to others. If even the words themselves are false, how should they be conveyed.

We made a boat. It is a small boat that carries the human soul from ancient times to the future, sailing on the sea of abundant words.

This is an ark that extends from ancient times to the future. Each piece of wood must be solid and tight, and cannot cut corners or make up for it.

What I am doing now is to make this boat sail farther at sea.