This line, which follows the chapter's account of love's demands, rejects possession as a legitimate relation between lovers and reaffirms love as self-sufficient. The phrase love is sufficient unto love echoes the biblical cadence of Gibran's English prose, which he developed through years of reading the King James Bible. Suheil Bushrui identifies this rhythmic inheritance as one of the principal reasons for the book's appeal in English, and he notes that the line condenses Gibran's rejection of ownership in personal relations. Mikhail Naimy, who knew Gibran during his years in New York, records a writer who regarded jealousy and claim as signs of a diminished love, which corroborates the sentiment. Virginia Hilu's letters show Gibran's struggles in his own relationships, and his frank discussion of them gives the aphorism biographical weight. The line is best read alongside the rest of On Love, where it forms part of a sustained argument against possessive affection. Its English text is verifiable in the 1923 first edition.
Commentary
This line, which follows the chapter's account of love's demands, rejects possession as a legitimate relation between lovers and reaffirms love as self-sufficient. The phrase love is sufficient unto love echoes the biblical cadence of Gibran's English prose, which he developed through years of reading the King James Bible. Suheil Bushrui identifies this rhythmic inheritance as one of the principal reasons for the book's appeal in English, and he notes that the line condenses Gibran's rejection of ownership in personal relations. Mikhail Naimy, who knew Gibran during his years in New York, records a writer who regarded jealousy and claim as signs of a diminished love, which corroborates the sentiment. Virginia Hilu's letters show Gibran's struggles in his own relationships, and his frank discussion of them gives the aphorism biographical weight. The line is best read alongside the rest of On Love, where it forms part of a sustained argument against possessive affection. Its English text is verifiable in the 1923 first edition.