Quotes from Rabindranath Tagore

You never look at these flowers; therefore they become stale to you. If you would only look into them, then your reading and writing would go to the winds." The Devotee

Tol ajal kui tervisehäired eksisteerisid ainult ta ettekujutlustes, oli see ta lemmikkõneaineks; nüüd aga, mil ta tervis oli tõesti korrast ära, ei tuletanud ta oma kannatusi kunagi meelde.

THESE little thoughts are the rustle of leaves; they have their whisper of joy in my mind.

True modernism is freedom of mind, not slavery of taste.

But our fear is, that the poison may be more powerful than the food, and what is strength in her to-day may not be the sign of health, but the contrary; for it may be temporarily caused by the upsetting of the balance of life. Our fear is that evil has a fateful fascination, when it assumes dimensions which are colossal,—and though at last, it is sure to lose its centre of gravity, by its abnormal disproportion, the mischief which it creates before its fall may be beyond reparation.

And the idea of the Nation is one of the most powerful anæsthetics that man has invented.

We must know with absolute certainty that essentially we are spirit.

Creation, he says again and again, is full of music: it is music. At the heart of the Universe "white music is blossoming": love weaves the melody, whilst renunciation beats the time.

THE woodcutter's axe begged for it's handle from the tree. The tree gave it.

I want to protect each person's boundaries. Once you begin to yield the slightest ground on some pretext, you're ultimately left with nothing.

Let only that little be left of me whereby I may name thee my all.

Let me tell you something: remember that the heart is a wonderful thing, but not above all else.

She wants neither land nor a house. She'll die if she can't see you.

My soul is alight with your infinitude of stars. Your world has broken upon me like a flood. The flowers of your garden blossom in my body. The joy of life that is everywhere burns like an incense in my heart. And the breath of all things plays on my life as on a pipe of reeds.

Men's minds are sometimes cheerful, sometimes sad; moods don't always stay the same! To make an issue of it amounts to harassment.

To protect human nature from easy distractions some people poeticize the beautiful aspects of love, ignoring its darker side, while others exaggerate the evils of love, prescribing renunciation. These are merely two different modes adopted by two kinds of people. If you blame one, you cannot absolve the other.

Only now and again a sadness fell upon me, and I started up from my dream and felt a sweet trace of a strange smell in the south wind. That vague fragrance made my heart ache with longing, and it seemed to me that it was the eager breath of the summer seeking for its completion. — Rabindranath Tagore, from "iii," Poetry (December 1912)

L'ingiustizia coronata di successo e la crudeltà autentica sono le uniche forze che abbiano permesso agli individui di diventare milionari e alle nazioni di diventare monarchie.

It is because we have not learned to regard men and women normally, in their own proper places, that we have conjured up a cluster of poetic notions about them.

He sent up his song towards the star-land out of his reach, where, circled with light, the planet who ruled his destiny shone unknown and out of ken.

What I mean, King, is this. We are the true Renouncers, because change is our very secret. We lose, in order to find. We have no faith in the never-changing. What do you mean? Haven't you noticed the detachment of the rushing river, as it runs splashing from its mountain cave? It gives itself away so swiftly, and only thus it finds itself. What is never changing, for the river, is the desert sand, where it loses its course.

IN death the many becomes one;in life the one becomes many.

What I really feel is this, that those who cannot find food for their enthusiasm in a knowledge of their country as it actually is, or those who cannot love men just because they are men—who needs must shout and deify their country in order to keep up their excitement—these love excitement more than their country.

Don't quote the shastras to defend your way of honouring the female sex! That is not honour.