Quotes from Rabindranath Tagore

When I go from hence, let this be my parting word, that what I have seen is unsurpassable. I have tasted of the hidden honey of this lotus that expands on the ocean of light, and thus I am blessed—let this be my parting word. In this playhouse of infinite forms I have had my play and here have I caught sight of him who is formless. My whole body and my limbs have thrilled with his touch who is beyond touch; and if the end comes here, let it come—let this be my parting word.

Let me light my lamp", says the star, "And never debate if it will help to remove the darkness

Oh my only friend, my best beloved, the gates are open in my house — do not pass by like a dream.

The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life.

for we women are not only the deities of the household fire, but the flame of the soul itself.

Nirvana is not the blowing out of the candle. It is the extinguishing of the flame because day is come.

And because I love this life I know I shall love death as well. The child cries out when From the right breast the mother Takes it away, in the very next moment To Find in the left one Its consolation.

Inspiration follows aspiration.

I am willing to serve my country, but my worship I reserve for Right which is far greater than my country. To worship my country as a god is to bring a curse upon it.

He who is too busy doing good finds no time to be good.

I have lost my dewdrop", cries the flower to the morning sky that lost all its stars

Come oh come ye tea-thirsty restless ones -- the kettle boils, bubbles and sings, musically.

These paper boats of mine are meant to dance on the ripples of hours, and not reach any destination.

Never be afraid of the moments--thus sings the voice of the everlasting.

that which is eternal within the moment only becomes shallow if spread out in time.

Men can only think. Women have a way of understanding without thinking. Woman was created out of God's own fancy. Man, He had to hammer into shape.

Let him only see the thorns who has eyes to see the rose.

Alas, why are my nights all thus lost? Ah, why do I ever miss his sight whose breath touches my sleep?

The singer alone does not make a song, there has to be someone who hears. -Broken Song

I have on my table a violin string. It is free to move in any direction I like. If I twist one end, it responds; it is free. But it is not free to sing. So I take it and fix it into my violin. I bind it and when it is bound, it is free for the first time to sing.

Today I feel that I shall win through. I have come to the gateway of the simple; I am now content to see things as they are. I have gained freedom myself; I shall allow freedom to others. In my work will be my salvation.

The sparrow is sorry for the peacock at the burden of its tail.

The echo mocks her origin to prove she is the original.

A message came from my youth of vanished days, saying, 'I wait for you among the quivering of unborn May, where smiles ripen for tears and hours ache with songs unsung.' It says, 'Come to me across the worn-out track of age, through the gates of death. For dreams fade, hopes fail, the fathered fruits of the year decay, but I am the eternal truth, and you shall meet me again and again in your voyage of life from shore to shore.