Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk

Rabindranath Tagore Novelist

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: India
  • Born: May 7, 1861
  • Died: Aug 7, 1941

Rabindranath Tagore, also written Rabīndranātha Thākura, sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped Bengali literature and music, as well as Indian art with Contextual Modernism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. In translation his poetry was viewed as spiritual and mercurial; however, his "elegant prose and magical poetry" remain largely unknown outside Bengal. Tagore introduced new prose and verse forms and the use of colloquial language into Bengali literature, thereby freeing it from traditional models based on classical Sanskrit. He was highly influential in introducing the best of Indian culture to the West and vice versa, and he is generally regarded as the outstanding creative artist of the modern Indian subcontinent, being highly commemorated in India and Bangladesh, as well as in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Pakistan.

A Pirali Brahmin from Kolkata with ancestral gentry roots in Jessore, Tagore wrote poetry as an eight-year-old.

Those who own much have much to fear. fear

From the solemn gloom of the temple children run out to sit in the dust, God watches them play and forgets the priest. God

Facts are many, but the truth is one. truth

Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky. inspirational & life

Beauty is truth's smile when she beholds her own face in a perfect mirror. beauty, smile & truth

Love is an endless mystery, for it has nothing else to explain it. love

To be outspoken is easy when you do not wait to speak the complete truth. truth

By plucking her petals, you do not gather the beauty of the flower. beauty

Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man. God

The water in a vessel is sparkling the water in the sea is dark. The small truth has words which are clear the great truth has great silence. great & truth

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

Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf. time

Your idol is shattered in the dust to prove that God's dust is greater than your idol. God

What is Art? It is the response of man's creative soul to the call of the Real. art

The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence. education & life

Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark. faith

Love is the only reality and it is not a mere sentiment. It is the ultimate truth that lies at the heart of creation. love & truth

Love does not claim possession, but gives freedom. freedom & love

Age considers youth ventures. age

Trees are the earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven. nature

In Art, man reveals himself and not his objects. art

If you shut the door to all errors, truth will be shut out. truth

Music fills the infinite between two souls. music

Bigotry tries to keep truth safe in its hand with a grip that kills it. truth

The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough. nature & time

Emancipation from the bondage of the soil is no freedom for the tree. freedom

Love is not a mere impulse, it must contain truth, which is law. truth

Death is not extinguishing the light it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come. death

We gain freedom when we have paid the full price. freedom

Depth of friendship does not depend on length of acquaintance. friendship

Gray hairs are signs of wisdom if you hold your tongue, speak and they are but hairs, as in the young. wisdom

Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time. education, learning & time

Do not say, 'It is morning,' and dismiss it with a name of yesterday. See it for the first time as a newborn child that has no name. morning & time

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy. life

We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility. great