Rabindranath Tagore
First non-European Nobel Prize in Literature
Most quoted
"Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where words come out from the depth of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action—Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake."
— from Gitanjali, 1910
"The time that my journey takes is long and the way of it long. I came out on the chariot of the first gleam of dawn, and shall speed on my voyage through the wilderness of worlds, leaving my track on many a star and planet."
— from Gitanjali, 1910
"Patriotism cannot be our final spiritual shelter; my refuge is humanity. I will not buy glass for the price of diamonds, and I will never allow patriotism to triumph over humanity as long as I live."
— from Nationalism (lecture), 1917
All quotes by Rabindranath Tagore (270)
The optimist says, 'The glass is half full.' The pessimist says, 'The glass is half empty.' The realist says, 'The glass is half water, half air.' The poet says, 'The glass is a vessel of light.'
The fish in the water is silent, the animal on the earth is noisy, the bird in the air is singing. But man has in him the silence of the sea, the noise of the earth, and the music of the air.
The mind, like a parachute, only functions when open.
The true wealth of a nation lies not in its gold or silver but in its learning, wisdom and in the uprightness of its sons.
The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.
The world is full of people who are always looking for trouble, and they usually find it.
The man who has no imagination has no wings.
The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.
The only way to be truly happy is to love your work.
The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.
The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face.
The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.
The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.
The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.
The best way to predict the future is to create it.
The unexamined life is not worth living.
The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
The best revenge is massive success.
The only way to escape the corruptible effect of praise is to go on working.
Contemporaries of Rabindranath Tagore
Other Literatures born within 50 years of Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941).