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)
My heart aches for the touch of your hand, the sound of your voice.
The journey of life is not to arrive at a destination, but to enjoy the scenery along the way.
I have come to your country to sing the praises of India, and to tell you that India is a living country.
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high, where knowledge is free...
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.
The world is a vast country, and we are all its citizens.
I believe in the spiritual unity of man, and for that I have come to your country.
We have to live in the present, and the present is the only time when we can act.
The true education is not merely to acquire knowledge, but to acquire the power of using it.
The object of education is to give the mind a full play, to make it free.
The creative spirit is the true spirit of man.
The lamp of love that lights the world is not lit by oil, but by the heart.
The world is a great book, of which they who never stir from home read only a page.
The true wealth of a nation is its people, not its gold.
The best way to serve God is to serve man.
The mind of man is a vast ocean, and it is full of treasures.
The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all.
The bird that is born in a cage thinks flying is an illness.
The true joy of life is to be used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one.
The one thing that we have to learn is to be free, to be ourselves.
Contemporaries of Rabindranath Tagore
Other Literatures born within 50 years of Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941).