Rabindranath Tagore
Bengali poet and philosopher (1861 to 1941); in 1913 the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature; wrote the national anthems of India and Bangladesh.
Rabindranath Tagore did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
The line under a date shows how recently it was said: empty within a month, full after three years.
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Their wordsBut why should we suppose the idea to be less true than the reality? We can never know for certain the truth of the substance underlying what we get through the senses.
↗Glimpses of Bengal: letters 1885 to 1895 (tr. Surendranath Tagore, 1921)gutenberg.org 7th of 7 in this piece
- 7 months earlier
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Our reading
Town society is cruelly callous to the happiness and misery of other creatures compared with its own
Their wordsIn town, human society is to the fore and looms large; it is cruelly callous to the happiness and misery of other creatures as compared with its own.
↗Glimpses of Bengal: letters 1885 to 1895 (tr. Surendranath Tagore, 1921)gutenberg.org 6th of 7 in this piece
- 5 months earlier
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Our reading
The highest commandment is sympathy for all sentient beings; love is the foundation of all religion
Their wordsI feel that the highest commandment is that of sympathy for all sentient beings. Love is the foundation of all religion.
↗Glimpses of Bengal: letters 1885 to 1895 (tr. Surendranath Tagore, 1921)gutenberg.org 4th of 7 in this piece
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Our reading
Once our pity is aroused, joining others in preying on life insults all that is good in us
Their wordsSo long as we are unconscious of our cruelty we may not be to blame. But if, after our pity is aroused, we persist in throttling our feelings simply in order to join others in their preying upon life, we insult all that is good in us.
↗Glimpses of Bengal: letters 1885 to 1895 (tr. Surendranath Tagore, 1921)gutenberg.org 5th of 7 in this piece
- 7 months earlier
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Their wordsMetre is born as all beauty is born the universe through. The current set up within well-defined bounds gives metrical verse power to move the minds of men as vague and indefinite prose cannot.
↗Glimpses of Bengal: letters 1885 to 1895 (tr. Surendranath Tagore, 1921)gutenberg.org 3rd of 7 in this piece
- 3 months earlier
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Their wordsI know not whether the socialistic ideal of a more equal distribution of wealth is attainable, but if not, the dispensation of Providence is indeed cruel, and man a truly unfortunate creature.
↗Glimpses of Bengal: letters 1885 to 1895 (tr. Surendranath Tagore, 1921)gutenberg.org 2nd of 7 in this piece
- 11 months earlier
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Their wordsAnd, indeed, what little of beauty and peace is to be found in the societies of men is owing to the daily performance of small duties, not to big doings and fine talk.
↗Glimpses of Bengal: letters 1885 to 1895 (tr. Surendranath Tagore, 1921)gutenberg.org 1st of 7 in this piece
The line under a date fills as the words age, a quarter at a time: past a month, six months, a year, and three years. Empty means said within the last month; full, more than three years ago. It says when, not whether it still holds — a change of mind is marked on the claim itself.
Dashed means we only know the words existed by that date; they may be older.