The small wisdom is like water in a glass: clear, transparent, pure. The great wisdom is like the water in the sea: dark, mysterious, impenetrable.
Rabindranath TagoreRead
Bees sip honey from flowers and hum their thanks when they leave. The gaudy butterfly is sure that the flowers owe thanks to him.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Bees appreciate the flowers they visit, while butterflies wrongly think the flowers should be grateful to them.
This quote reflects on the relationship between nature's creatures and the elements they interact with. It highlights the genuine gratitude of bees who benefit from flowers without ego, contrasting it with the arrogance of butterflies, who mistakenly believe they are the ones owed gratitude. This serves as a metaphor for humility and the value of appreciating contributions rather than assuming entitlement.
Themes
BeesGratitudeFlowersNatureHumility
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about teamwork, you can use this quote to emphasize the importance of acknowledging everyone's contributions.
More from Rabindranath Tagore
All quotes βMusic fills the infinite between two souls. This has been muffled by the mist of our daily habits.
Rabindranath TagoreRead
True deliverance of man is the deliverance from Avidya i.e. ignorance. It is not in destroying anything that is positive and real, for that cannot be possible, but that which is negative, which obstructs our vision of truth.
Rabindranath TagoreRead
The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures. It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth in numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.
Rabindranath TagoreRead
If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars.
Rabindranath TagoreRead
To be outspoken is easy when you do not wait to speak the complete truth.
Rabindranath TagoreRead
Similar quotes
No daintie flowre or herbe that growes on grownd, No arborett with painted blossoms drest And smelling sweete, but there it might be fownd To bud out faire, and throwe her sweete smels al arownd.
Edmund SpenserRead
It's up to us as photographers to give voice to the natural world.
Frans LantingRead
That was when we smelled the rain. It was so strong it seemed like more than just a smell. When we stretched out our hands we could practically feel it rising up from the ground. I donβt know how a person could ever describe that scent.
Barbara KingsolverRead
Zoo animals are ambassadors for their cousins in the wild.
Jack HannaRead
Let me enjoy the earth no less because the all-enacting light that fashioned forth its loveliness had other aims than my delight.
Thomas HardyRead
I wish I was a despot that I might save the noble, the beautiful trees that are daily falling sacrifice to the cupidity of their owners, or the necessity of the poor. The unnecessary felling of a tree, perhaps the growth of centuries, seems to me a crime little short of murder.
Thomas JeffersonRead