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
Who are you, reader, reading my poems an hundred years hence? I cannot send you one single flower from this wealth of the spring, one single streak of gold from yonder clouds. Open your doors and look abroad. From your blossoming garden gather fragrant memories of the vanished flowers of an hundred years before. In the joy of your heart may you feel the living joy that sang one spring morning, sending its glad voice across a hundred years.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the connection between the past and the present through poetry, inviting readers to cherish memories and emotions.
Rabindranath Tagore's quote speaks to the timeless nature of poetry and art, suggesting that the essence of experiences and emotions transcends time. It invites the reader to engage with the beauty of the past and feel the joy that once existed, implying that poetry serves as a bridge between generations, allowing us to connect with the sentiments and vibrancy of moments long gone.
Themes
PoetryMemoryJoyNatureArt
In practice
Example use cases
During a poetry reading event, one might quote Tagore to emphasize the beauty of remembering past joys.
More from Rabindranath Tagore
All quotes →Music fills the infinite between two souls. This has been muffled by the mist of our daily habits.
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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.
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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.
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If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars.
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To be outspoken is easy when you do not wait to speak the complete truth.
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