WIST

Faith is the bird that feels the light
And sings when the dawn is still dark.

Sir Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
“Fireflies” (1926)
Full text.

The Lord respects me when I work,
But He loves me when I sing.

Sir Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
“Fireflies” (1926)
Full text.

Alt. trans.:
"God honours me when I work,
He loves me when I sing."

The mountain remains unmoved at seeming defeat by the mist.

Sir Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
“Fireflies” (1926)
Full text.

I have spent my days stringing and unstringing my instrument, while the song I came to sing remains unsung.

Sir Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
“Waiting,” Gitanjali (1913)
Alt trans:
"The song I came to sing
remains unsung to this day.
I have spent my days in stringing
and in unstringing my instrument."

"The song that I came to sing remains unsung to this day,
I have spent my days in stringing and unstringing my instrument."

Sometimes titled "Song Unsung"

Full text.

You can’t cross the sea merely by staring at the water.

Sir Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
(Attributed)

Every child comes with the message that God is not yet tired of the man.

Sir Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
(Attributed)

Death is not extinguishing the light; it is putting out the lamp because dawn has come.

Sir Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
(Attributed)

Alt trans: 
"Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come."
"Death is not extinguishing the light; it is putting out the lamp because dawn has come."
"Death is not extinguishing the light; it is putting out the lamp because the dawn has come."
"Nirvana is not the blowing out of the candle. It is the extinguishing of the flame because day is come."

I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was duty.
I acted and behold, duty was joy.

Sir Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
(Attributed)

Knowledge is partial, because our intellect is an instrument, it is only a part of us, it can give us information about things which can be divided and analysed, and whose properties can be classified part by part. But Brahma is perfect, and knowledge which is partial can never be a knowledge of him.

Sir Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
Sādhanā : The Realisation of Life (1916)

If you shut your door to all errors, truth will be shut out.

Sir Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
Stray Birds (1916)

Praise shames me, for I secretly beg for it.

Sir Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
Stray Birds (1916)

If you shed tears when you miss the sun, you also miss the stars.

Sir Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
Stray Birds (1916)
Full text.

Let this be my last word, that I trust in thy love.

Sir Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
Stray Birds (1916)
Full text.

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.

Sir Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
Stray Birds (1916)
Full text.

Blessed is he whose fame does not outshine his truth.

Sir Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
Stray Birds, #296 (1914)

What you are you do not see, what you see is your shadow.

Sir Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
Stray Birds, ch. 18 (1914)

The truth comes as conqueror only because we have lost the art of receiving it as guest.

Sir Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) Indian Bengali poet, philosopher [a.k.a. Rabi Thakur, Kabiguru]
The Fourfold Way of India (1924)

Often paraphrased: "Truth comes as conqueror only to those who have lost the art of receiving it as friend."