On May 7, 1861, India's first Nobel laureate, Rabindranath Tagore, was born in Kolkata. He was a painter, poet, playwright, composer, philosopher, and social reformer. Tagore was also known as the Bengal Bard and Gurudev.
In 1913, he became the first Indian to win the Nobel Prize.
Poems, plays, short tales, and art works are among Rabindranath Tagore's works. His prose has been hailed as exquisite and his poetry as magical.
Tagore was the author of our national hymn, 'Jana Gana Mana,' as well as the national anthem of Bangladesh, 'Amar Shonar Bangla.'
The Bengali poet was knighted by King George V in 1915, but he refused to accept it following the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy in 1919.
On the occasion of Tagore's birthday, here are some of his wise words:
- “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.”
- "Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark."
- “The most important lesson that man can learn from life, is not that there is pain in this world, but that it is possible for him to transmute it into joy.”
- “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.”
- “Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers, but to be fearless in facing them. Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain, but for the heart to conquer it.”
- “A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it.”
- “We read the world wrong and say that it deceives us.”
- “The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life.”
- "Love does not claim possession, but gives freedom."
- "By plucking her petals, you do not gather the beauty of the flower."