Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti 2025: Top 50 Quotes By ‘Bard of Bengal’ On His 164th Birthday | Culture News
Rabindranath Tagore Jayanti, celebrated annually on the 25th day of the Bengali month Boishakh, May 8 in 2025, marks the birth anniversary of one of India’s greatest literary minds — Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. Known as the “Bard of Bengal,” Tagore was not just a poet and writer, but also a philosopher, composer, painter, and education reformer. In 2025, we commemorate his 164th birthday — a reminder of the timeless brilliance that continues to guide generations.
Born in 1861, Tagore became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 for his poetic masterpiece Gitanjali. His vision transcended borders, advocating for universal humanism, spiritual unity, and inner freedom. His verses — deeply emotional, philosophical, and lyrical — remain relevant across eras.
As part of the 2025 celebrations, here are 50 unforgettable quotes from Rabindranath Tagore — a collection that touches upon life, love, spirituality, freedom, education, and the soul’s eternal quest for truth.
Top 50 Quotes by Rabindranath Tagore
On Life and Purpose
1. “The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough.”
2. “Let your life lightly dance on the edges of Time like dew on the tip of a leaf.”
3. “You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.”
4. “The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence.”
5. “Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.”
On Love and Relationships
6. “Love is an endless mystery, for it has nothing else to explain it.”
7. “I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times, in life after life, in age after age, forever.”
8. “Love’s gift cannot be given, it waits to be accepted.”
9. “Only in love are unity and duality not in conflict.”
10. “We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility.”
On Freedom and Nationalism
11. “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high… Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”
12. “Freedom is the soul’s right to breathe.”
13. “Patriotism cannot be our final spiritual shelter; my refuge is humanity.”
14. “The truth comes as conqueror only because we have lost the art of receiving it as guest.”
15. “Power takes as ingratitude the writhings of its victims.”
On Education and Knowledge
16. “Don’t limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.”
17. “The roots below the earth claim no rewards for making the branches fruitful.”
18. “A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it.”
19. “Education means enabling the mind to find out that ultimate truth which emancipates us from the bondage of dust and gives us the wealth not of things but of inner light.”
20. “The main object of teaching is not to give explanations, but to knock at the doors of the mind.”
On Art, Poetry, and Imagination
21. “The world speaks to me in colours, my soul answers in music.”
22. “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity.”
23. “Let my thoughts come to you, when I am gone, like the afterglow of sunset at the margin of starry silence.”
24. “Music fills the infinite between two souls.”
25. “Art is the response of man’s creative soul to the call of the Real.”
On Nature and Spirituality
26. “The same stream of life that runs through the world runs through my veins.”
27. “Trees are the earth’s endless effort to speak to the listening heaven.”
28. “God waits to win back his own flowers as gifts from man’s hands.”
29. “In art, man reveals himself and not his objects.”
30. “Let us not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless when facing them.”
On Hope and Humanity
31. “Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.”
32. “Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.”
33. “If you cry because the sun has gone out of your life, your tears will prevent you from seeing the stars.”
34. “Reach high, for stars lie hidden in you. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.”
35. “Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless in facing them.”
On Inner Growth and Self-Realisation
36. “The burden of the self is lightened when I laugh at myself.”
37. “The real friendship is like fluorescence, it shines better when everything has darkened.”
38. “By plucking her petals you do not gather the beauty of the flower.”
39. “He who is too busy doing good finds no time to be good.”
40. “Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add colour to my sunset sky.”
On Dreams and Destiny
41. “The stronger the imagination, the less imaginary the results.”
42. “Facts are many, but the truth is one.”
43. “Go not to the temple to put flowers upon the feet of God. First fill your own house with the fragrance of love.”
44. “We live in the world when we love it.”
45. “The stars are not afraid to appear like fireflies.”
On Peace and the Soul
46. “When the heart is hard and parched up, come upon me with a shower of mercy.”
47. “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.”
48. “It is very simple to be happy, but it is very difficult to be simple.”
49. “Emancipation from the bondage of the soil is no freedom for the tree.”
50. “My day is done, and I am like a boat drawn on the beach, listening to the dance-music of the tide in the evening.”
Remembering Gurudev’s Timeless Legacy
Rabindranath Tagore was not just a poet of words, but of spirit. His legacy is a living dialogue between tradition and progress, spirituality and rationality, nationalism and universalism. On his 164th birth anniversary in 2025, may we draw strength from his words and strive to build a more compassionate, creative, and conscious world.
Whether you are a student of literature, a seeker of truth, or simply a lover of beautiful words — Tagore’s writings offer a deep well of insight. Share these quotes with loved ones this Tagore Jayanti and keep the flame of Gurudev’s wisdom burning bright.
