My theory of life makes me certain that the Great is cruel To be just is for ordinary men—it is reserved for the great to be unjust.
 Rabindranath Tagore, The Home and the World (1916). copy citation

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Author Rabindranath Tagore
Source The Home and the World
Topic theory life
Date 1916
Language English
Reference
Note Translated by Surendranath Tagore
Weblink http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/7166/pg7166-images.html

Context

“But I am not merely what I want, what I think—I am also what I do not love, what I do not wish to be. My creation had begun before I was born. I had no choice in regard to my surroundings and so must make the best of such material as comes to my hand. My theory of life makes me certain that the Great is cruel To be just is for ordinary men—it is reserved for the great to be unjust. The surface of the earth was even. The volcano butted it with its fiery horn and found its own eminence—its justice was not towards its obstacle, but towards itself. Successful injustice and genuine cruelty have been the only forces by which individual or nation has become millionaire or monarch.” source