Rabindranath Tagore

“ Her womanly love must content itself dressed in rags; beauty is denied her. She is like the spirit of a cheerless morning, sitting upon the stony mountain peak, all her light blotted out by dark clouds. ”

“ Let each separate moment of beauty come to me like a bird of mystery from its unseen nest in the dark bearing a message of music. Let me for ever sit with my hope on the brink of its realization, and thus end my days. ”

“ What if I refuse to let you go, if I keep you entwined in my arms? Would you rudely snatch yourself free and leave me? Go then! But you must know that the liana, once broken in two, never joins again. Go, if your thirst is quenched. But, if not, then remember that the goddess of pleasure is fickle, and waits for no man. ”

“ When you are tired and satiated with this wine, you can go to work or play; and when I grow old I will accept humbly and gratefully whatever comer is left for me. Would it please your heroic soul if the playmate of the night aspired to be the helpmeet of the day, if the left arm learnt to share the burden of the proud right arm? ”

“ When a woman is merely a woman; when she winds herself round and round men’s hearts with her smiles and sobs and services and caressing endearments; then she is happy. Of what use to her are learning and great achievements? ”