Kalidasa

“If a professor thinks what matters most<br />Is to have gained an academic post<br />Where he can earn a livelihood, and then<br />Neglect research, let controversy rest,<br />He's but a petty tradesman at the best,<br />Selling retail the work of other men.”

“Though many different paths, O Lord,<br>May lead us to some great reward,<br>They gather and are merged in thee<br>Like floods of Ganges in the sea.”

“Strange how one acts sometimes as if mad, spurning even one’s good fortune! You throw a garland round the neck of a blind man and he shakes it away frightened, thinking it a snake.”

“We have watered the trees that blossom in the summer-time. Now let's sprinkle those whose flowering-time is past. That will be a better deed, because we shall not be working for a reward.”

“A thought is as vivid as an act, to a lover.”

“A blossom yet unsmelt, <br> A tender shoot unpinched, <br> A gem uncut, <br> Untasted, fresh-fermented honey-wine, <br> The fruit of proper actions <br> Still intact— <br> A beauty without fault or flaw.”

“Grief must be shared to be endured.”

“God Shiva and his mountain bride,<br>Like word and meaning unified,<br>The world's great parents, I beseech<br>To join fit meaning to my speech.”

“O my good fortune, please subdue the anguish of your Soul. Nobody is destined only to happiness or to pain. The wheel of life takes one up and down by turn.”

“There in the fane a beauteous creature stands, <br> The first best work of the Creator's hands; <br> Whose slender limbs inadequately bear <br> A full orbed bosom, and a weight of care; <br> Whose teeth like pearls, whose lips like Bimbas show, <br> And fawn-like eyes still tremble as they glow.”

“O thou who didst create this All,<br>Who dost preserve it, lest it fall,<br>Who wilt destroy it and its ways—<br>To thee, O triune Lord, be praise.”

“Did the great Creator first draw her in a masterpiece, <br> And then touch life into his art? <br> Or did he make her in his mind alone, <br> Drawing on beauty’s every part? <br> No—considering her singular perfection <br> And her maker’s true omnipotence, <br> I suppose her some quite unique creation <br> In femininity’s treasure house.”