Been a while since my last “Five favorites” post. So here are my favorite quotes:
1. “There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which taken at the flood leads on to fortune…”
-Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare
I first came across this quote in the detective novel “Taken at the Flood” by Agatha Christie. Later I found it in Julius Caesar which was part of my English literature curriculum in junior high school, and I have loved it since, though I realized its significance only as an adult.
2. “Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.”
-Thomas Gray, An Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard
Love the imagery here, and the message as well. Jives well with “express yourself”!
3. (In Sanskrit)
“Karmanye Vadhikaraste, Ma phaleshou kada chana,
Ma Karma Phala Hetur Bhurmatey Sangostva Akarmani”
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥
Translation:
” You have the right to perform your actions,but you are not entitled to the fruits of the actions.
Do not let the fruit be the purpose of your actions, and therefore you won’t be attached to not doing your duty.”
-Ved Vyas, Mahabharata
http://pranajaya.de/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/krishna_arjuna.jpg
This verse is from the Bhagwad Gita, where Arjuna was not willing to fight the Epic war of Mahabharata and Krishna explained to him the importance of performing his duties.
I apologize for putting up this verse in Sanskrit, but that’s how I remember it and chant it to remind myself to do what I need to without thinking of the results.
4. “A teacher affects eternity, he never knows where his influence stops.”
-Henry Adams
This one is a tribute to all my teachers, past and present. I have spent almost all my years (yes, you heard it right, and I am in my mid-thirties) being a student or a trainee, and I cannot thank my teachers enough, for making me who I am.
On a separate note, my mother used to teach, and my sister and I would decorate the cover of her diary every year. This was one of our favorite quotations to place on the cover.
5.” Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
-Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken
First of all, this is one of the most beautiful poems I have read- simple in verse, but with a meaning as deep as it can get- quintessential Frost. The reason I have included it here is because I have had to choose a road out of two more than once in my life; and it was usually the one less traveled by. I do not know where I will end up, and whether that will be a better destination than at the end of the other road, but it did make a difference.
