I want to relate an event which happened nearly 10 years ago. I was 9 at that time, still a small child back then. It happened in a village in Alibaug a place in Maharashtra in India during the summer holidays.

We (my mom and me) were at the beach for quite some time when we decided to go back. Normally, after walking for about 10 minutes, we would reach the hotel.

My mom asked her friend where our sandals were (we were still at the beach). Her friend pointed in some direction, and my mom then went there. However, soon mom realised we were lost.

We were now in a quite a big jungle. And since it was noon, the ground was quite hot and my mom had to carry me. I was scared. I didn’t understand then, our plight, mom was in a big jungle with her 9-year-old kid and completely lost.

I was scared and didn’t know what to do. So I began to pray. As a child, the only prayer I knew was “Our Father” and “God Our Protector” (Psalms 92). I don’t remember which of the two I prayed, but I do remember my mother telling me that as soon I had finished praying, a woman stood before my mother. The woman gave mom her chappal (slippers) and told my mom that she had crossed an entire village and currently was in a different village. That woman safely took us back to the hotel we were staying at.

My parents told me it was that kind woman who helped mom back then. However, I know it was Master Yahuwah (LORD) who helped us.

(Mark Mascarenhas)

On Love:

Absence from those we love is self from self – a deadly banishment.

Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.

Love is not love that alters when it alteration finds.

Love is too young to know what conscience is.

My love is strengthened, though more weak in seeming;
I love not less, though less the show appear;
That love is merchandized, whose rich esteeming
The owner’s tongue doth publish everywhere.
(From: Sonnet 102: My Love Is Strengthened, Though More Weak In Seeming)

Love is a babe; then might I not say so,
To give full growth to that which still doth grow.
(From: Sonnet 115: Those Lines That I Before Have Writ Do Lie)

Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
(From: Sonnet 116: Let Me Not To The Marriage Of True Minds)

My love is as a fever, longing still
For that which longer nurseth the disease,
Feeding on that which doth preserve the ill,
Th’ uncertain sickly appetite to please.
(From: Sonnet 147: My Love Is As A Fever, Longing Still)

Love is too young to know what conscience is;
Yet who knows not conscience is born of love?
(From: Sonnet 151: Love Is Too Young To Know What Conscience Is)

O, let me, true in love, but truly write,
And then, believe me, my love is as fair
As any mother’s child, though not so bright
As those gold candles fixed in heaven’s air.
(From: Sonnet 21: So Is It Not With Me As With That Muse)

O, none, unless this miracle have might,
That in black ink my love may still shine bright.
(From: Sonnet 65: Since Brass, Nor Stone, Nor Earth, Nor Boundless Sea)

Love is a smoke rais’d with the fume of sighs;
Being purg’d, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes;
Being vex’d, a sea nourish’d with lovers’ tears.
(From: The Tragedy Of Romeo And Juliet)

Pardon me, Caesar, for my dear dear love
To your proceeding bids me tell you this,
And reason to my love is liable.
(From: The Tragedy Of Julius Caesar)

Now what my love is, proof hath made you know;
And as my love is siz’d, my fear is so.
(From: The Tragedy Of Hamlet, Prince Of Denmark)

O my lord, if my duty be too bold, my love is too unmannerly.
(From: The Tragedy Of Hamlet, Prince Of Denmark)

Not that I think you did not love your father;
But that I know love is begun by time,
And that I see, in passages of proof,
Time qualifies the spark and fire of it.
(From: The Tragedy Of Hamlet, Prince Of Denmark)

Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear;
Where little fears grow great, great love grows there.
(From: The Tragedy Of Hamlet, Prince Of Denmark)

I pray, sir, tell me, is it possible
That love should of a sudden take such hold?
(From: The Taming Of The Shrew)

Love is not so great,
Hortensio, but we may blow our nails together, and fast it fairly
out; our cake’s dough on both sides.
(From: The Taming Of The Shrew)

Yet they do wink and yield, as love is blind and
enforces.
(From: The Life Of King Henry The Fifth)

She was belov’d, she lov’d; she is, and doth;
But still sweet love is food for fortune’s tooth.
(From: The History Of Troilus And Cressida)

When vice makes mercy, mercy’s so extended
That for the fault’s love is th’ offender friended.
(From: Measure For Measure)

If lusty love should go in quest of beauty,
Where should he find it fairer than in Blanch?
(From: King John)

If zealous love should go in search of virtue,
Where should he find it purer than in Blanch?
(From: King John)

What good love may I perform for you?
(From: King John)

Her love is not the hare that I do hunt;
Why writes she so to me?
(From: As You Like It)

Love is merely a madness; and, I tell you, deserves as
well a dark house and a whip as madmen do; and the reason why
they are not so punish’d and cured is that the lunacy is so
ordinary that the whippers are in love too.
(From: As You Like It)

And therefore take the present time,
With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
For love is crowned with the prime,
In the spring time, &c.
(From: As You Like It)

Love is your master, for he masters you;
And he that is so yoked by a fool,
Methinks, should not be chronicled for wise.
(From: The Two Gentlemen Of Verona)

And so suppose am I; for in his grave
Assure thyself my love is buried.
(From: The Two Gentlemen Of Verona)

‘Tis pity love should be so contrary;
And thinking on it makes me cry ‘Alas!
(From: The Two Gentlemen Of Verona)

And, that my love may appear plain and free,
All that was mine in Silvia I give thee.
(From: The Two Gentlemen Of Verona)

Alas, their love may be call’d appetite-
No motion of the liver, but the palate-
That suffer surfeit, cloyment, and revolt;
But mine is all as hungry as the sea,
And can digest as much.
(From: Twelfth Night)

But do thy worst to steal thy self away,
For term of life thou art assurèd mine,
And life no longer than thy love will stay,
For it depends upon that love of thine.
(From: Sonnet 92: But Do Thy Worst To Steal Thy Self Away)

In many’s looks, the false heart’s history
Is writ in moods and frowns and wrinkles strange,
But heaven in thy creation did decree
That in thy face sweet love should ever dwell;
Whate’er thy thoughts, or thy heart’s workings be,
Thy looks should nothing thence but sweetness tell.
(From: Sonnet 93: So Shall I Live, Supposing Thou Art True)

O, lest your true love may seem false in this,
That you for love speak well of me untrue,
My name be buried where my body is,
And live no more to shame nor me nor you.
(From: Sonnet 72: O, Lest The World Should Task You To Recite)

Thy love is better than high birth to me,
Richer than wealth, prouder than garments’ costs,
Of more delight than hawks and horses be;
And having thee, of all men’s pride I boast-
Wretched in this alone, that thou mayst take,
All this away and me most wretched make.
(From: Sonnet 91: Some Glory In Their Birth, Some In Their Skill)

Let me not to the marriage of true minds Admit impediments. Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds.

Love is … a madness most discreet.

Love is a smoke rais’d by the fume of sighs.

ROSALIND But are you so much in love as your rhymes speak ORLANDO Neither rhyme nor reason can express how much. ROSALIND Love is merely a madness, and, I tell you, deserves as well a dark house and a whip as madmen do and the reason why they are not so punished and cured is, that the lunacy is so ordinary that the whippers are in love too.

They are but beggars that can count their worth, But my true love is grown to such excess, I cannot sum up half my sum of wealth.

What gone without a word Ay, so true love should do it cannot speak, for truth hath better deeds, than words, to grace it.

Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear When little fears grow great, great love grows there.

She marking them begins a wailing note And sings extemporally a woeful ditty How love makes young men thrall and old men dote How love is wise in folly, foolish-witty Her heavy anthem still concludes in woe, And still the choir of echoes answer so.

If you love her, you cannot see her . . . because love is blind.

But love is blind, and lovers cannot see What petty follies they themselves commit

But love is blind, and lovers cannot see The pretty follies that themselves commit, For if they could, Cupid himself would blush To see me thus transformed to a boy

Love is merely madness…

Love is my sin, and thy dear virtue hate, Hate of my sin, grounded on sinful loving

Love is merely a madness, and, I tell you, deserves as well a dark house and a whip as madmen do.

Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs. Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers eyes. Being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers tears. What is it else A madness most discreet, a choking gall and a preserving sweet.

Love comforteth like sunshine after rain, But lust’s effect is tempest after sun Love’s gentle spring doth always fresh remain, Lust’s winter comes ere summer half be done Love surfeit’s not, Lust like a glutton dies, Love is all truth, Lust full

On Kindness:

Unkindness may do much,
And his unkindness may defeat my life,
But never taint my love.
(From: The Tragedy Of Othello, Moor Of Venice)

On Life:

Life is as tedious as twice-told tale, vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.

There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.

This life is most jolly.
(From: Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind)

I will tell you-he beat me grievously
in the shape of a woman; for in the shape of man, Master
Brook, I fear not Goliath with a weaver’s beam; because
I know also life is a shuttle.
(From: The Merry Wives Of Windsor)

That life is better life, past fearing death,
Than that which lives to fear.
(From: Measure For Measure)

Mine honour is my life; both grow in one;
Take honour from me, and my life is done:
Then, dear my liege, mine honour let me try;
In that I live, and for that will I die.
(From: King Richard The Second)

Blow, blow, thou winter wind, Thou art not so unkind As mans ingratitude Thy tooth is not so keen, Because thou art not seen, Although thy breath be rude. Heigh-ho sing, heigh-ho unto the green holly Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly. Then heigh-ho the holly This life is most jolly. Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky, That dost not bite so nigh As benefits forgot Though thou the waters warp, Thy sting is not so sharp As friend rememberd not.

By medicine life may be prolonged, yet death Will seize the doctor too.

Mine honor is my life both grow in one Take honor from me and my life is done.

O gentlemen the time of life is short To spend that shortness basely were too long, If life did ride upon a dials point, Still ending at the arrival of an hour.

Our life is short, but to expand that span to vast eternity is virtue’s work.

The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together our virtues would be proud if our faults whipped them not and our crimes would despair if they were not cherished by our own virtues.

There’s nothing in this world can make me joy Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man And bitter shame hath spoil’d the sweet world’s taste That it yields nought but shame and bitterness.

We are such stuff As dreams are made of, And our little life Is rounded with a sleep.

We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep.

All is but toys renown, and grace, is dead The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees Is left this vault to brag of

I have lived long enough. My way of life is to fall into the sere, the yellow leaf, and that which should accompany old age, as honor, love, obedience, troops of friends I must not look to have.

Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale.

On Death:

The stroke of death is as a lover’s pinch, which hurts and is desired.

Therefore should every soldier in the wars do as every sick man
in his bed- wash every mote out of his conscience; and dying so,
death is to him advantage; or not dying, the time was blessedly
lost wherein such preparation was gained; and in him that escapes
it were not sin to think that, making God so free an offer, He
let him outlive that day to see His greatness, and to teach
others how they should prepare.
(From: The Life Of King Henry The Fifth)

Death is the fairest cover for her shame
That may be wish’d for.
(From: Much Ado About Nothing)

Death is a fearful thing.
(From: Measure For Measure)

It is silliness to live when to live is torment, and then
have we a prescription to die when death is our physician.
(From: The Tragedy Of Othello, Moor Of Venice)

Make haste; the hour of death is expiate.
(From: King Richard III)

Now she unweaves the web that she hath wrought;
Adonis lives, and Death is not to blame;
It was not she that call’d him all to naught:
Now she adds honours to his hateful name;
She clepes him king of graves and grave for kings,
Imperious supreme of all mortal things.
(From: Venus And Adonis)

By medicine life may be prolonged, yet death Will seize the doctor too.

The worst is death, and death will have his day.

On Honesty:

That if you be honest and fair, your honesty should admit no
discourse to your beauty.
(From: The Tragedy Of Hamlet, Prince Of Denmark)

Honesty is the best policy. If I lose mine honor, I lose myself.

On Fear:

Now what my love is, proof hath made you know;
And as my love is siz’d, my fear is so.
(From: The Tragedy Of Hamlet, Prince Of Denmark)

None that I know will be, much that I fear may chance.
(From: The Tragedy Of Julius Caesar)

Of all base passions, fear is most accursed.

Of all base passions, fear is the most accursed.

On Learning:

Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear,
Thy dial how thy precious minutes waste;
These vacant leaves thy mind’s imprint will bear,
And of this book, this learning mayst thou taste.
(From: Sonnet 77: Thy Glass Will Show Thee How Thy Beauties Wear)

On Knowledge:

Ignorance is the curse of God; knowledge is the wing wherewith we fly to heaven.

On God:

God has given you one face, and you make yourself another.

Write down that they hope they serve God; and write God first,
for God defend but God should go before such villains!
(From: Much Ado About Nothing)

On Love:

In intuitive balance, love is balanced and detached. In the state of intuitive balance, peace and tranquility are produced. Without intuitive balance, life is useless.

This mind is enticed by Maya – it cannot see or hear. Without seeing her Husband Lord, love does not well up what can the blind person do

The shop-keepers collect poison, sitting in their shops, carrying on their business. Their love is false, their displays are false, and they are engrossed in falsehood.

Gazing upon the tiny bodies of your children, love has welled up within your heart you are proud of them, but you do not understand.

When the time comes to settle their accounts, their red robes are corrupt. His Love is not obtained through hypocrisy. Her false coverings bring only ruin.

The True Guru has led me to meet Him, and now I dwell in the Fear of God. O Nanak, His Love is always with me.

The Lord’s Love is with me, but it cannot be seen.

Her marriage is eternal her Husband is Inaccessible and Incomprehensible. O Servant Nanak, His Love is her only Support.

On Life:

In intuitive balance, love is balanced and detached. In the state of intuitive balance, peace and tranquility are produced. Without intuitive balance, life is useless.

When the body falls, the play of life is over what shall be the condition of the evil-doers then

The empty body is dreadful, when the soul goes out from within. The burning fire of life is extinguished, and the smoke of the breath no longer emerges. The five relatives (the senses) weep and wail painfully, and waste away through the love of duality.

The body is wild, and the mind is foolish. Practicing egotism, selfishness and conceit, your life is passing away.

The blessing of this human life has been obtained, but still, people do not lovingly focus their thoughts on the Name of the Lord. Their feet slip, and they cannot stay here any longer. And in the next world, they find no place of rest at all. This opportunity shall not come again. In the end, they depart, regretting and repenting.

My breath of life is in Your Power, God my soul and body are totally Yours.

The fire of doubt is not extinguished, even by wandering through foreign lands and countries. If inner filth is not removed, one’s life is cursed, and one’s clothes are cursed. There is no other way to perform devotional worship, except through the Teachings of the True Guru.

The day dawns, and then it ends, and the night passes away. Man’s life is diminishing, but he does not understand. Each day, the mouse of death is gnawing away at the rope of life.

Not a moment or an instant’s delay is permitted, when one’s measure of life is full. By Guru’s Grace, one comes to know the True One, and is absorbed into Him.

My Beloved Husband Lord is deep within my heart. How can I see Him In the Sanctuary of the Saints, O Nanak, the Support of the breath of life is found.

You may practice chanting, penance and austere self-discipline within your mind, but without the Name, life is useless.

To love the Lotus Feet of the Lord – this way of life has come into the minds of His Saints.

The mother thinks that her son is growing up she does not understand that, day by day, his life is diminishing.

If you remember the Lord in meditation for a moment, even for an instant, then your life will become fruitful and prosperous.

My life has been lost, wasted in vain I am totally miserable O Baba Nanak, no one cares for me at all

Life is useless, as long as one does not know the Lord God.

On Death:

In the poise of intuitive balance, death is destroyed, entering the Sanctuary of the True One.

When the body is filled with ego and selfishness, the cycle of birth and death does not end.

True is the Master, and True is His Name. By Guru’s Grace, I meditate forever on Him. The fear of birth and death has been dispelled emotional attachment, sorrow and suffering have been erased.

The first watch of the night passes away in worthless affairs, and the second passes in deep sleep. In the third, they babble nonsense, and when the fourth watch comes, the day of death has arrived. The thought of the One who bestows body and soul never enters the mind.

Meeting with the True Guru, you shall not have to go through the cycle of reincarnation again the pains of birth and death will be taken away.

When the Lord grants His Mercy, the fear of death is conquered.

Whatever is in harmony with His Will, he accepts as True the noose of Death is loosened from around his neck

Think of the Lord No one knows this secret, of when the Messenger of Death will seize you and take you away. All your weeping and wailing then is false. In an instant, you become a stranger. You obtain exactly what you have longed for. Says Nanak, in the fourth watch of the night, O mortal, the Grim Reaper has harvested your field.

The Messenger of Death will not touch you in this way, you shall cross over the terrifying world-ocean, carrying others across with you.

The day dawns, and then it ends, and the night passes away. Man’s life is diminishing, but he does not understand. Each day, the mouse of death is gnawing away at the rope of life.

One cannot break free from the bondage of loving attachment, and so the Messenger of Death will torture you

Meeting with the humble beings, O Siblings of Destiny, the Messenger of Death is conquered.

Meditating, meditating, meditating in remembrance on Him, singing His Glorious Praises, the noose of death is cut away.

Hearing lord’s Name, the Messenger of Death will release you, and yet, you do not enter His Sanctuary

Death, O Mullah – death will come, so live in the Fear of God the Creator.

Death is pre-ordained – no one who comes can remain here. So chant and meditate on the Lord, and remain in the Sanctuary of the Lord.

Death does not even approach the Lord’s servant.

On Happiness:

The rain has fallen I have found the Transcendent Lord God. All beings and creatures dwell in peace. Suffering has been dispelled, and true happiness has dawned, as we meditate on the Name of the Lord, Har, Har.

Happiness is obtained, and sorrow runs far away, when the Saints chant the Lord’s Name. The sea, the dry land, and the lakes are filled with the Water of the Lord’s Name no place is left empty.

O Nanak, without the Name, everything is painful, and happiness is forgotten.

On Greed:

Without the Guru, intuitive wisdom does not come, and the filth of greed does not depart from within.

Greed is a dog falsehood is a filthy street-sweeper.

On Fear:

In fear we are born, and in fear we die. Fear is always present in the mind.

On Knowledge:

How can I describe the Glories of the Saints Their knowledge is unfathomable their limits cannot be known.

On God:

He Himself is the Great Banker God is our Lord and Master. I am His petty merchant. My mind, body and soul are all Your capital assets. You, O God, are the True Banker of servant Nanak.

God has erected the temple of the body He has placed the nine doors, and the soul-bride sits within. She enjoys the sweet play again and again, while the five demons are plundering her.

For His sake, you assumed this body see God always with you. God is pervading the water, the land and the sky He sees all with His Glance of Grace.

This world is a garden, and my Lord God is the Gardener. He always takes care of it – nothing is exempt from His Care.

The Palace of the Lord God is so beautiful. Within it, there are gems, rubies, pearls and flawless diamonds. A fortress of gold surrounds this Source of Nectar. How can I climb up to the Fortress without a ladder By meditating on the Lord, through the Guru, I am blessed and exalted.

O Siblings of Destiny, God is my Friend and Companion. Emotional attachment to children and spouse is poison in the end, no one will go along with you as your helper.

To praise You is to follow Your Command and Your Will. That which pleases You is spiritual wisdom and meditation. That which pleases God is chanting and meditation to be in harmony with His Will is perfect spiritual wisdom.

His Value cannot be estimated. The Lord God is my Friend and Companion.

God is Wise, Giving, Tender-hearted, Pure, Beautiful and Infinite. He is our Companion and Helper, Supremely Great, Lofty and Utterly Infinite. He is not known as young or old His Court is Steady and Stable. Whatever we seek from Him, we receive. He is the Support of the unsupported.

Through His Light, God is revealed. Without the True Guru, understanding is not obtained. The True Guru comes to meet those who have such pre-ordained destiny.

The Supreme Lord God has unleashed the rain clouds. Over the sea and over the land – over all the earth’s surface, in all directions, He has brought the rain. Peace has come, and the thirst of all has been quenched there is joy and ecstasy everywhere.

The desire for the worldly drama arises in the intellect, but even with thousands of clever mental tricks, the heat of the Fear of God does not come into play.

My God is pervading and permeating all places.

Inwardly and outwardly, the Lord God is always with us. Fear, dread and doubt have been dispelled by the Perfect Guru now, I see God everywhere.

Night and day, they remain in the Love of the One. They know that God is always with them. They make the Name of their Lord and Master their way of life they are satisfied and fulfilled with the Blessed Vision of the Lord’s Darshan.

God is the Breath of Life of my soul, the Support of my mind. His devotees live by singing the Glorious Praises of the Infinite Lord.

O my mind, God is always with you He is your Lord and Master. Tell me, where could you run to get away from the Lord

Everyone says that God is the Greatest of the Great. No one calls Him any less. No one can estimate His Worth. By speaking of Him, His Greatness is not increased. You are the One True Lord and Master of all the other beings, of so many worlds.

We are His, and from Him, we receive our rewards. Showering His Mercy upon us, God has united us with Him.

The Perfect Transcendent Lord is spiritual wisdom and meditation. God is All-powerful to do all things.

The mind has become attached to the pleasures of houses, palaces, horses and other enjoyments. The Lord God does not even enter his thoughts how can he be saved, O my Lord King

My God is forever Immaculate and Pure with a pure mind, He can be found.

You may act in secrecy, but God is still with you you can only deceive other people.

Taking hold of my hand, O Nanak, my Beloved God will not let me be swallowed up by the world-ocean.

Playful is my Lord of the Universe playful is my Beloved. My Lord God is wondrous and playful.

My God is Immaculate, Inaccessible and Infinite. Without a scale, He weighs the universe.

The Immortal Lord God has come to dwell within my heart. Nanak sings the songs of joy to the Lord.

God is overflowing with all powers. I have no honor – He is my resting place.

On Love:

He who is in love is wise and is becoming wiser, sees newly every time he looks at the object beloved, drawing from it with his eyes and his mind those virtues which it possesses.

Love is like a hunter, who cares not for the game when once caught, which he may have pursued with the most intense and breathless eagerness. Love is strongest in pursuit friendship in possession.

Love is the essence of God.

Love, and you shall be loved. All love is mathematically just, as much as the two sides of an algebraic equation.

Never self-possessed, or prudent, love is all abandonment.

The reason why all men honor love is because it looks up, And not down aspires and not despairs.

On Life:

A chief event of life is the day in which we have encountered a mind that startled us.

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.

Don’t be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.

To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.

Every man is a borrower and a mimic, life is theatrical and literature a quotation.

How much of human life is lost in waiting.

I do not wish to expiate, but to live. My life is for itself and not for a spectacle. I much prefer that it should be of a lower strain, so it be genuine and equal, then that it should be glittering and unsteady. I wish it to be sound and sweet, and not to need diet and bleeding.

I wish that life should not be cheap, but sacred. I wish the days to be as centuries, loaded, fragrant.

In the hands of the discoverer, medicine becomes a heroic art . . wherever life is dear he is a demigod.

Intellectual tasting of life will not supersede muscular activity.

Life is a festival only to the wise.

Life is a perpetual instruction in cause and effect.

Life is a progress and not a station.

Life is a search after power.

Life is a series of surprises, and would not be worth taking or keeping if it were not.

Life is eating us up. We all shall be fables presently. Keep cool it will be all one a hundred years hence.

Life is March weather, savage and serene in one hour.

Life is not so short but that there is always time enough for courtesy.

Life is too short to waste … Twill soon be dark Up mind thine own aim, and God speed the mark.

Manners are the happy ways of doing things each one a stroke of genius or of love, now repeated and hardened into usage. They form at least a rich varnish, with which the routine of life is washed, and its details adorned.

Men do what is called a good action, as some piece of courage or charity, much as they would pay a fine in expiation of daily non-appearance on parade. Their works are done as an apology or extenuation of their living in the world as invalids pay a high board. Their virtues are penances. I do not wish to expiate, but to live my life is for itself, and not for spectacle. I much prefer that it should be of a lower strain, so it be genuine and equal, than that it should be glittering and unsteady. I wish it to be sound and sweet, and not to need diet and bleeding. I ask for primary evidence that you are a man, and refuse this appeal from a man to his actions.

My chief want in life is someone who shall make me do what I can.

One moment of a mans life is a fact so stupendous as to take the luster out of all fiction.

One of the illusions of life is that the present hour is not the critical, decisive hour. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year.

Our chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do what we can.

Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth that around every circle another can be drawn that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning, and under every deep a lower deep opens.

The chief want in life is somebody who shall make us do the best we can.

The one prudence in life is concentration the one evil is dissipation.

The only prudence in life is concentration.

The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.

The world is upheld by the veracity of good men they make the earth wholesome. They who lived with them found life glad and nutritious. Life is sweet and tolerable only in our belief in such society.

Life is short, but there is always time for courtesy.

The pleasure of life is according to the man who lives it, and not according to the work or the place

Life is a train of moods like a string of beads and as we pass through them they prove to be many colored lenses, which paint the world their own hue, and each shows us only what lies in its own focus.

Our chief want in life is somebody who will make us do what we can.

On Death:

Our fear of death is like our fear that summer will be short, but when we have had our swing of pleasure, our fill of fruit, and our swelter of heat, we say we have had our day.

On Happiness:

Happiness is a perfume which you cannot pour on someone without getting some on yourself.

Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.

On Fear:

Do the thing we fear, and death of fear is certain.

He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.

Do the thing we fear, and the death of fear is certain.

On Courage:

A great part of courage is the courage of having done the thing before.

On Learning:

The book written against fame and learning has the author’s name on the title-page.

On Knowledge:

Knowledge is knowing that we cannot know.

Knowledge is an antidote to fear.

Knowledge is the antidote to fear.

Knowledge is the only elegance.

Our knowledge is the amassed thought and experience of innumerable minds.

On God:

The highest revelation is that God is in every man.

There is no chance and anarchy in the universe. All is system and gradation. Every god is there sitting in his sphere.

For what are they all in their high conceit, When man in the bush with God may meet.

The soul of God is poured into the world through the thoughts of men.

There is a crack in everything God has made.

On Religion:

I have heard with admiring submission the experience of the lady who declared that the sense of being well-dressed gives a feeling of inward tranquility which religion is powerless to bestow. Miss C. F. Forbes, (18171911).

Religion is as effectually destroyed by bigotry as by indifference.

The first and last lesson of religion is The things that are seen are temporal things that are unseen are eternal.

Religion is to do right. It is to love, it is to serve, it is to think, it is to be humble.

On Love:

Love seems the swiftest, but it is the slowest of growths. No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century.

Love is a madness if thwarted it develops fast.

On Kindness:

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can read.

On Life:

Part of the secret of a success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.

What a wee little part of a person’s life are his acts and his words! His real life is led in his head, and is known to none but himself.

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.

Life does not consist mainly, or even largely, of facts and happenings. It consists mainly of the storm of thought that is forever flowing through one’s head.

Whoever has lived long enough to find out what life is, know how deep a debt of gratitude we owe to Adam, the first great benefactor of our race. He brought death into the world.

Life should begin with age and its privileges and accumulations, and end with youth and its capacity to splendidly enjoy such advantages.

Only when a republic’s life is in danger should a man uphold his government when it is wrong. There is no other time.

On Death:

The report of my death is exaggerated.

When the human race has once acquired a superstition nothing short of death is ever likely to remove it

Death is the starlit strip between the companionship of yesterday and the reunion of tomorrow

On Happiness:

Happiness is like a Swedish sunset — it is there for all, but most of us look the other way and lose it.

On Success:

All you need is ignorance and confidence and the success is sure.

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.

On Perseverance:

Perseverance is a principle that should be commendable in those who have judgment to govern it

On Honesty:

Honesty is the best policy – when there is money in it.

There are people who think that honesty is always the best policy. This is a superstition there are times when the appearance of it is worth six of it.

On Fear:

Do the thing you fear most and the death of fear is certain.

On Courage:

It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.

On Learning:

The first time a student realizes that a little learning is a dangerous thing is when he brings home a poor report card.

On Knowledge:

If you think knowledge is dangerous, try ignorance

On God:

I am not the editor of a newspaper and shall always try to do right and be good so that God will not make me one

God has put somrthing noble and good into every heart His hand created.

On Christianity:

Christianity will doubtless still survive in the earth ten centuries hence – stuffed and in a museum

On Love:

Life is one fool thing after another whereas love is two fool things after each other.

On Life:

Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.

Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.

Life is too important to be taken seriously.

One’s real life is so often the life that one does not lead.

Don’t tell me that you have exhausted Life. When a man says that, one knows that life has exhausted him.

Life has been your art. You have set yourself to music. Your days are your sonnets.

The first duty in life is to be as artificial as possible. What the second duty is no one has yet discovered.

The secret of life is never to have an emotion that is unbecoming.

To become the spectator of one’s own life is to escape the suffering of life.

We can have in life but one great experience at best, and the secret of life is to reproduce that experience as often as possible.

The first duty of life is to be as artificial as possible. What the second duty is no one as yet discovered.

The supreme object of life is to live. Few people live. It is true life only to realize one’s own perfection, to make one’s every dream a reality.

The secret of life is to appreciate the pleasure of being terribly deceived

Each time that one loves is the only time one has ever loved. Difference of object does not alter singleness of passion. It merely intensifies it. We can have but one great experience at best, and the secret of life is to reproduce that experience as ofte

Life is one fool thing after another whereas love is two fool things after each other.

The aim of life is self-development. To realize one’s nature perfectly – that is what each of us is here for.

Looking good and dressing well is a necessity. Having a purpose in life is not.

The secret of life is in art.

The man who says he has exhausted life generally means that life has exhausted him.

As for a spoiled life, no life is spoiled but one whose growth is arrested.

The aim of life is self-development. To realise one’s nature perfectly-that is what each of us is here for. People are afraid of themselves, nowadays. They have forgotten the highest of all duties, the duty that one owes to one’s self. Of course they are charitable. They feed the hungry, and clothe the beggar. But their own souls starve, and are naked.
(From: The Picture of Dorian Gray)

Yes, very sensible… People die of common sense, Dorian, one lost moment at a time. Life is a moment. There is no hereafter. So make it burn always with the hardest flame.
(From: The Picture of Dorian Gray)

On Success:

Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result.

On Optimism:

The basis of optimism is sheer terror.

The basis of optimism is sheer terror. We think that we are generous because we credit our neighbour with the possession of those virtues that are likely to be a benefit to us. We praise the banker that we may overdraw our account, and find good qualities in the highwayman in the hope that he may spare our pockets.
(From: The Picture of Dorian Gray)

The reason we all like to think so well of others is that we are all afraid for ourselves. The basis of optimism is sheer terror.
(From: The Picture of Dorian Gray)

On Learning:

Everybody who is incapable of learning has taken to teaching.

On Religion:

Religion is the fashionable substitute for belief.

On Love:

Is the intention pure, selfless, and born out of love Is it based on truth Does it result in peace If so, it is a right action.

Action with love is right conduct. Speak with love and it becomes truth. Thinking with love results in peace. Understanding with love leads to non-violence. For everything love is primary. Where there is love there is no place for hatred.

Blood has to circulate from head to footLove has to circulate from high to low.

Love is one it transcends caste, color and creed, if it has to be genuine.

If a wave of service sweeps over the land, catching everyone in its enthusiasm, it will be able to wipe off the mounds of hatred, malice and greed that infest the World. Attune your hearts so that it will vibrate in sympathy with the woes and joys of your fellow-men. Fill the World with Love. Love will warn you against advising another to do something which you yourself are unwilling to do your conscience will tell you that you are living in a lie

Unity is vital for all, wherever they are and whatever their country, religion or sex. Love should be the unifying force..Teachers Promote the sense of human unity among all people, without regard to race, religion or caste.

Love is your true form.

Selfless Love is only with God.

Love is expansion Self is contraction.

When Love is combined with understanding it becomes Non-violence. Therefore whenever you feel angry, think of love, develop thoughts of love in your heart.

When Love is associated with our thoughts, it manifests itself as Truth.

The Grace is available to all who call on Me in any name or form, not merely to those who wear these gifts. Love is the bond that wins that Grace.

Offer service and receive love. This is the recipe for experiencing Divinity. Our love should not be confined to our kith and kin. It must extend beyond the family to society as a whole, then to the nation at large and finally embrace the whole world.

Of the five vital principles, Love is the foremost. It is Love that flows as the under-current for the other four values. How does it flow this way

Love is your life, your friend, your relative, your food and your everything. Heart that is filled with love can never be polluted. Love is nectarine. Once you fill it in your heart, the poison of evil will have no place in it.

Love is the rose. Lust is the thorn.

Love is the light that guides the feet of man in the wilderness.

Love is the form of Brahman (The Supreme Reality)Brahman is love Divine.

Love is the basis of all forms of worship of which Abraham was the human prototype.

Love is life for man and love is everything in this world.

Love is essential to become a complete human being.

In fact there is no strength superior to Love where Love is there everything is. So you must live in God and live in Love then everything shall be right. You must make others also live in Love.

If you realize Love is God, you will not get attached to worldly things.

I am the embodiment of Love Love is my instrument.

God is the SeedThe Universe is the Tree, Impulses and passions are the branches, Intelligence is the flower, Pure Consciousness is the fruit, Love is the sweetness in the fruit.

For, the path of love is the royal road that leads mankind to Me.

Fill yourself with love. Love should express itself in service to society. You should look upon society this way. We exist for society and society exists for the good of all.

Everyone has Love towards some thing or other, and that Love is a spark of the Divine everyone has ultimately to base his life on some one Truth that Truth is God.

Embodiments of Love There is Love in everyone of you. Develop that Love. Share it with the people. You also experience with your fellow people. This love – this love is not one-way traffic. It is just two-way, GIVE and TAKE. We don’t need to go anywhere, if you have Love.

Duty without LOVE is deplorable, duty with LOVE is desirable, LOVE without duty is divine.

A discontented man is as bad as lost. A man without love is as good as dead.

On Life:

Without God, life is like a school without a teacher. It is a wire with no current passing through it it is a body with no soul.

Life is a bridge over the sea of changes. Do not build a house on it.

Life has to be lived through, for the sake of the chance to unfold the virtues.Otherwise, man is a burden upon the earth, a consumer of food.

Human life is precious, sublime and meaningful. But by involvement in purely worldly pursuits, the greatness of human birth is forgotten.

LIFE is a mosaic of pleasure and pain – grief is an interval between two moments of joy. Peace is the interlude between two wars. You have no rose without a thorn the diligent picker will avoid the pricks and gather the flower. There is no bee without the

Life is a challenge, meet it Life is a dream, realize it Life is a game, play it Life is Love, enjoy it

Love all and serve all. Your entire life will be sanctified thereby.

Life starts with Love. The sweetness of love coming out of life is the great and unique principle that is at the source of everything. You can put this love in any field of work.

LIFE is a mosaic of pleasure and pain – grief is an interval between two moments of joy. Peace is the interlude between two wars. You have no rose without a thorn the diligent picker will avoid the pricks and gather the flower. There is no bee without the sting cleverness consists in gathering the honey nevertheless.

Human values should predominate in mens thoughts. Human life has no meaning without these values.

Life is an opportunity afforded to each not to eat and drink, but to achieve something nobler and higher to merge in the Reality.

Without human values, life is meaningless.

Life has been bestowed not for just eating and digesting and roaming and reclining, but for a far greater purpose – the realization of Divinity in us, in all that exists around us and even beyond all things that strike our senses. To waste such a life in vain pursuits and in mere senses of pleasures is not the sign of an intelligent person.

Every being in the universe has the potentiality of transcending the senses. Even the little worm will one day transcend the senses and reach God. No life will be a failure. There is no such thing as failure in the universe.

Life is the car, your heart is the key and God is the chauffeur.

On Death:

The God of death does not give notice of His arrival to take hold of you. He is not like the photographer who says, I am clicking, are you ready

Death may call any moment,Every moment, everyone is nearing death.

Death is not a deplorable event,It is the journeys end.

Death is but another stage of life. However long one suffers from illness or however severe the injury, death can happen only when Time signals the right moment.

On Happiness:

Truth, righteousness, peace and love these are the four pillars on which the mansion of happiness is built.

On Knowledge:

The end of knowledge is LOVE. The end of education is character.

On God:

The joy that we cause in the heart of GOD is the only worthwhile achievement.

There are four types of persons, the dead, who deny the Lord and declare that they alone exist, independent and self-directed, the sick, who call upon the Lord when some calamity befalls them or when they feel temporarily deserted by the unusual source of succor, the dull, who know that God is the eternal companion and watchman, but who remember it only off and on when the idea is potent and powerful, and lastly the healthy, who have steady belief in the Lord and who live in His Comforting Creative Presence always.

The fault is in the mirror that reflects, the mind that perceives, the brain that infers. What the mirror presents as true has no authenticity. The mirror is coated with dust and its face is not plain at all. God has no maya He has no intention or need to delude, nor does He will that it should happen.

The body will shine if the character is fine service of man and worship of God will preserve its charm.

Only one God is present in everyone. Never follow the differences basing on the differences of the body. There is no chance or scope for conflict.

God is without birth and death and is an eternal witness you must strive hard to earn the love of God.

God is the mother and father of the world. Our parents are the mother and father of this body.

God is omnipresent. He is the in-dweller of every heart and all names are His. You can call Him by any name that gives you joy. You must not cavil at other names and forms, nor become fanatics, blind to their glory.

Give food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, and clothes to the naked. Then God will be pleased.

Believe that God is everywhere at all times, and derive strength, comfort, and joy by singing His glory in His presence.

God is the embodiment of compassion. He watches for a grain of goodness or humility so that He can reward it with tons of grace.

Remember, God is your guardian, when you sleep when you are helpless even when you have forgotten or neglected or discarded Him. He has no need you offer or promise to offer. He is ever content, ever blissful, ever full and ever free. Do your duty to yourself – that is enough offering for Him.

God has given enough avenues of joy in creation. But they have to be shared and enjoyed. You are entitled to just your share of it.

The Moral Law is inexorable, so follow it, observe it, and you will reach your goal, God is the perfection of the Moral Law.

Rise up to the Divine, don’t bring Godhead to your human and even animal levels. Do not worship God as the picture before you, but worship the picture before you as God, because God is in everything and can be grasped through every single symbol.

God is love, live in love.

The love that exists between wife and husband is infatuation. The love that exists among friends and relations is attachment. The love towards material objects is desire. Love in totality, directed towards God is known as devotion.

God will show His love. He is kind to all.

God is the SeedThe Universe is the Tree, Impulses and passions are the branches, Intelligence is the flower, Pure Consciousness is the fruit, Love is the sweetness in the fruit.

GOD IS IMPORTANT. If you have God with you, you will have the rest. Real wealth is God. Real health is God. We should make every effort to pray for God. Because we are from God, we should be back to God.

God does not live in structures of stone or brick. He lives in soft hearts warm with sympathy and fragrant with universal love.

Faith in ourselves and faith in God, this is the secret of Greatness, for God is Love.

When God is reflected as Nature, the reflection becomes Maya.

God will not ask you when and where you did service He will ask, with what motive did you do it What was the intention that prompted you You may weigh the service and boast of its quantity. But God seeks quality – the quality of heart, the purity of mind, the holiness of motive.

When you kill an animal, you give him suffering, pain, harm. GOD is in every creature, so how can you give such pain

IF you feel you must have something to be happy, pray to God, God, you have the responsibility to keep me healthy, happy, good and intelligent give me this thing which I believe is necessary for my happiness but, if you think I am wrong, give me whatever you think best . God will never desert His obligation. He will feed you and foster you.

God is in everyone. God is in you and you are God. Strengthen this fundamental truth. When you propagate this truth, that is the real service. It is the service that will take you to closer proximity, a boat. In this ocean of life, take the help of this boat and gain the proximity.

The whole world is governed by God, and God is governed by Truth.

Oceans are many, but Water is oneReligions are many, but God is one

If you have the inclination to do good work, God will give you the time to do good things.

God is in every word of yours,Every deed and thought.

Despising brother-man, you cannot, at the same time, worship God if you do, God will not accept that hypocrisy. God is resident in every heart so, if you serve any one, that service reaches God within him, it brings to you the Grace of God.

The grace of GOD is like insurance. It will help you in your time of need without any limit.

Life is the car, your heart is the key and God is the chauffeur.

God is not so far away. He is not in the heavens above, nor in hell below. He is always near you.

On Praying:

Praying is your task what happens to the prayer is dependent on the Grace of God.

On Love:

PLATONIC, adj. Pertaining to the philosophy of Socrates. Platonic Love is a fool’s name for the affection between a disability and a frost.

On Life:

The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them up.

On Death:

Death is not the end. There remains the litigation over the estate.

ORPHAN, n. A living person whom death has deprived of the power of filial ingratitude …

On Happiness:

Future. That period of time in which our affairs prosper, our friends are true and our happiness is assured.

On Success:

Success is the one unpardonable sin against our fellows.

On God:

PANTHEISM, n. The doctrine that everything is God, in contradistinction to the doctrine that God is everything.

On Kindness:

He that has done you a kindness will be more ready to do you another, than he whom you yourself have obliged.

On Life:

Do not squander time for that is the stuff life is made of.

A long life may not be good enough, but a good life is long enough.

Life is rather a state of embryo, a preparation for life A man is not completely born till he has passed through death.

On Success:

Success has ruind many a man.

Would you live with ease, do what you should, and not what you please. Success has ruined many a man.

On Honesty:

Honesty is the best policy.

On Courage:

Without justice, courage is weak.

On Knowledge:

To be proud of knowledge is to be blind with light.

Furnished as all Europe now is with Academies of Science, with nice instruments and the spirit of experiment, the progress of human knowledge will be rapid and discoveries made of which we have at present no conception. I begin to be almost sorry I was born so soon, since I cannot have the happiness of knowing what will be known a hundred years hence.

On God:

God will certainly reward virtue and punish vice, either here or hereafter.

The most acceptable service of God is doing good to man.

When a religion is good, I conceive that it will support, itself and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it, so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, ’tis a sign, I apprehend, of its

Serving God is doing good to man, but praying is thought an easier service and therefore more generally chosen.

Keep thou from the Opportunity, and God will keep thee from the Sin.

On Religion:

When a religion is good, I conceive that it will support, itself and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it, so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, ’tis a sign, I apprehend, of its

I think vital religion has always suffered when orthodoxy is more regarded than virtue. The scriptures assure me that at the last day we shall not be examined on what we thought but what we did.

On Christianity:

He who shall introduce into public affairs the principle of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world.

On Praying:

Serving God is doing good to man, but praying is thought an easier service and therefore more generally chosen.

On Love:

Love is only one of many passions.

Love is the wisdom of the fool and the folly of the wise.

Love has no great influences upon the sum of life.

Self-love is often rather arrogant than blind it does not hide our faults from ourselves, but persuades us that they escape the notice of others.

On Kindness:

Getting money is not all a man’s business: to cultivate kindness is a valuable part of the business of life.

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.

On Life:

Human life is everywhere a state in which much is to be endured, and little to be enjoyed.

Life is a progress from want to want, not from enjoyment to enjoyment.

Life is not long, and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent.

The happiest part of a man’s life is what he passes lying awake in bed in the morning.

The love of life is necessary to the vigorous prosecution of any undertaking.

God Himself, sir, does not propose to judge a man until his life is over. Why should you and I.

Life is short. The sooner that a man begins to enjoy his wealth the better.

Life will not bear refinement. You must do as other people do.

The joy of life is variety the tenderest love requires to be renewed by intervals of absence.

The whole of life is but keeping away the thoughts of death.

We took tea, by Boswell’s desire and I eat one bun, I think, that I might not be seen to fast ostentatiously. When I find that so much of my life has stolen unprofitably away, and that I can descry by retrospection scarcely a few single days properly and vigorously employed, why do I yet try to resolve again I try, because reformation is necessary and despair is criminal. I try, in humble hope of the help of God.

There are multitudes whose life is nothing but a continuous lottery who are always within a few months of plenty and happiness, and how often soever they are mocked with blanks, expect a prize from the next adventure.

Life has no pleasure higher or nobler than that of friendship

He that embarks on the voyage of life will always wish to advance rather by the impulse of the wind than the strokes of the oar and many fold in their passage while they lie waiting for the gale.”

That kind of life is most happy which affords us most opportunities of gaining our own esteem.

On Happiness:

There is no private house in which people can enjoy themselves so well as at a capital tavern… No, Sir; there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.

There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern.

We are long before we are convinced that happiness is never to be found, and each believes it possessed by others, to keep alive the hope of obtaining it for himself.

Happiness is nothing if it is not known, And very little if it is not envied.

Such is the constitution of man that labor may be styled its own reward nor will any external incitements be requisite, if it be considered how much happiness is gained, and how much misery escaped, by frequent and violent agitation of the body

On Honesty:

Honesty is not greater where elegance is less.

On Fear:

Fear is implanted in us as a preservative from evil but its duty, like that of other passions, is not to overbear reason, but to assist it. It should not be suffered to tyrannize

On Courage:

Courage is the greatest of all virtues, because if you haven’t courage, you may not have an opportunity to use any of the others.

Courage is a quality so necessary for maintaining virtue, that it is always respected, even when it is associated with vice.

On Learning:

Their learning is like bread in a besieged town every man gets a little, but no man gets a full meal.

On Knowledge:

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.

Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.

All knowledge is of itself of some value. There is nothing so minute or inconsiderable, that I would not rather know it than not.

Knowledge is more than equivalent to force. The master of mechanics laughs at strength.

Man is not weak knowledge is more than equivalent to force.

More knowledge may be gained of a man’s real character by a short conversation with one of his servants than from a formal and studied narrative, begun with his pedigree and ended with his funeral.

On Christianity:

Christianity is the highest perfection of humanity.