Skip to content
quotesby

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free Where the world has not been broken up into fragments By narrow domestic walls Where words come out from the depth of truth Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit Where the mind is led forward by thee Into ever-widening thought and action Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Rabindranath Tagore#9

FreedomSocietyKnowledgeCountryReason

About this quote

What does it mean?
A vision of freedom where minds are fearless, knowledge is free, and reason overcomes habit. It calls for a country to awaken into this state.
In plain terms
Imagine a land with no fear, free knowledge, and reason leading to freedom.
What can you take from it?
Strive for a society based on fearless thought, free knowledge, and reason.

Where it applies

  • political speech
  • social reform
  • national identity

Putting it to work

  • advocate education
  • challenge fear
  • promote rational thought

Questions to consider

  • What does freedom mean to your country?
  • Is knowledge truly free?

Another view

This idealized vision may not address structural inequalities in practice.

More from Rabindranath Tagore

  1. In this playhouse of infinite forms I have had my play, and here have I caught sight of him that is formless. ~ 96

    Permalink to quote #8
  2. All the great utterances of man have to be judged not by the letter but by the spirit - the spirit which unfolds itself with the growth of life in history.

    Permalink to quote #10
  3. * The smile that flickers on baby's lips when he sleeps- does anybody know where it was born? Yes, there is a rumor that a young pale beam of a crescent moon t…

    Permalink to quote #7

Related quotes

  1. If the human intellect is allowed to impose a preconceived pattern on society, if our powers of reasoning are allowed to lay claim to a monopoly of creative ef…

    Friedrich HayekFriedrich Hayek quote #4
  2. So long as you are a slave to the opinions of the many you have not yet approached freedom or tasted its nectar: But I do not mean by this that we ought to be …

    JulianJulian quote #7
  3. This book raises issues that might not be apparent from the table of contents. It sketches some of the difficulties faced by our civilization - a civilization …

    Karl PopperKarl Popper quote #21