Kalidasa

“A graceful arch of brows above great eyes;Lips bathed in darting, smiling light that fliesReflected from white teeth; a mouth as redAs red karkandhu-fruit; love’s brightness shedO’er all her face in bursts of liquid charm—The picture speaks, with living beauty warm.”

“I treated her with scorn and loathing ever;    Now o’er her pictured charms my heart will burst: A traveller I, who scorned the mighty river,    And seeks in the mirage to quench his thirst.”

“A good man never lets grief get the upper hand. The mountains are calm even in a tempest.”

“To be a king, is to be a disappointed man.”

“I cannot taste the sweet, and cannot leave it.”

“It is just such women, selfish, sweet, false, that entice fools.”

“अनुभवति हि मूर्ध्ना पादपस्तीव्रमुष्णं ।शमयति परितापं छायया संश्रितानाम् ॥”

“The mind of age is like a lamp    Whose oil is running thin; One moment it is shining bright,    Then darkness closes in.”

“Because your heart, by loving fancies blinded,    Has scorned a guest in pious life grown old, Your lover shall forget you though reminded,    Or think of you as of a story told.”

“May lily-dotted lakes delight your eye;    May shade-trees bid the heat of noonday cease; May soft winds blow the lotus-pollen nigh;    May all your path be pleasantness and peace.”

“A bee may be born in a hole in a tree, but she likes the honey of the lotus.”

“Be brave, and check the rising tears That dim your lovely eyes.”

“What is intended to be said, if left unsaid, becomes a matter of regret later.”

“Grief must be shared to be endured.”

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

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

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

“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.”

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

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