Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
But to be young was very heaven!
– William Wordsworth, The French Revolution as It Appeared to Enthusiasts at Its Commencement

Bas ki dushwar hai har kaam ka aasan hona
Aadmi ko nahin naseeb insaan hona
– Mirza Ghalib #

Phaila tha Maseeh-e-waqt ban kar
Simta to saleeb ho gaya hai
– Zulfi

I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life. And I am horribly limited. – Sylvia Plath

Before you heal someone, ask them if they’re willing to give up the things that made them sick.
– Hippocrates

Hum ko maloom hai jannat ki haqeeqat lekin
Dil ke khush rakhne ko, ‘Ghalib’, yeh khayaal achha hai
– Mirza Ghalib

Zahid sharaab peene de masjid mein baithkar
Ya vo jagah bata jahaan khuda na ho
– Mirza Ghalib

Chhat tapakti thi agarche, phir bhi aa jati thi neend,
Main naye ghar mein bahut roya puraane ke liye
– Zafar Gorakhpuri

Behtar dino ki aas lagaate hue ‘Habib’
Hum behtar din bhi ganwaate chale gaye
– Habib Amrohi

Main akela hi chala tha jaanib-e-manzil magar
Log saath aate gaye aur karvaan banta gaya
– Majrooh Sultanpuri

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.
– Paul McCartney, Two of Us

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but the seeds that you plant.
– R.L. Stevenson

Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder.
– Rumi

The wound is the place where the light enters you.
– Rumi

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I have tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
–Robert Frost #

Ishq ne ‘Ghalib’ nikamma kar diya
Warna hum bhi aadmi the kaam ke
– Mirza Ghalib

Hazaaron khwahishein aisi ke har khwahish pe dum nikle
Bahut nikle mere armaan lekin phir bhi kam nikle
– Mirza Ghalib

Come mothers and fathers Throughout the land And don’t criticise What you can’t understand Your sons and your daughters Are beyond your command Your old road is rapidly agin’ Please get out of the new one If you can’t lend your hand For the times they are a-changin’ – Bob Dylan