Q0470
Rabindranath Tagore
A verified English rendering from the curated archive.
English
The world has kissed my soul with its pain, asking for its return in songs.
Source context
This English passage is associated with Gitanjali, within the tradition of Modern Indian Thought. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.
A short reading
Read in the register of philosophy, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In Rabindranath Tagore's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?
How to cite this quotation
APA: Rabindranath Tagore. (n.d.). The world has kissed my soul with its pain, asking for its return in songs. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0470
MLA: Rabindranath Tagore. “The world has kissed my soul with its….” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0470.
Chicago: Rabindranath Tagore. “The world has kissed my soul with its….” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0470.