“We do not want our civilization done away with, and European civilization brought in—we want the old framework of Indian civilization reconstructed and new life put into it.”

Arguing for renewal within Indian culture rather than its replacement by European models · Letter to Laurence Binyon, October 1887

• Change
• Culture
• Tradition

“Often I go at day-break to stand and see the sun rise out of the mist and water, drinking the silence of the fresh air, the divine earliness of morning.”

Revealing the poet's contemplative delight in silence, landscape and the freshness of dawn · Letter to Laurence Binyon from Calcutta, c. 1897

• Nature
• Silence
• Wonder

“Anything would be better than the soul-killing routine of a Professor's life.”

A memorable expression of the strain he felt between institutional work and the life of the imagination · Letter to Rabindranath Tagore, 17 October 1898

• Education
• Freedom
• Work