Humanist Poetry Quotes

“Love alone brings order eternal,
Order brought by law is shortlived.
Only selfless lovers make good lawmakers,
All others are just playing make belief.

Let love come as apocalypse and wipe out,
All that is rigid, all that is prehistoric.
Welcome love into your life as a purifying force,
Let it bring you to life anew and terrific.

Life is terrific when life has love but,
To have love and to have lover ain't the same.
Lover isn't one who has someone to love them back,
But one who radiates love,
despite living in drought without rain.

None knows the value of rain,
But the land of eternal drought.
None knows the value of love,
But the heart that loves despite hurt.

Only the one who knows pain,
Can love another without gain.
Only the heart that knows hurt,
Can help another without rain.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Amor Apocalypse: Canım Sana İhtiyacım

“Faith is subordinate to love,
Philosophy is subordinate to love,
Science is subordinate to love.
Until you feel it in your bones,
You've got plenty dust to wash off.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Amor Apocalypse: Canım Sana İhtiyacım

“Human, human, human,
that is all we ever are.
Not humanist, not socialist,
just carers of each other.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“Whatever I wear is fashion,
Whatever I speak is law.
However I behave is religion,
My presence puts space-time in awe.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Her Insan Ailem: Everyone is Family, Everywhere is Home

“Run a layer of skin smoothening on a picture,
And it enhances the quality of the picture.
Run the smoothening more than is necessary,
And you ruin the very life of the picture.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Her Insan Ailem: Everyone is Family, Everywhere is Home

“Run a layer of skin smoothening on a picture,
And it enhances the quality of the picture.
Run the smoothening more than is necessary,
And you ruin the very life of the picture.

Likewise, logical thinking in moderation,
Enhances the quality of life.
But practice logic beyond proportion,
And you ruin the sweetness of life.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Her Insan Ailem: Everyone is Family, Everywhere is Home

“Conform to no inkling ancestral,
Conform to no habit historical.
Conform to no force external,
Submit only to love universal.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşk Mafia: Armor of The World

“Human is born, not when the water breaks,
Human is born, when the bias breaks.
Person grows, not when the body grows,
But when the mind outgrows fear and prejudices.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşk Mafia: Armor of The World

“What’s The Difference (Sonnet 1037)

If a scientist has no humility,
what's the difference between
a scientist and a computer!
If a doctor has no warmth,
what's the difference between
a doctor and a butcher!

If a teacher has no curiosity,
what's the difference between
a teacher and a circus trainer!
If a filmmaker has no originality,
what's the difference between
a filmmaker and a photocopier!

If a cop cannot practice self-correction,
what's the difference between
a cop and an executioner!
If a theologian has no integrative spirit,
what's the difference between
a theologian and a mumbling parrot!

If a modern human cannot balance reason and warmth,
what's the difference between a sentient human
and a creature from the swamp!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşk Mafia: Armor of The World

“To name me is to maim me,
To inflame me is to inhale me.
In a world so native yet foreign,
I am just a Visvadesi (global native).”
― Abhijit Naskar, Vande Vasudhaivam: 100 Sonnets for Our Planetary Pueblo

“Sonnet 1103

Our ancestors are not the boss of us,
Life must be dictated by living conscience.
Dead people may have the right to make suggestions,
But they do not have the right to issue mandates.

Our ancestors belong in history books,
Our descendants belong in comic books.
Only we are alive to belong here and now,
Don't waste that life, submissive to books.

Too much involvement in the past cripples your present,
The same is true with too much involvement in the future.
If you are oblivious to the human condition of now and here,
Ignorance and intellect will equally end up causing disaster.

Use past and future as markers of direction,
But never as authority on living tradition.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Vande Vasudhaivam: 100 Sonnets for Our Planetary Pueblo

“Intellect is not the answer,
Belief is not the answer.
These only amplify what we really are,
Good becomes great, jerk becomes jerker.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Vande Vasudhaivam: 100 Sonnets for Our Planetary Pueblo

“You are sanity, you are sentience,
You are the lifeforce of destiny.
You are conscience, you are concord,
You are the end of animosity.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Vande Vasudhaivam: 100 Sonnets for Our Planetary Pueblo

“Our mutual vulnerability is our greatest strength,
Across all insecurity let us be vulnerable together.
In hopelessness we are each other's compass,
In vulnerability we are each other's vigor.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Vande Vasudhaivam: 100 Sonnets for Our Planetary Pueblo

“United we are alive,
Divided we are dead.
Integrated we're lovers,
Divided we are duffers.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Vande Vasudhaivam: 100 Sonnets for Our Planetary Pueblo

“Vande Vasudhaivam Sonnet 68

Don't be fooled by my attire,
You think of me a fool because
I want you to think of me a fool.
I am a behaviorist, and by behaving idiot
I study who's true, who's a tool.

I don't dress all ancient like a monk,
yet monks come to hear the words I utter.
I don't dress fancy like world leaders,
yet world leaders look to me for answer.

I don't wear the uniform of law,
yet coppers study me to be better cops.
I never got to put on a white coat,
yet white coats study me to be better docs.

I am the person beyond the paradigm,
I am but a reflection of the best of humankind.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Vande Vasudhaivam: 100 Sonnets for Our Planetary Pueblo

“Love who you like,
Wear what you like.
Have kids when you like,
Above all, live as you like.
Only thing that matters is that,
You don't fan the flames of hurt.
The only gospel of life is that,
There is no other gospel but love.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Mucize Misafir Merhaba: The Peace Testament

“First Language (The Sonnet)

English is my second language,
My first language is love.
Neuroscience is my second sense,
My first sense is love.

Theology is my second faith,
My first faith is interfaith.
Philosophy is my second nature,
My first nature is to assimilate.

Analog is my second passion,
My first passion is dialogue.
Law is my second task, my first,
Is taking beings out of the bog.

All labels are second labels,
Our native label is human.
All tradition is second tradition,
Earth's native tradition is compassion.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat

“All labels are second labels,
Our native label is human.
All tradition is second tradition,
Earth's native tradition is compassion.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat

“English is my second language,
My first language is love.
Neuroscience is my second sense,
My first sense is love.
Theology is my second faith,
My first faith is interfaith.
Philosophy is my second nature,
My first nature is to assimilate.
All labels are second labels,
Our native label is human.
All tradition is second tradition,
Earth's native tradition is compassion.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat

“Human am I, Human are you,
Difference in-between is pure fiction.
Alive am I, alive are you,
Real death of life is in separation.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“There is a bridge from my heart to yours,
But you won't fathom it with all the words.
Oneness is a bridge revealed in silence,
Can you hear the pitter-patter of teardrops!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission

“Space may be the final frontier,
But heart is the first frontier.
Unless we first conquer the heart,
We'll turn the cosmos into dumpyard.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavictor: Kanima Akiyor Kainat

“Intolerance is a worldwide pandemic,
only terminologies vary culture to culture.
Vaccine for the mightiest swords of hate,
is the gentle glint of one heart, hatebuster.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tum Dunya Tek Millet: Greatest Country on Earth is Earth

“Brain's death is death of the body,
Heart's death is death of the being.
Kindness keeps the being alive
long after the heart stops beating.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Vande Vasudhaivam: 100 Sonnets for Our Planetary Pueblo

“Animal we fall, human we fly.
All else save humanity,
is a glorified lie.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Insan Himalayanoğlu: It's Time to Defect

“For every existence wasted in unexistence,
Civilization is set back a hundred years.
Object of existence is the unfolding of life,
Not the worship of spiritless structures.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Yarasistan: My Wounds, My Crown

“Only Bow to Love (Sonnet 1360)

I don't bow to truth,
Truth is my toy.
I don't bow to science,
Science is my toy.
I don't bow to law,
Law is my slave.
I don't bow to wealth,
All wealth end in ashes.
I don't bow to no constitution,
I pen constitutions in my sleep.
No holy writ is my authority,
I pour out holiness on a daily basis.
I am love, I only bow to love.
Till I sleep, everyday I fall anew.
Facts, faith, law, go get in line.
When I see fit, I'll call you.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“I am love, I only bow to love.
Till I sleep, everyday I fall anew.
Facts, faith, law, go get in line.
When I see fit, I'll call you.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“All Fergusson's verses, indeed all humanist verse, has within it an eligiac seam; always present beneath the surface is the assumption that the world is imperfect, that it has fallen from grace. As with the disintegrating Tory ideal in the country, there is in Fergusson's poetry an ideal, imagined city of the past, hopelessly toppling as the new Babylon lays down its foundations: city of chaos, dirt, noise, broken communication, luxury, disorder. In essence the poet follows in his representation the timeless humanist imperative, attempting 'to create order out of disorder, and to make sense of life'. Hallow-Fair and Leith Races to a degree make just such a clear demarcation between the two cities of past and present in their thesis - antithesis structures. The two cities embody two different Scottish cultures: Auld Reekie, the pastoral, civilised, humanist culture; and Edina, the Athens of the North, but more often, Babylon, the counter-pastoral, brutal, Whig culture. Hallow-Fair, Leith Races, The Election, The King's Birth-Day in Edinburgh, satirise the new Babylon; the poems of this group celebrate an older Scotland, and Auld Reekie, in the same eligiac vein as The Daft Days. Yet, as we have seen, the poet, at times, undermines too rigorous a humanist position: demarcations are not all that clear; ideals don't always elevate the human codition; the endless wheel of change and creativity, diversity and unrest, may be forging themselves into a new order.”
― F.W. Freeman, Robert Fergusson and the Scots Humanist Compromise