ADVICE TO A SON

                    ADVICE TO A SON

            ‘ADVICE TO A SON’ is an extract from a tragic play known as HAMLET. It was written by the English playwright, poet and actor William Shakespeare who was born on 23 April 1564 and died on 23 April 1616. 

            He is still regarded as one of  the greatest writers in English literature. He wrote 39 plays, 154 sonnets, and 3 long narrative poems besides a few other verses.

            None of his plays has become obsolete till today.

            The advice given in the above- mentioned extract from Hamlet , Act I, Sc. 3  is eternally true. Read it, remember it, and adopt it because It is replete with everlasting  practical wisdom.

            Here is the full text:                      

           

            ADVICE TO A SON

           

            “Give thy thoughts no tongue,

Nor any unproportion’d thought his act,

Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar;

 

The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,

Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel ;

But do not dull thy palm with entertainment

Of each new-hatch’d, unfledg’d comrade.

 

Beware

Of entrance to a quarrel, but, being in,

Bear’t that th’ opposed may beware of thee.

 

Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice;

 

Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment.

 

Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,

But not express’d in fancy, rich, not gaudy;

For the apparel oft proclaims the man.

And they in France of the best rank and station

Are most select and generous, chief in that.        

Neither a borrower, nor a lender be ;

For loan oft loses both itself and friend,

And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.

 

This above all : to thine own self be true,

And it must follow, as the night the day,

Thou canst not then be false to any man.

                                    ********

 

G. R. Kanwal

15 October 2026

                                                                                               

TWENTYFIVE READABLE THOUGHTS

 

         

                   TWENTYFIVE READABLE THOUGHTS

1.     Friends can become foes and foes can become friends.

2.     Never use bad language even against your enemies.

3.     Big progress is the child of small steps.

4.     Discipline is the bridge between what we are and what we hope to be.

5.     Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible.

6.     Today’s dreams are tomorrow’s realities.

7.     Cowards die many a time in their life.

8.     Success which begins with failure seldom ends with it.

9.     Money opens the doors which have remained closed for a long time.

10.                         Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.

11.                          Where there is much light, the shadow is deep.

12.                         Self-caused pain needs self-made remedy.

13.                         Gratitude to God should be perpetual.

14.                         Hunger is the best sauce.

15.                         No legacy is so rich as honesty.

16.                         Be your own true friend.

17.                         Ideas don’t die soon.

18.                         Imagination is the eye of the soul.

19.                         The future is uncertain.

20.                         Science corrects the old deeds.

21.                         Even those who have eyes act as if they were blind.

22.                         Happiness is an occasional episode in the general drama of pain.

23.                        Love breeds love.

24.                         Hatred is a killer.

25.                         Knowledge is boundless, so is ignorance.

                                                ******

 

G.R. Kanwal

14 October 2026

 

COMMUNALISM

 

COMMUNALISM

            “Communalism” is defined as :”A strong sense of loyalty to the interests of one particular group, religious or ethnic, rather than to society as a whole.

            It can also be called : sectarianism or separatism or chauvinism.           

            The simplest antonym of communalism is “socialism” or “collectivism” or “secularism.”

            What follows is not an essay on communalism. It is just a short speech delivered by a character in a play titled The Merchant of Venice, Act 3,  Scene 1, written by the English poet-playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616).

            The name of the character is Shylock who is a Jew whose community  was then hated by the Christians.

            In the play his rival is Antonio, a Christian, who had taken loan from him  but could not repay on the fixed date mentioned  in the loan agreement. The violation of the agreed date promised a pound of flesh from the borrower’s body.

            Shylock is asked not to insist on this condition which is revengeful against Christians. But he is unwilling and delivers the following short protestation.

            “If it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and what’s his reason?

            “I am a Jew.

            “Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is?

            “If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die?

            “If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge.

“The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.

                                                            *******

G.R.Kanwal

13 October 2026

 

  

 

             

BRILLIANT THOUGHTS FOR YOU

 

BRILLIANT  THOUGHTS FOR YOU

1.     Give the devil his due.

2.     One can have a grey head over green shoulders.

3.     Development never stops.

4.     Old order changes yielding place to new.

5.     Pride brings disgrace; humility, wisdom.

6.     Demand for this day your daily bread.

7.     A kind heart is a fountain of gladness.

8.     God’s mill grinds slow but sure.

9.     Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labour does the body.

10.                         Prefer expression to repression.

11.                         No man tame the tongue; it is an unruly evil.

12.                         Strike while the iron is hot.

13.                         The wages of sin is death,

14.                         The more a man denies himself, the more he obtains from God.

15.                         Love thyself last.

16.                         Don’t blow your own trumpet.

17.                         Lawless are they that make their wills their law.

18.                         No person is a slave whose will is free.

19.                         Ignorance is the mother of suspicion.

20.                         Conceit puffs a man up, but never props him up.

21.                         Trust not him that has once broken faith.

22.                         The secret of success is constancy of purpose.

23.                         Troubles are often the tools by which God fashions us for better things.

24.                         Prayer is the song of the heart.

25.                         Honors are false delusions like the froth upon the wave.

26.                         Learning follows various roads.

27.                         He who has not looked on sorrow will never see joy.

28.                         The thirst of soul is sweeter than the wine of material things.

29.                         Heard melodies are sweet those unheard are sweeter.

30.                         It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.-----Saint Augustine.

                                                ********

G.R.Kanwal

12 October 2026  

 

TOYS ARE OUR JOYS

 

                               

 

                                                TOYS ARE OUR JOYS

 

 

            A toy is defined as ‘any object that is primarily used to provide entertainment, play, or amusement.’

 

            It is not only children who play with different kinds of toys according to their age and taste thereof. Adults also play with toys that amuse, entertain, and enlighten them.

 

            In fact human beings need toys to pass their time joyfully till the last moment of their life.  

 

            To punish children to play with toys for their physical and mental entertainment is sinful.  

 

            Given below is a poem “The Toys” written  by the English poet and literary critic Coventry Patmore (1823-1896). It uses  “a father’s moment of harshness toward his motherless young son to explore parental guilt, human flaw, and the boundless forgiving mercy of God.”

 

            Metaphorically,  “the toys synbolise  the petty, worldly distractions, status, and material pursuits that humans obsess over.” The text of the poem follows:  

                               

                                    The Toys

My  little Son, who look'd from thoughtful eyes

And moved and spoke in quiet grown-up wise,

Having my law the seventh time disobey'd,

I struck him, and dismiss'd

With hard words and unkiss'd,       

—His Mother, who was patient, being dead.

Then, fearing lest his grief should hinder sleep,

I visited his bed,

But found him slumbering deep,

With darken'd eyelids, and their lashes yet 

From his late sobbing wet.

And I, with moan,

Kissing away his tears, left others of my own;

For, on a table drawn beside his head,

He had put, within his reach,

A box of counters and a red-vein'd stone,

A piece of glass abraded by the beach,

And six or seven shells,

A bottle with bluebells,

And two French copper coins, ranged there with careful art,

To comfort his sad heart.

So when that night I pray'd

To God, I wept, and said:

Ah, when at last we lie with trancèd breath,

Not vexing Thee in death, 

And Thou rememberest of what toys

We made our joys,

How weakly understood

Thy great commanded good,

Then, fatherly not less

Than I whom Thou hast moulded from the clay,

Thou'lt leave Thy wrath, and say,

'I will be sorry for their childishness.'

                                    *******

G.R.Kanwal

11 October 2026

                       

 

DESIRES

 

                DESIRES

            A desire is a strong wish. To desire is to want something of your choice. Te true meaning of desire is explained as : a strong conscious impulse or longing for something that promises enjoyment, satisfaction, or the fulmilment of a perceived need.

            Desires are not static. They are dynamic and multiply day after day. One desire whether satisfied or still unsatisfied begets another.

            Lord Buddha considered desires as a major cause of unhappiness.

            Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) said: Our desires and motives may be divided into two classes ---selfish and unselfish. All selfish desires are immoral, while the desire to improve ourselves, for the sake of doing good to others, is truly moral.

            He also said: We have within us both good and bad desires. It is our duty to cultivate the former and to suppress or eradicate the latter, and if we fail therein, we should remain brutes though born men.  

            Some synonyms of desire must be always kept in mind . They are: craving, passion, longing, lust, yearning, and eagerness.

                        Given below are some quotes on desire.

*First deserve then desire.

*The thirst of desire is never filled, nor fully satisfied.---Cicero, Roman statesman (106 BC-43 BC).

*Some desire is necessary to keep life in motion; he whose real wants are supplied, must admit those of fancy.---Samuel Johnson, English writer (709-1784).

*The stoical schemes of supplying our wants by lopping off our desires , is like cutting off our feet when we want shoes.----Jonathan Swift, Irish writer (1688-1744).

*In moderating, not in satisfying desires, lies peace.---Reginald HEBER , English bishop (1783-1826)

*Unlawful desires are punished after the effect of enjoying; but impossible desires are punished in the desire itself. ----Sir Philip Sidney. English , courtier, soldier and poet (1554-1586).

                                                                        *******

G.R.Kanwal

10 October 2026

 

THE IMPORTANCE OF MONEY

 

                                THE IMPORTANCE OF MONEY

            Money is defined as ‘the means of paying for something or buying something.’ Another definition is ‘any item, record, or system that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services, repayment of debts, and measurement of economic value.’ One more definition is very simple but profound. It is: Money is that money does.” It stands for what it accomplishes in an economy.

            In short, money is a medium of exchange.

            Some synonyms of money are : cash, hard cash, capital, wealth, riches, affluence, assets, resources, currency, funds, and finance.

            The phrase money power is used to indicate its capacity to facilitate trade and have resources to influence socio-political systems.

            If you have money you command power and respect.

            Money without manliness is worthless.

            Given below are a number of quotes on money.

*Money does not grow on trees.

*Time is money.     

*Money talks,

*Money makes the mare go.

*Money can’t happiness.

*Man-making education is better than money-making education.

*The best things in life are free. Example: Air.

*Beggars can’t  be choosers.

* A fool and his money are soon parted.

* Money is the root of all evil.

*Neither a borrower nor a lender be.

*It takes money to make money.

*The English poet Lord Byron said: Ready money is Aladdin’s lamp.

*Money is not required to buy one necessity of the soul ---American writer Henry David Thoreau.

*Money is life blood of the nation.---Irish writer Jonathan Swift (1688-1744).  

            Finally: There is a vast difference in one’s respect for the man who has made himself, and the man who has only made money.----English novelist Dinah Maria Mulock (1826-87).

A LETTER BY JOHN KEATS

 

                A LETTER BY JOHN KEATS

            John Keats was English poet. He was born on 31 October 1795 and died on 23 February 1821.

            He was a patient of tuberculosis which became the cause of his death at a very young age.

             His like-minded  friends were Percy English poets Bysshe Shelley  (1792-1822) and Lord Byron. (1788-1824).

            Keats wrote great poetry. Some of his poems are simple but very  meaningful.

            He wrote a number of odes which are immortal. Two of them are Ode To Autumn and Ode On A Grecian Urn .

            Ode To Autumn begins with the lines:

            Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness !

            Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun.

Unlike other poets, Keats appreciated autumn:

            “Where are the songs of Spring? Ay,where are they?

            Think not of them, thou hast thy music too.

 

A long poem Endymion begins with the line:

            A thing of beauty is a joy for ever.

 

The Ode On A Grecian Urn ends with these lines:

Beauty is truth, truth beauty,---that is all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.   

 

            The text of the letter mentioned in the title is as follows. It was addressed to his friend Benjamin, November 22, 1817.

            “….I am certain of nothing but of the holiness of the Heart’s affections and the truth of imagination---What the imagination seizes as Beauty must be truth---whether it existed before or not---for I have the same Idea of all our Passions as of Love they are all in their sublime, creative of essential Beauty, …..The Imagination may be compared to Adam’s dream----he awoke and found it truth. I have never yet been able to perceive how any thing can be known for truth by consequitive reasoning…we shall enjoy ourselves here after by having what we called happiness on Earth repeated in a finer tone and so repeated ---And yet such a fate can only befall those who delight in sensation rather than hunger as you do after Truth---Adam’s dream will do here and seems to be a conviction that Imagination and its empyreal reflection is the same as human Life and its spiritual repetition.

                                                            ******

G. R. Kanwal

8^th October 2026

 

 

 

TWENTY RANDOM THOUGHTS

 

TWENTY  RANDOM THOUGHTS

“Random thoughts”are sudden and unplanned. They may not be deep, yet they are interesting. Some of them may turn out to be unforgettable and become valuable quotes. Here are twenty examples.

1.     Success is not always better than failure.

2.     Doubt is not always incorrect.

3.      Nothing is not always nothing.

4.     Even a stupid person can be admirable.

5.     One plus one do not always make two.

6.     Why should we thank God when life is full of suffering.

7.     We don’t die. In fact, we kill ourselves.

8.     Pain is superior to pleasure.

9.     Time is both kind and cruel.

10.                         Prefer tears to laughter.

11.                         Failure is not always a curse.

12.                         Donkeys also deserve to be praised.

13.                         Some people are afraid of themselves.

14.                         Idleness is also a blessing.

15.                         I have understood the meaning of life but cannot describe it.

16.                         Build castles in the air before you build them on land.

17.                         Dreams are not always dreams. They are the step brothers of realities.

18.                          One can pretend to be busy even if one is doing nothing.

19.                         Fools are not always fools as in Shakespeare’s King Lear.

20.                         The world is ageless.

                                                *******

G.R.Kanwal

7^th October 2026

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A LOVE SONNET BY SHAKESPEARE

 

A LOVE SONNET BY SHAKESPEARE

            William Shakespeare was one of the greatest poets and playwrights of England. He was born on 23 April 1564 and died on 23 April 1616. He wrote 39 plays and154 sonnets. All of them are still fresh all over the world.

            Some of his most famous plays are Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, and Julius Caesar.

            His sonnets (14-lines poems) are mostly on love, beauty, and time. They were first published together in 1609.

                 Shakespeare’s rank in world literature has continued to rise. He is even today regarded as “the greatest dramatist of all time and the pre-eminent writer in the English language.” 

            The English poet and cultural critic Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) said:

                        Others abide our question. Thou art free.

                        We ask and ask ---Thou smilest and art still,

                        Out-topping knowledge. For the loftiest hill,

                        Who to the stars uncrowns his majesty.         

           

            According to another critic : The real Shakespeare is concealed in his works. There alone are to be found the exuberant genius, the deep psychological insight, the beauty and imagery of his poetic imagination.

 

            Here is the text of the love sonnet mentioned in the title above:

 

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments. Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove : --

O no ! it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests, and is never shaken :

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth’s unknown,, although his height be taken.

 

Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle’s compass come :

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out ev’n to the edge of doom,

If this be error, and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

                                                *******

G.R.Kanwal

6^th October 2026