Zunaed

“আমি সব দেবতারে ছেড়ে
আমার প্রাণের কাছে চলে আসি,
বলি আমি এই হৃদয়েরে -
সে কেন জলের মত ঘুরে ঘুরে একা কথা কয়?”
― Jibanananda Das

“When a judge walks into the room, and everybody stands up, you’re not standing up to that guy, you’re standing up to the robe that he’s wearing and the role that he’s going to play. What makes him worthy of that role is his integrity, as a representative of the principles of that role, and not some group of prejudices of his own. So what you’re standing up to is a mythological character. I imagine some kings and queens are the most stupid, absurd, banal people you could run into, probably interested only in horses and women, you know. But you’re not responding to them as personalities, you’re responding to them in their mythological roles. When someone becomes a judge, or President of the United States, the man is no longer that man, he’s the representative of an eternal office; he has to sacrifice his personal desires and even life possibilities to the role that he now signifies.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

“When the Buddha declares there is escape from sorrow, the escape is Nirvana, which is not a place, like heaven, but a psychological state of mind in which you are are released from desire and fear. And your life becomes harmonious, centered and affirmative. Even with suffering.

The Buddhists speak of the bodhisattva - the one who knows immortality, yet voluntarily enters into the field of the fragmentation of time and participates willingly and joyfully in the sorrows of the world.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

“বুকের ওপর দুটো হাত জড়ো করে মার খাওয়া মানুষ যখন বলে-- মুঠোয় কি আছে দেখতে চেও না, দোহাই তোমাদের, এ তোমাদের কোন কাজে লাগবে না, সারা জীবনের সঞ্চয় শুধু এইটুকুই, এই সামান্য স্বপ্নটুকুই...
তখন ধরে নিতে হয় সে বেঁচে আছে কেবল স্মৃতির ওপর!
তারচেয়ে নির্বিষ, তারচেয়ে নিরাপদ জানোয়ার আর কে?”
― Mahmudul Haque, কালো বরফ