Here are a couple of inspiring lines from William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, with some commentary.
Poem: Cowards die many times before their deaths
To your success.

From India, Ghaziabad
Er. Prafulla K Acharya, Ph.D. in HRD & Mgt (IIT-Kgp), Retd Director NPC India
, and , Cell +919437022040
I liked the quotation from Julius Caesar read as my course book in my BA(Hons) course during late sixties.
Such immortal dramas like Macbeth, Romeo Juliet should be more in use for young boys and girls to read leaving too much net/facebook etc use.

From India, Bhubaneswar
I second your sentiment, Mr.Acharya. Same same.
That is why I am reviving old works and pointing out the gems in them. I'll keep doing it and people will start to realize what depths these works have.

From India, Ghaziabad
Hello Mr Sathyaish,

Just now I located your posting made last year on Julius Caesar.



Cowards die many times before their deaths;

The valiant never taste of death but once.

Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,

It seems to me most strange that men should fear;

Seeing that death, a necessary end,

Will come when it will come.


Great verses with excellent depth.

The poet initially speaks of bravery and salute the brave who die only once.

Then he brings home the point on the fear of death, the inevitable.

In classical English, when someone had to make a comparison with certainty of any event,

the popular phrase used was AS SURE AS DEATH. Hardly seen these days.

Our great epic Mahabarata has many small anecdotes rolled into its fold.

These are brought out by erudite scholars, when they give the commentary on the epic.

YAKSHA PRASHAN is one such episode.

As the story goes Yama tests Yudhishtir’s adherence to Dharma.

In the plot described Yudhishtir is horrified to find all his brothers dead near a pond.

An Oracle (Yama) stops him saying that he could drink the water only after answering his questions.

Yudhishtir agrees and what follows is a dialogue par excellence.

One of the questions asked is “What is the biggest wonder in this world?’

Yudishtir answers that the biggest wonder is about people believing and behaving

as if death is only for others and nothing do with them.

Indeed death is a wonder and makes many people think differently about it.

I would also like to share with the readers Mahatma Gandhi’s last letter.

The text of the letter can be found in a museum at Baroda.

It is written by Gandhiji to a friend in Madras ( now Chennai).

He is trying to console his friend who had lost someone close to him.

If I remember the line correctly “ Death is close friend of ours whom many of us forget”.

What an irony it is to be found in his last letter, a few days before he fell to an assassin.

V.Raghunathan………………………………………………………………Navi Mumbai

From India
That was one of my favorite stories from the Mahabharata, Mr. Raghunathan. Thank you for sharing it. It reminded me of my old self.
I'm glad to learn about our common interest in Shakespeare and the old classics. I hope to read more of your posts.

From India, Ghaziabad
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