Indira gandhi quotes

The struggle for independence here has been conducted in equal measure by men and by women. And when we got our independence, no one forgot that. In the Western world, on the other hand, nothing of the kind has ever happened - women have participated, yes, but revolutions have always been made by men alone.

Now I don't get upset by unpleasant things, I don't play the victim, and I'm always ready to come to terms with life.

I am proud that I spent the whole of my life in the service of my people ... I shall continue to serve until my last breath and when I die, I can say, that every drop of my blood will invigorate India and strengthen it.

Sometimes friends are dangerous. We must be very careful about the help friends give us.

In any case, I married Feroze Gandhi. Once I get an idea in my head, no one in the world can make me change my mind.

My husband lived in Lucknow. My father lived in Delhi, of course. So I shuttled between Delhi and Lucknow and...naturally, if my husband needed me on days when I was in Delhi, I ran back to Lucknow. But if it was my father who needed me, on the days when I was in Lucknow. And...yes, my husband got angry. And he quarreled. We quarreled. We quarreled a lot. It's true.

We must protect families, we must protect children, who have inalienable rights and should be loved, should be taken care of physically and mentally, and should not be brought into the world only to suffer.

Forgiveness is the virtue of Brave.

Ability is not always gauged by examination.

Politics is the art of acquiring, holding, and wielding power.

When I was young, I was very selfish, now not any more.

I have certain objectives. They're the same objectives my father had to give people a higher standard of living, to do away with the cancer of poverty, to eliminate the consequences of economic backwardness.

Even under the British there were hostile groups. There were clashes. But, as we found out later, these were clashes provoked by those who had no wish to let us live together - on the eve of the Partition. The policy of keeping us divided was always followed by foreigners, even after the Partition. If Indians and Pakistanis had been together...I don't say as confederated countries but as neighboring and friendly countries...like Italy and France, for example ...believe me, both of us would have progressed much further.

You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose.

It is our duty to create a social milieu in which the young and the socially weak feel that the present and future belong to them.

For me the only point that has remained unchanged through the years is that in India there is still so much poverty.

The power to question is the basis of all human progress.

Nothing that is worthwhile is ever easy.

There is not love where there is no will.

Whenever you take a step forward, you are bound to disturb something.

How can anybody who is the head of a nation afford not to be a prag-matist?

In the Western world, women have no other choice. In India, no. And I'll explain the reason. It's a reason that also has to do with my own case. In India women have never been a hostile competition with men - even in the most distant past, every time a woman emerged as a leader, perhaps as a queen, the people accepted her. As something normal and not exceptional.

Nothing can convince me that people are at one with their work unless they're joyous about it.

I've never understood women who, because of their children, pose as victims and don't allow themselves any other activities.

Would you consider a man or a woman to be complicated? Is it that difficult to understand both the sexes? We say that we know what the other sex is all about, but is that really true? Perhaps the following witty, funny quotes and sayings can help simplify things down about men.

I don't mind if my life goes in the service of the nation. If I die, every drop of my blood will invigorate the nation.

If by happiness you mean ecstasy ... Yes, I've known ecstasy, and it's a blessing to be able to say it because those who can say it are very few. But ecstasy doesn't last long and is seldom if ever repeated.

I'm trained to difficulties; difficulties can't be eliminated from life.

It is legitimate to have one's own point of view and political philosophy. But there are people who make anger, rather than a deeply held belief, the basis of their actions. They do not seem to mind harming society as a whole in the pursuit of their immediate objective. No society can survive if it yields to the demands of frenzy, whether of the few or the many.

The civil servant is primarily the master of the short-term solution.

We have believed - and we do believe now - that freedom is indivisible, that peace is indivisible, that economic prosperity is indivisible

We would rather starve than sell our national honor.

I don't see the world as something divided between right and left.

Defeats are always pitiful. Victories are always last resources.

Dacca is now the free capital of a free country.

Every new experience brings its own maturity and a greater clarity of vision.

As I always say, I do not wish you an easy time, but I wish you that whatever difficulty you may have, you will overcome it.

My theory is that men are no more liberated than women.

To bear many children is considered not only a religious blessing but also an investment. The greater their number, some Indians reason, the more alms they can beg.

All my games were political games; I was, like Joan of Arc, perpetually being burned at the stake.

One must beware of ministers who can do nothing without money, and those who want to do everything with money.

Just when you think you've achieved something, you realize you've achieved nothing. And still you have to go forward just the same - toward a dream so distant that your road has neither beginning nor end.

I refuse to indulge in small talk. And compliments, if at all, I save for after the job is done.

Mankind will endure when the world appreciates the logic of diversity.

A lot of mythology arose after [Mahatma Gandhi] death. But the fact remains that he was an exceptional man, terribly intelligent, with tremendous intuition for people, and a great instinct for what was right.

I want to state that there will be friendship between Bangladesh and ourselves. And not a one-sided friendship, of course - no one does anything for nothing; each has something to give and something to take.

Not only Negroes and Jews, but also women are part of a great revolt of which one can only approve.

You said, 'Planning is something for communist countries; democracy and planning don't go together!' But, with all the errors we committed, our plans succeeded.

One day in 1965 Rajiv wrote me from London, where he was studying, and informed me, 'You're always asking me about girls, whether I have a special girl, and so forth. Well, I've met a special girl.' And when Rajiv returned to India, I asked him, 'Do you still think about her in the same way?' And he said yes. But she couldn't get married until she was twenty-one, and until she was sure she'd like to live in India. Sonia is almost completely an Indian by now, even though she doesn't always wear saris.

Without courage, you cannot practice any other virtue. You have to have courage - courage of different kinds: first, intellectual courage, to sort out different values and make up your mind about which is the one which is right for you to follow. You have to have moral courage to stick up to that - no matter what comes in your way, no matter what the obstacle and the opposition is.

Until the day she died, my mother continued to fight for the rights of women. She joined all the women's movements of the time; she stirred up a lot of revolts. She was a great woman, a great figure. Women today would like her immensely.

As a nation, I believe we've acquired faith in ourselves.

It's the same story as when we nationalized the banks. I'm not for nationalization because of the rhetoric of nationalization, or because I see in nationalization the cure-all for every injustice. I'm for nationalization in cases where it's necessary.

To be a mother, a housewife, never cost me any sacrifice - I savored every minute of those years.

I know you were surprised when, after the fall of Dacca, Pakistani and Indian officers shook hands. But do you realize that, up until 1965, in our army and the Pakistani one you could come across generals who were brothers? Blood brothers, sons of the same father and the same mother.

I think one should do what seems right. And if what seems right involves danger...well, one must risk the danger.

Rebels and non-conformists are often the pioneers and designers of change.

That's always been my philosophy. - I've never thought of the consequences of a necessary action.

My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition.

To become capable, one must have faith in oneself.

Life is a continuous process of adjustment.

Have a bias toward action - let's see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away.

The greatest of all contraceptives is affluence.

I was a perfect housewife. Being a mother has always been the job I liked best. Absolutely.

It depends on what you mean by the word religion. Certainly I don't go to temples and pray to the gods or anything like that.

Even if I died in the service of the nation, I would be proud of it. Every drop of my blood... will contribute to the growth of this nation and to make it strong and dynamic.

Martyrdom does not end something, it only a beginning.

If I die a violent death, as some fear and a few are plotting, I know that the violence will be in the thought and the action of the assassins, not in my dying.

You don't help a country by supporting a military regime that denies any sign of democracy, and what defeated Pakistan was its military regime.

Even today to be civilised is held to be synonymous with being westernised. Advanced countries devote large resources to formulating and spreading ideas and doctrines and they tend to impose on the developing nations their own norms and methods. The pattern of the classical acquisitive society with its deliberate multiplication of wants not only is unsuited to conditions in our countries but is positively harmful.

A nation' s strength ultimately consists in what it can do on its own, and not in what it can borrow from others.

The longer one doesn't write, the more difficult it is to communicate.

We always said that our struggle was not only against the British as representatives of colonialism, it was against all the evil that existed in India. The evil of the feudal system, the evil of the system based on caste, the evil of economic injustice.

When it's impossible, it's better to stoop to compromise, without resisting and without complaining. People who complain are selfish.

To me the function of politics is to make possible the desirable.

I cannot understand how anyone can be an Indian and not be proud.

Never forget that when we are silent, we are one. And when we speak we are two.

In all communities you find groups that behave badly. But you must understand them too.

My father was a saint. I'm not.

I went back into politics only when it was clear that things weren't going as they should have in my party. I was always arguing, I argued with everyone - with my father, with the leaders I had known since I was a child...and one day, it was in 1955, one of them exclaimed, 'You do nothing but criticize! If you think you can correct things, correct them. Go ahead, why don't you try?' Well, I could never resist a challenge, so I tried.

You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.

Have you ever climbed a mountain? You see, once you arrive at the top of a mountain, you think you've reached the highest point. But it's only an impression that doesn't last long.

The future doesn't frighten me, even if it threatens to be full of other difficulties.

I fall in love with anything I do and I always try to do it well.

Women sometimes go too far, it's true. But it's only when you go too far that others listen.

Life is always full of dangers and I don't think one should avoid dangers.

In all societies that have applied a form of socialism, a certain degree of social economic equality has been achieved.

The purpose of life is to believe, to hope, and to strive.

Without peace there can be no prosperity for any people, rich or poor. And yet, there can be no peace without erasing the harshness of the growing contrast between the rich and the poor.

As my father [Javāharlāl Nehrū] said, you have to keep an open mind, but you have to pour something into it - otherwise ideas slip away like sand between your fingers.

I began to travel by myself, in Europe, when I was eight years old. At that age I was already on the move between India and Swizerland, Switzerland and France, France and England. Administering my own finances like an adult.

in today's world no country can be absolutely independent of another. It is a world of interdependence.

The question before the advanced nations is not whether they can afford to help the developing nations, but whether they can afford not to do so.

People tend to forget their duties but remember their rights.

It would seem that it was not in the interest of 'someone' for us to make progress. It was in 'someone's' interest that we be always at war, that we tear each other to pieces. Yes, I'm inclined to absolve the Pakistanis. How should they have behaved? Someone encouraged them to attack us, someone gave them weapons to attack us. And they attacked us.

It's not right to say that my father influenced me more than others, and I wouldn't be able to say whether my personality was formed more by my father or my mother or the Mahatma [Gandhi] or the friends who were with us.

Difficulties can't be eliminated from life. Individuals will always have them, countries will always have them...The only thing is to accept them, if possible overcome them, otherwise to come to terms with them. It's all right to fight, yes, but only when it's possible.

I had many dolls. And you know how I played with them? By performing insurrections, assemblies, scenes of arrest. My dolls were almost never babies to be nursed but men and women who attacked barracks and ended up in prison.

If we offer something to Bangladesh, it's obvious that Bangladesh is offering something to us. And why shouldn't Bangladesh be able to keep its promises? Economically it's full of resources and can stand on its feet. Politically it seems to me led by trained people. The refugees who took shelter here are going home.

When I'm not governing my country any more, I'll go back to taking care of children. Or else I'll start studying anthropology - it's a science that's always interested me very much, also in relation to the problem of poverty. Or else I'll go back to studying history - at Oxford I took my degree in history. Or else...I don't know, I'm fascinated by the tribal communities. I might busy myself with them.

Popularity is not a gurantee of quality.

Muslim women had to go out in purdah, that heavy sheet that covers even the eyes. Hindu women had to go out in the doli, a kind of closed sedan chair like a catafalque. My mother always told me about these things with bitterness and rage.

Every democratic system evolves its own conventions. It is not only the water but the banks which make the river.

Let's not forget that in India the symbol of strength is a woman; the goddess Shakti.

The fact that I have an ideology, however, doesn't mean I'm indoctrinated.

The old need the company of the young so that they renew their contact with life.

To be liberated, woman must feel free to be herself, not in rivalry to man but in the context of her own capacity and her personality.

Education is a liberating force, and in our age it is also a democratizing force, cutting across the barriers of caste and class, smoothing out inequalities imposed by birth and other circumstances.

There are only moments of happiness - from contentment to ecstacy.

The immediate is often the enemy of the ultimate.

You said, 'How is it possible for democracy to work with an illiterate people who are dying of hunger?' But with that people we made a democracy work.

In an underdeveloped society, the first anxiety is of infant mortality. In an advanced one it is to keep alive the aged.

I learned very soon to get along by myself.

There exists no politician in India daring enough to attempt to explain to the masses that cows can be eaten.

The meek may one day inherit the earth, but not the headlines.

Sometimes we hurt one another without realizing it.

Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.

what is popular need not necessarily be right or wise.

We announced that there'd be no more starvation in India. And you responded, 'Impossible. You'll never succeed!' Instead we succeeded; today in India no one dies of hunger any more; food production far exceeds consumption.

You soon realize that the peak you've climbed was one of the lowest, that the mountain was part of a chain of mountains, that there are still so many, so many mountains to climb...And the more you climb, the more you want to climb - even though you're dead tired.

Happiness is such a fleeting point of view - there's no such thing as continual happiness.

India had barely become independent, in 1947, when Pakistan invaded Kashmir, which at the time was ruled by a maharajah. The maharajah fled, and the people of Kashmir, led by Sheikh Abdullah, asked for Indian help. Lord [Louis] Mountbatten, who was still governor general, replied that he wouldn't be able to supply aid to Kashmir unless Pakistan declared war, and he didn't seem bothered by the fact that the Pakistanis were slaughtering the population.

The sterilization of men is one method of birth control. The surest, most radical method. To you it seems dreadful. To me it seems that, properly applied, it's by no means dreadful.

People with clenched fists can not shake hands.

Opportunities are not offered. They must be wrested and worked for. And this calls for perseverance... and courage.