Indira Gandhi Quotations

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

You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.

There is not love where there is no will.

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.

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

My father was a statesman, I am a political woman. My father was a saint. I am not.

People tend to forget their duties but remember their rights.

Martyrdom does not end something, it only a beginning.

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

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

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

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.

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.

There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group; there is less competition there.

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.

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

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

To meet her is to feel utterly humble,

Home is wherever I go.

Peace we want because there is another war to fight against poverty, disease and ignorance.

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

I would like to ask a question. Would this sort of war or savage bombing which has taken place in Vietnam have been tolerated for so long, had the people been European?

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

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.

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

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

The greatest of all contraceptives is affluence.

There are moments in history when brooding tragedy and its dark shadows can be lightened by recalling great moments of the past.

India wants to avoid a war at all costs but it is not a one-sided affair, you cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.

We should not mourn for men of high ideals. Rather we should rejoice that we had the privilege of having had them with us, to inspire us by their radiant personalities.

We would rather starve than sell our national honor.

... where does strength come from? It is not muscle strength any more. It is not also mere intellectual strength. What is strength? Strength is the support of the people.

Nothing that is worthwhile is ever easy.

Defeats are always pitiful. Victories are always last resources.

Forgiveness is the virtue of Brave.

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.

It has been my experience that people who are at cross-purposes with nature are cynical about mankind and ill at ease with themselves.

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

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

My father was a saint, I'm not.

Ability is not always gauged by examination.

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

You can't shake hands with a clenched fist.

All unprejudiced persons objectively surveying the grim events in Bangla Desh since March 25 have recognized the revolt of 75 million people, a people who were forced to the conclusion that neither their life, nor their liberty, to say nothing of the possibility of the pursuit of happiness, was available to them.

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

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

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

what is popular need not necessarily be right or wise.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Life is a continuous process of adjustment.

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.

Dacca is now the free capital of a free country.

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.

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

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.

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.

People with clenched fists can not shake hands.

The immediate is often the enemy of the ultimate.

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.

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

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.

Popularity is not a gurantee of quality.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.

A letter containing names and addresses of People's Consultative Group (PCG) members was formally handed over to the PMO on Friday evening,