90 Quotes by Indira Gandhi

I am not a person to be pressured – by anybody or any nation. (Quote Meaning)

People tend to forget their duties but remember their rights. (Meaning)

Martyrdom does not end something, it only a beginning. (Quote Meaning)

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

The power to question is the basis of all human progress. (Quote Meaning)

Winning or losing of the election is less important than strengthening the country. (Meaning)

Have a bias toward action - let's see something happen now. (Quote Meaning)

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Every democratic system evolves its own conventions. It is not only the water but the vessel which determines the shape that the water takes. (Meaning)

To bear many children is considered not only a religious blessing but also an investment. (Quote Meaning)

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

There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. (Quote Meaning)

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

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

There is not love where there is no will. (Meaning)

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. (Quote Meaning)

We do not wish to impoverish the environment any further, and yet we cannot for a moment forget the grim poverty of large numbers of people. (Meaning)

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Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave. (Quote Meaning)

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

A nation’ s strength ultimately consists in what it can do on its own, and not in what it can borrow from others. (Quote Meaning)

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

Every new experience brings its own maturity and a greater clarity of vision. (Quote Meaning)

Nothing that is worthwhile is ever easy. (Meaning)

Forgiveness is the virtue of Brave. (Quote Meaning)

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.

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.

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.

People tend to forget their duties but remember their rights.

Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.

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.

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

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

To become capable, one must have faith in oneself.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

Popularity is not a guarantee of quality.

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

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

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

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.

Ability is not always gauged by examination.

You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.

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.

Life is a continuous process of adjustment.

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.

People with clenched fists can not shake hands.

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

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

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.

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.

Nothing that is worthwhile is ever easy.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

I learned very soon to get along by myself.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

The greatest of all contraceptives is affluence.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

My father was a saint. I'm not.

what is popular need not necessarily be right or wise.

There is not love where there is no will.

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.

Martyrdom does not end something, it only a beginning.

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

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.

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.

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

Dacca is now the free capital of a free country.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

We would rather starve than sell our national honor.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

Defeats are always pitiful. Victories are always last resources.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Forgiveness is the virtue of Brave.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

To become our enemies - what an absurdity. A crazy absurdity when you stop to think that we, Muslims and Hindus, had conducted the struggle for independence together.

By now even the word socialism has so many meanings and interpretations. The Russians call themselves socialists, the Swedes call themselves. And let's not forget that in Germany there was also a national socialism.

Even I, when I was a student in London, often wore Western clothes, and yet I'm the most Indian Indian I know.

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

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

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

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.

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.

Naturally, if the Americans had fired a shot, if the Seventh Fleet had done something more than sit there in the Bay of Bengal...yes, the Third World War would have exploded. But, in all honesty, not even that fear occurred to me.

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

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

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

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.

I don't care if I remain prime minister. I'm only interested in doing a good job as long as I'm capable and for as long as I don't get tired.

Sometimes we hurt one another without realizing it.

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.

I've always discovered things for myself, in marvelous freedom.

My children needed me, and I like my job as a social worker.

I don't waste time in flowery small talk, as people do in India.

What good does it do to remain tied to an ideology if you don't achieve anything by it? I have an ideology myself - you can't work in a vacuum; you have to have faith in something.

How is it possible for people in the modern world to go on killing each other for religion? The problems we should be concerned with nowadays are quite different!

Home is wherever I go.

I'm certainly not tired - work doesn't tire people, it's getting bored that's tiring.

At first people asked us, 'Can you do it?' And we kept silent because we didn't believe in ourselves, we didn't believe that we could do things. Today people no longer say to us, 'Can you?' They say, 'When can you?' Because the Indians finally believe in themselves, they believe they can do things.

Everything I've done, I've done because I wanted to do it. In doing it, I've plunged in headlong, always believing in it.

When you govern a country, and especially a country so vast and complex as India, you never arrive at anything.

I want to succeed. And I want to succeed in the best way possible, without caring whether people call my actions leftist or rightist.