Indira Gandhi Quotes

Indira Gandhi shares consoling reflections on leadership and sacrifice, encouraging readers to find inspiration in strong personalities.

31 quotes

1. 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.

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

3. 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.

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

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

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

7. 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.

8. I am not interested in a long life. I am not afraid of these things. I don't mind if my life goes in the service of this nation. If I die today, every drop of my blood will invigorate the nation.

9. I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.

10. Martyrdom does not end something, it is only a beginning.

11. 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.

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

13. Think twice before pointing a finger to any one as other three fingers are always pointing towards you.

14. 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.

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

16. People tend to forget their duties but remember their rights.

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

18. Politics...You see, it depends on what kind of politics. What we did during my father's generation was a duty. And it was beautiful because its goal was the conquest of freedom.

19. I'm not ambitious. Not a bit.

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

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

22. 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.

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

24. To become capable, one must have faith in oneself.

25. 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.

26. The India I want, I'll never tire of repeating, is a more just and less poor India, one entirely free of foreign influences. If I thought the country was already marching toward these objectives, I'd give up politics immediately and retire as prime minister.

27. Satisfied is a word I use only in reference to my country, and I'll never be satisfied for my country. For this reasons I go on taking difficult paths, and between a paved road and a footpath that goes up the mountain, I choose the footpath. To the great irritation of my bodyguards.

28. I always wanted to have children - if it had been up to me, I would have had eleven. It was my husband who wanted only two.

29. Defeats are always pitiful. Victories are always last resources.

30. 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. Are not poverty and need the greatest polluters?

31. I have already reached out to the janata, and I am only trying to acquaint myself with people's problems.