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Indira Gandhi
27 quotes
“The great need in the world today is for for nations to so define their national interest that it makes for greater harmony, greater equality and justice and greater stability in the world.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) first seen 1980 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1980 to Roy Jenkins <
“We believe in freedom with a passion that only those who have been denied it for so long can understand it, We believe in equality because so many in our nation have been denied for so long, we believe in human worth for that is the basis for all our current work in India.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) first seen 1982 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Jul 29 1982
“A nation's strength ultimately consists in what it can do on its own, and not in what it can borrow from others.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) first seen 1970 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Preface, 4th Five Year Plan", Government of India Planning Commission (July 18, 1970).
“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.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) first seen 1971 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Press conference, New Delhi (October 19, 1971), quoted in "Indian and Pakistani Armies Confront Each Other Along Borders" by Sydney H. Schanberg, The New York Times (October 20, 1971), page 6C.
“There are grave misgivings that the discussion on ecology may be designed to distract attention from the problems of war and poverty.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) first seen 1972 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: First global conference on the human environment (UNCHE) in Stockholm in June 1972 by UN.
“There are moments in history when brooding tragedy and its dark shadows can be lightened by recalling great moments of the past.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) first seen 1971 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Richard Nixon (December 15, 1971) .
“All unprejudiced persons objectively surveying the grim events in Bangladesh 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.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) first seen 1971 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Referring to the fundamental rights of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" in the United States Declaration of Independence in a letter to Richard Nixon (December 15, 1971)..
“Dacca is now the free capital of a free country.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) first seen 1971 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Address to Parliament announcing the victory of Bangladesh-India Forces over the Pakistan Army, (December 16, 1971) .
“You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) first seen 1975 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Embattled Woman Who Relishes Crosswords, Children...and Running India," People (June 30, 1975).
“My father was a statesman, I'm a political woman. My father was a saint. I'm not.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) first seen 1975 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quoted in "Indira's Coup," profile by Oriana Fallaci, The New York Review of Books (September 18, 1975).
“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.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) first seen 1972 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: True Liberation Of Women", speech, inauguration of the All-India Women's Conference Building Complex in New Delhi, India (March 26, 1980). Published in Selected Speeches and Writings of Indira Gandhi, September 1972-Mar…
“We make no discrimination against the adherent of any religion. All faiths are entitled to equal protection and equal respect. This we have named "Secularism", which entitles each Indian to pursue his own belief and learn more about his own creed. But it also requires him to extend the same right to persons of other religions.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) first seen 1981 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 28 January 1981, as quoted in Towards a New India (1994) by , p. 16.
“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.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) first seen 1984 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech, Bhubaneswar, India (October 30, 1984), quoted in "Death in the Garden," by William E. Smith, Time (November 12, 1984) .
“My grandfather once told me that there are 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.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As for the position they held in this war ... well, I think they’ve been more skillful than the Americans. Certainly they’ve had a lighter touch—had they wanted to, they could have done more for Pakistan. Isn’t that so? It was the Americans who sent the Seventh Fleet into the Bay of Bengal, not the Chinese.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Look, I don’t see the world as something divided between right and left. And I don’t at all care who’s on the right or left or in the center. Even though we use them, even though I use them myself, these expressions have lost all meaning. I’m not interested in one label or the other—I’m only interested in solving certain problems, in getting where I want to go. I have certain objectives.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Yes, it’s true. It’s true that Joan of Arc was my dream as a little girl. I discovered her toward the age of ten or twelve, when I went to France. I don’t remember where I read about her, but I recall that she immediately took on a definite importance for me. I wanted to sacrifice my life for my country. It seems like foolishness and yet ... what happens when we’re children is engraved forever in our lives.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We admired Dr. King. We felt his loss as our own. The tragedy rekindled memories of the great martyrs of all time who gave their lives so that men might live and grow. We thought of the great men in your own country who fell to the assassin's bullet and of Mahatma Gandhi's martyrdom here in this city, this very month, twenty-one years ago. Such events remain as wounds in the human consciousness, reminding us of battles, yet to be fought and tasks still to be accomplished. 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.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) first seen 1969 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Luther King", speech at the presentation of the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding to Coretta Scott King in New Delhi, India (January 24, 1969). Published in Selected Speeches and Writings of Indira …
“I am here today, I may not be here tomorrow. But the responsibility to look after national interest is on the shoulder of every citizen of India. I have often mentioned this earlier. Nobody knows how many attempts have been made to shoot me, lathis have been used to beat me. In Bhubaneswar itself, a brickbat hit me. They have attacked me in every possible manner. I do not care whether I live or die. I have lived a long life and I am proud that I spend the whole of my life in the service of my people. I am only proud of this and nothing else. 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.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) first seen 1982 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In:Selected Speeches of Indira Gandhi: January 1, 1982-October 30, 1984, Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, 1986, p. 495.
“They say that [I am icy, hard] because I’m sincere. Even too sincere. And because I don’t waste time in flowery small talk, as people do in India, where the first half hour is spent in compliments: »How are you, how are your children, how are your grandchildren, and so forth.« I refuse to indulge in small talk. And compliments, if at all, I save for after the job is done. But in India people can’t stomach this attitude of mine, and when I say, »Hurry up, let’s get to the point,« they feel hurt. And think I’m cold, indeed icy, hard. Then there’s another reason, one that goes with my frankness: I don’t put on an act. I don’t know how to put on an act; I always show myself for what I am, in whatever mood I’m in. If I’m happy, I look happy; if I’m angry, I show it. Without worrying about how others may react. When one has had a life as difficult as mine, one doesn’t worry about how others will react. And now go ahead. You can ask anything you like.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But we couldn’t do otherwise. We couldn’t keep ten million refugees on our soil; we couldn’t tolerate such an unstable situation for who knows how long. That influx of refugees would have stopped—on the contrary. It would have gone on and on and on, until there would have been an explosion. We were no longer able to control the arrival of those people, in our own interest we had to stop it! That’s what I said to Mr. Nixon, to all the other leaders I visited in an attempt to avert the war. However, when you look at the beginning of the actual war, it’s hard not to recognize that the Pakistanis were the ones to attack. They were the ones who descended on us with their planes, at five o’clock that afternoon when the first bombs fell on Agra. I can prove it to you by the fact that we were taken completely by surprise.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I made the trip knowing I was like the child putting his finger into the hole in the dike. And there are things that ... I don’t know ... one can’t ... oh, why not! The truth is that I spoke clearly to Mr. Nixon. And I told him what I had already told Mr. Heath, Mr. Pompidou, Mr. Brandt. I told him without mincing words that we couldn’t go on with ten million refugees on our backs, we couldn’t tolerate the fuse of such and explosive situation any longer. Well, Mr. Heath, Mr. Pompidou, and Mr. Brandt had understood very well. But not Mr. Nixon. The fact is that when the others understand one thing, Mr. Nixon understands another. I suspected he was very pro-Pakistan. Or rather I knew that the Americans had always been in favor of Pakistan—not so much because they were in favor of Pakistan, but because they were against India.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“However, I had recently had the impression they were changing—not so much by becoming less pro-Pakistan as by becoming less anti-India. I was wrong. My visit to Nixon did anything but avert the war. It was useful only to me. The experience taught me that when people do something against you, that something always turns out in your favor. At least you can use it to your advantage. It’s a law of life—check it and you’ll see it holds true in every situation of life. ... And do you know why I won this war? Because my army was able to do it, yes, but also because the Americans were on the side of Pakistan.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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 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. So our leaders decided to sign a document by which they bound themselves to go to war with Pakistan. And Mahatma Gandhi, apostle of nonviolence, signed along with them. Yes, he chose war. He said there was nothing else to do. War is inevitable when one must defend somebody or defend oneself.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In India, women have never been in 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. Let’s not forget that in India the symbol of strength is a woman; the goddess Shakti. Not only that—the struggle for inde pendence 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.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Happiness is such a fleeting point of view—there’s no such thing as continual happiness. There are only moments of happiness—from contentment to ecstasy. And 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 ever repeated. If by happiness you mean an ordinary contentment, then yes—I’m fairly contented. Not satisfied—contented. Satisfied is a word I use only in reference to my country, and I’ll never be satisfied for my country. For this reason 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.”
Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source