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

We would rather starve than sell our national honor.

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

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

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.

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

Popularity is not a gurantee of quality.

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

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.

Nothing that is worthwhile is ever easy.

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.

what is popular need not necessarily be right or wise.

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

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.

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.

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

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

On every continent, there are girls who will go on to change the world in ways we can only imagine, if only we allow them the freedom to dream.

There is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.

Dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition.

Pilots take no special joy in walking: pilots like flying.

If you love someone, you must be prepared to set them free.

All the great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope.

Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences.

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under a just God cannot retain it.