“The greatest gift for an individual or a nation… was abhaya, fearlessness, not merely bodily courage but absence of fear from the mind.”

Justice is a dream. But it is a dream that we are determined to realize.

Courage that comes from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one’s actions, courage that could be described as ‘grace under pressure’ – grace which is renewed repeatedly in the face of harsh, unremitting pressure.

I don’t think of myself as unbreakable. Perhaps I’m just rather flexible and adaptable.

To be kind is to respond with sensitivity and human warmth to the hopes and needs of others.

If you look at the democratic process as a game of chess, there have to be many, many moves before you get to checkmate. And simply because you do not make any checkmate in three moves does not mean it’s stalemate.

I always say that one has no right to hope without endeavor.

Every kindness I received, small or big, convinced me that there could never be enough of it in our world…

Fearlessness may be a gift, but perhaps most precious is courage from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one’s actions.

The search for scapegoats is essentially an abnegation of responsibility: it indicates an inability to assess honestly and intelligently the true nature of the problems which lie at the root of social and economic difficulties and a lack of resolve in grappling with them.

Saints, it has been said, are the sinners who go on trying. So free men and women are the oppressed who go on trying and who in the process make themselves fit to bear the responsibilities and uphold the disciplines which will maintain a free society.

The four basic ingredients for success are: you must have the will to want something; you must have the right kind of attitude.

There is no hope without endeavor.

I only used a cell phone for the first time after I was released. I had difficulty coping with it because it seemed so small and insubstantial.

I think by now I have made it fairly clear that I am not very happy with the word hope. I don’t believe in people just hoping.

By helping others, you will learn how to help yourselves.

Democracy is when the people keep a government in check.

I saw them with my bodily eyes as clearly as I see you. And when they departed, I used to weep and wish they would take me with them.