“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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Life is a continuous process of adjustment.

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

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

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

Ability is not always gauged by examination.

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

As my father [Javāharlāl Nehrū] said, you have to keep an open mind, but you have to pour something into it – otherwise ideas slip away like sand between your fingers.

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

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

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.

All begins with you surrounding yourself with the right people—the good and authentic people—and unsurrounding yourself with the wrong people. And we both know there are plenty of wrong people in this world.

For that which is without a beginning, a final cause need not be sought.

There is no beginning, no middle, no end, no suspense, no moral, no causes, no effects. What we love in our books are the depths of many marvelous moments seen all at one time.

And so began one of the most exciting periods of my life, the time of discovery.

We began to talk about one’s faith and the storm.

Political promises are much like marriage vows. They are made at the beginning of the relationship between candidate and voter, but are quickly forgotten.

If you do different, you will have different. If you begin to require more of yourself, that in and of itself is different.