“I began to travel by myself, in Europe, when I was eight years old. At that age I was already on the move between India and Swizerland, Switzerland and France, France and England. Administering my own finances like an adult.”

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.

The future doesn’t frighten me, even if it threatens to be full of other difficulties.

Mankind will endure when the world appreciates the logic of diversity.

The purpose of life is to believe, to hope, and to strive.

We always said that our struggle was not only against the British as representatives of colonialism, it was against all the evil that existed in India. The evil of the feudal system, the evil of the system based on caste, the evil of economic injustice.

I don’t mind if my life goes in the service of the nation. If I die, every drop of my blood will invigorate the nation.

It does feel bizarre, having someone in your work space who’s so much younger than you.

I may be a senior, but so what? I’m still hot.

The present age handed over the workers, each alone and defenseless, to the unbridled greed of competitors… so that a very few and exceedingly rich men have laid a yoke of almost slavery on the unnumbered masses of non-owning workers.

When I’m 100 I’ll still be doing pin-ups

At a certain age I just stopped arguing. I realized that there was no way [my father] could see, because for him to approve of what I was doing, he would have to have some belief in me as a musician.

Music knows no barrier of age or culture. It isn’t about being politically correct or even making a statement. Music is what appeals to the ears and touches your soul.

When at a young age you learn to face your fears, that makes the difference between people being champions and people not being champions.

I really always wanted to be an adult. I didn’t really like being an adolescent at all.