Indira Gandhi Quotes

"You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist."

"The power to question is the basis of all human progress."

"There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group; there is less competition there."

"Winning or losing of the election is less important than strengthening the country."

"People tend to forget their duties but remember their rights."

"There is not love where there is no will."

"Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave."

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

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

"If I see something dirty or untidy, I have to clean it up."

"Have a bias toward action - let's see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away."

"Happiness is a state of mind, you know. I don't think you are permanently happy. One is happy about certain things and not so happy about others."

"My father was a statesman, I am a political woman. My father was a saint. I am not."

"The environmental problems of developing countries are not the side effects of excessive industrialisation but reflect the inadequacy of development."

"All the people who fought for freedom were my heroes. I mean, that was the sort of story I liked reading... freedom struggles and so on."

"Even if I died in the service of the nation, I would be proud of it. Every drop of my blood... will contribute to the growth of this nation and to make it strong and dynamic."

"If I die a violent death, as some fear and a few are plotting, I know that the violence will be in the thought and the action of the assassins, not in my dying."

"This is why we feel that democracy's important: because democracy allows you to have small explosions and therefore avoid the bigger explosions."

"I do not like carving the world into segments; we are one world."

"We do not wish to impoverish the environment any further, and yet we cannot for a moment forget the grim poverty of large numbers of people. Are not poverty and need the greatest polluters?"

"A nation' s strength ultimately consists in what it can do on its own, and not in what it can borrow from others."

"My son had nothing to do with policy or decision making, nor did I discuss the elections or any other matter with him."

"I think basically I'm lazy, but I have a housewife's mentality when I go about my job."

"There are grave misgivings that the discussion on ecology may be designed to distract attention from the problems of war and poverty."

"The people have nothing to fear of me; people have never feared me."

"I have already reached out to the janata, and I am only trying to acquaint myself with people's problems."

"The collective judgment of the electorate must be respected."

"On the one hand, the rich look askance at our continuing poverty - on the other, they warn us against their own methods."

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

"I was happy to be with my parents. I didn't see very much of them, so I was very happy when my father was there and out of jail."