Indira Gandhi Quotes

what is popular need not necessarily be right or wise.

In all communities you find groups that behave badly. But you must understand them too.

In any case, I married Feroze Gandhi. Once I get an idea in my head, no one in the world can make me change my mind.

My father was a saint. I'm not.

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.

Dacca is now the free capital of a free country.

Peace we want because there is another war to fight against poverty, disease and ignorance.

You don't help a country by supporting a military regime that denies any sign of democracy, and what defeated Pakistan was its military regime.

In an underdeveloped society, the first anxiety is of infant mortality. In an advanced one it is to keep alive the aged.

We have believed - and we do believe now - that freedom is indivisible, that peace is indivisible, that economic prosperity is indivisible

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.

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.

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

You said, 'Planning is something for communist countries; democracy and planning don't go together!' But, with all the errors we committed, our plans succeeded.

Have you ever climbed a mountain? You see, once you arrive at the top of a mountain, you think you've reached the highest point. But it's only an impression that doesn't last long.

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

We would rather starve than sell our national honor.

The question before the advanced nations is not whether they can afford to help the developing nations, but whether they can afford not to do so.

Nothing can convince me that people are at one with their work unless they're joyous about it.

America always thought it was helping Pakistan. But if it hadn't helped Pakistan, Pakistan would have been a stronger country.

The Indians and Pakistanis are literally brothers.

I don't know how to put on an act; I always show myself for what I am, in whatever mood I'm in.

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

When I was young, I was very selfish, now not any more.

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

Forgiveness is the virtue of Brave.

The civil servant is primarily the master of the short-term solution.

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

Defeats are always pitiful. Victories are always last resources.

Happiness is such a fleeting point of view - there's no such thing as continual happiness.

You said, 'How is it possible for democracy to work with an illiterate people who are dying of hunger?' But with that people we made a democracy work.

Not only Negroes and Jews, but also women are part of a great revolt of which one can only approve.

To become our enemies - what an absurdity. A crazy absurdity when you stop to think that we, Muslims and Hindus, had conducted the struggle for independence together.

I certainly won't have an empty life!

Even I, when I was a student in London, often wore Western clothes, and yet I'm the most Indian Indian I know.

[Visiting Richard Nixon] useful only to me. The experience taught me that when people do something against you, that something always turns out in your favor.

As for the job of prime minister, I like it, yes. But no more than I've liked other work that I've done as an adult.

My father was a statesman, I'm a political woman. My father was a saint. I'm not.

When one has had a life as difficult as mine, one doesn't worry about how others will react.

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

The longer one doesn't write, the more difficult it is to communicate.

The old need the company of the young so that they renew their contact with life.

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.

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

When it's impossible, it's better to stoop to compromise, without resisting and without complaining. People who complain are selfish.

My father was prime minister, and to take care of his home, to be his hostess, automatically meant to have my hands in politics - to meet people, to know their games, their secrets.

... where does strength come from? It is not muscle strength any more. It is not also mere intellectual strength. What is strength? Strength is the support of the people.

In fact the communists gained strength in India when the people thought my party was moving to the right. And they were correct.

When [my father] asked me to help him, I really didn't suspect the consequences.