Skip to content
- “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.” – Indira Gandhi
- “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.” – Indira Gandhi
- “The people have nothing to fear of me; people have never feared me.” – Indira Gandhi
- “The collective judgment of the electorate must be respected.” – Indira Gandhi
- “I have lived a long life, and I am proud that I spend the whole of my life in the service of my people. I am only proud of this and nothing else. I shall continue to serve until my last breath, and when I die, I can say, that every drop of my blood will invigorate India and strengthen it.” – Indira Gandhi
- “You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.” – Indira Gandhi
- “My son had nothing to do with policy or decision making, nor did I discuss the elections or any other matter with him.” – Indira Gandhi
- “Wearing khadi was a badge of honour. It was something one was proud to do.” – Indira Gandhi
- “A nation’ s strength ultimately consists in what it can do on its own, and not in what it can borrow from others.” – Indira Gandhi
- “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?” – Indira Gandhi
- “Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.” – Indira Gandhi
- “I don’t think my father was my mentor.” – Indira Gandhi
- “I think basically I’m lazy, but I have a housewife’s mentality when I go about my job.” – Indira Gandhi
- “People tend to forget their duties but remember their rights.” – Indira Gandhi
- “On the one hand, the rich look askance at our continuing poverty – on the other, they warn us against their own methods.” – Indira Gandhi
- “I’ve never turned to anybody for advice and counsel. Even when I was a very small child, I had to stand on my feet because of the circumstances of those times, and somehow, the circumstances have remained more or less the same. I have to take my own decisions.” – Indira Gandhi
- “I am not a person to be pressured – by anybody or any nation.” – Indira Gandhi
- “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.” – Indira Gandhi
- “There are grave misgivings that the discussion on ecology may be designed to distract attention from the problems of war and poverty.” – Indira Gandhi
- “One must beware of ministers who can do nothing without money, and those who want to do everything with money.” – Indira Gandhi
- “I’m certainly not a workaholic.” – Indira Gandhi
- “The power to question is the basis of all human progress.” – Indira Gandhi
- “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.” – Indira Gandhi
- “The environmental problems of developing countries are not the side effects of excessive industrialisation but reflect the inadequacy of development.” – Indira Gandhi
- “If I see something dirty or untidy, I have to clean it up.” – Indira Gandhi
- “I have already reached out to the janata, and I am only trying to acquaint myself with people’s problems.” – Indira Gandhi
- “My father was a statesman, I am a political woman. My father was a saint. I am not.” – Indira Gandhi
- “I do not like carving the world into segments; we are one world.” – Indira Gandhi
- “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.” – Indira Gandhi
- “There is not love where there is no will.” – Indira Gandhi
- “All my games were political games; I was, like Joan of Arc, perpetually being burned at the stake.” – Indira Gandhi
- “We have to prove to the disinherited majority of the world that ecology and conservation will not work against their interest but will bring an improvement in their lives.” – Indira Gandhi
- “This is why we feel that democracy’s important: because democracy allows you to have small explosions and therefore avoid the bigger explosions.” – Indira Gandhi
- “I am frequently attacked.” – Indira Gandhi
- “Winning or losing of the election is less important than strengthening the country.” – Indira Gandhi
- “There exists no politician in India daring enough to attempt to explain to the masses that cows can be eaten.” – Indira Gandhi
- “Martyrdom does not end something, it only a beginning.” – Indira Gandhi
- “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.” – Indira Gandhi
- “You must learn to be still in the midst of activity and to be vibrantly alive in repose.” – Indira Gandhi
- “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.” – Indira Gandhi