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