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.

You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.

All my games were political games; I was, like Joan of Arc, perpetually being burned at the stake.

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

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

People with clenched fists can not shake hands.

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

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.

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

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

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

Martyrdom does not end something, it only a beginning.

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

Life is a continuous process of adjustment.

Every democratic system evolves its own conventions. It is not only the water but the banks which make the river.

Never forget that when we are silent, we are one. And when we speak we are two.

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

My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition.

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.

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

Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.