Quotes on Republic Day

So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone, either by man or nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked.

Toleration and liberty are the foundations of a great republic.

When I read the Bhagavad-Gita and reflect about how God created this universe everything else seems so superfluous

How can one be compelled to accept slavery? I simply refuse to do the master's bidding. He may torture me, break my bones to atoms and even kill me. He will then have my dead body, not my obedience. Ultimately, therefore, it is I who am the victor and not he, for he has failed in getting me to do what he wanted done.

In the great books of India, an empire spoke to us, nothing small or unworthy, but large, serene, consistent, the voice of an old intelligence, which in another age and climate had pondered and thus disposed of the questions that exercise us.

Grant me thirty years of equal division of inheritances and a free press, and I will provide you with a republic.

The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.

In the republic of mediocrity, genius is dangerous.

A man's feet should be planted in his country, but his eyes should survey the world.

Behold a republic standing erect while empires all around are bowed beneath the weight of their own armaments - a republic whose flag is loved while other flags are only feared.

India was the motherland of our race, and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages: she was the mother of our philosophy; mother, through the Arabs, of much of our mathematics; mother, through the Buddha, of the ideals embodied in Christianity; mother, through the village community, of self-government and democracy. Mother India is in many ways the mother of us all.

The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his own weight.

We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.

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.

Be the compromise you want to see in the world.

God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high Where knowledge is free.

Let new India arise out of peasants' cottage, grasping the plough, out of huts, cobbler and sweeper.

India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.

A return to first principles in a republic is sometimes caused by the simple virtues of one man. His good example has such an influence that the good men strive to imitate him, and the wicked are ashamed to lead a life so contrary to his example.