Indira Gandhi quotes

Indira Gandhi was an influential Indian politician and the first and only female Prime Minister of India. Known for her strong leadership, she played a key role in shaping modern India and navigating complex political challenges. She remains a powerful symbol of female empowerment and resilience in global politics. Here are 48 of her quotes:

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

Indira Gandhi

You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.

Indira Gandhi

Martyrdom does not end something, it only a beginning.

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

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

Indira Gandhi

My theory is that men are no more liberated than women.

Indira Gandhi

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

Indira Gandhi

Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.

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

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

Indira Gandhi

To be liberated, woman must feel free to be herself, not in rivalry to man but in the context of her own capacity and her personality.

Indira Gandhi

People tend to forget their duties but remember their rights.

Indira Gandhi

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

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

There are moments in history when brooding tragedy and its dark shadows can be lightened by recalling great moments of the past.

Indira Gandhi

All unprejudiced persons objectively surveying the grim events in Bangladesh since March 25 have recognized the revolt of 75 million people, a people who were forced to the conclusion that neither their life, nor their liberty, to say nothing of the possibility of the pursuit of happiness, was available to them.

Indira Gandhi

India wants to avoid a war at all costs but it is not a one-sided affair, you cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.

Indira Gandhi

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

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

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

Indira Gandhi

Happiness is such a fleeting point of view-there's no such thing as continual happiness. There are only moments of happiness-from contentment to ecstasy. And if by happiness you mean ecstasy ... Yes, I've known ecstasy, and it's a blessing to be able to say it because those who can say it are very few. But ecstasy doesn't last long and is seldom ever repeated. If by happiness you mean an ordinary contentment, then yes-I'm fairly contented. Not satisfied-contented. Satisfied is a word I use only in reference to my country, and I'll never be satisfied for my country. For this reason I go on taking difficult paths, and between a paved road and a footpath that goes up the mountain, I choose the footpath. To the great irrita­tion of my bodyguards.

Indira Gandhi