Sharad Vivek Sagar Quotes & Sayings

I sometimes wonder how powerful are those Fortune 500 CEOs who can can't even change the way that list looks (leave aside how the world looks). And, I wonder what message do we send to our young girls, in classrooms across the world, who work as hard as our young boys but see only 20 CEOs out of those 500 who look like them. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

There are three qualities that every individual must have to achieve success: a Monk's patience, a Warrior's courage, a Child's imagination. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Success for me hasn't been about individual success. It's about the success of all those young boys and girls who I have the honor of working with. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

My mother, who taught me how to read and write and home-schooled me for the first 12 years of my life, whose presence shaped me as much as her absence did, who imbibed in me the values of empathy and fearlessness and hard work, looks down on me today with great pride. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

The day I realized I could speak well, I decided I won't speak for myself anymore. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

To all young people out there: This is the time you should be fearless but not jobless. Identify the right job, find what excited you the most, find what you are the most passionate about. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

We cannot let commercialization of education come in the way of democratization of education. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

It's sad that several political parties still count the dead, the starving, the unemployed by their religion, caste, creed and sect. The young generation needs to engage in politics of right vs wrong and not right vs left. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

I'd always heard people say and I'm sure you heard it too, "Change takes time." But, my parents taught me the more important lesson, very silently but with even greater clarity, "Change takes time. But, it also takes people." People who are willing to put in their everything. Change doesn't happen by itself. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

That moment when I've lost everything I've ever dreamt of, ever craved for, and put in my everything away for, I would try, despite it all, till my last breath to go down the history of mankind as the man who tried, who sacrificed, who strived and who persevered the hardest in the most honest and toughest way. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

I refuse to believe in three things: cash, clock, and calendar. You should never be enslaved by these three. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

If you aren't preparing for life like a war, you'll end up living like a prisoner of war. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

The "democratization of education" is everyone's fight, everyone's right. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

It's a secret deal. On some days, the sun shines bright on you. On some days, you've got to shine brighter than the sun. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

To all the students - no school report card can tell you weather you can achieve your dream or not. Know your purpose, know your dream, know your vision, stay focused, do your job and do not listen to anyone including your report card. Don't let the board results or rankings bother you. Do what you are passionate about, work harder, do better but don't let your mark sheet tell you anything. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Close your eyes, imagine yourself in the world of your dreams, imagine everything you ever wanted, live that moment, get the feel of it. Once you've lived that moment in your mind fully, open your eyes and get started with work, work as hard as possible, do all that it takes to live that moment in real. Just do it, it's possible. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

This is what entrepreneurship is all about. You start off operating from a garage. And, end up, operating from a car. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Ten years later, I will be able to say, "I saw future happen". And, this is the most rewarding part of what I do. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

What hurts me is the fact that in India, a good doctor is one whom you have to take an appointment with even before you fall sick. Else, you will die but not get treated. A good school is one that won't admit you even if you are in Lower Kindergarten. A good minister is one won't meet you till are some VIP. I want to change this in my lifetime by democratizing education and opportunities. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

You may be smart, talented, and hardworking but if you do not know about an opportunity, you do not get that opportunity. At our offices, we are solving this problem for millions. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

If your sole focus is money, you may create a successful startup. But if it's impact, you can probably create history. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

I am not concerned about results. The only thing I am concerned about is the process. How you tried to achieve something matters more than what you achieved. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Be Practical. That's probably the most stupid piece of advice I've ever received in my life. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Internal democracy in schools is as important in order to ensure the true democratization of education. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

We cannot let the future of our children be decided by their zip codes and family incomes. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Let's be grateful to all those who came in before us. Grateful to all those men and women, young and old alike, who paved the path forward for us, brick by brick. To those men and women who marched across the bridge in Selma on that great day, those men and women who rallied behind the Gandhis and the Mandelas every single time they were needed, to those men and women who stood up for voting rights and civil rights and gay rights and equality and justice and a free world, those men and women who invented the future by inventing things that fundamentally changed the world from the electricity to vaccinations, from airplanes to birth control pills, from the printing press to the internet. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Consistency. Clarity. Courage. I like to stand for consistency, clarity and courage in my thoughts, words, and actions. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

All I want to be is a wandering entrepreneur touching billions of lives. I am going to be the monk who never bought a Ferrari. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

May the hopes of your heart and dreams of your eyes keep turning into realities. To all women out there: The more you progress, the more humanity progresses. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

I know I could've been on the other side of the line too. I refuse to accept injustice and inequality because I know it can be against any one of us, our brothers and sisters and friends and family. I know it's personal. I know this is our only chance, our only planet, our only shot. And, I know this is my brick. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Change needs us. Change needs people who are willing to invest themselves and their time and their energy and all that they can in making it happen. And, remember, if we don't quit; if we choose to walk the more difficult path; if we refuse to give up, no matter how long the road or how steep the climb; we will make change happen. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Very often we sit back thinking good things will happen, knowing that good things take time and hoping that someone else will do it. The world needs us! — Sharad Vivek Sagar

We are creating a world where no parent will ever again have to choose between skipping meals and sending their kids to school — Sharad Vivek Sagar

With every breath, I breathe in so much of inspiration. I feel if there is one thing as free and as important as oxygen, it's inspiration. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

When you are trying to do something very innovative and revolutionary, you must also open yourself to a lot of questions. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

We cannot leave our children disconnected from opportunities that are designed specially for them. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Our national emblem has four lions but unfortunately we have highlighted more lambs and wolfs than real lions of our country. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

We won't let poverty kill educational access & opportunities. We'll kill poverty through education. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Our parents are the coolest parents ever. No other generation went on from writing letters to their own parents to sending snapchats to their own kids. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

The world will become only as great a place to live in as we make it. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Just because you can't believe it, doesn't mean it's not happening — Sharad Vivek Sagar

There is no such thing in the world as a "self-made man" or a "self-made woman". We've received so much from so many for so long that we can't even keep count. But, simply because we can't keep count, doesn't mean we discount. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

This is an emotional request to the for-profit startups I help to build, strategize, and monetize. I do it for free because I care for you and your vision. I don't take an equity or a salary despite knowing that you and your investors will make money, and loads of it, eventually. I help because I care. Please remember, to pay back. Not to me, but to the world. Preferably, donate to a non-profit which will never receive the investments that you can and you are; donate to children and youth who want to do good things, to families that need you, to social startups that sweat day in and day out to bring smiles, and to anyone who cares for PEOPLE more than PROFITS. My salary will be drawn. I will be paid back in full. Thank you! — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Before you talk to the world, talk to yourself. And, before you listen to the world, listen to yourself. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Intent matters. Integrity matters. Courage matters. If you have the three, nothing else matters — Sharad Vivek Sagar

We cannot afford to let the ideas of our young generation go untapped or unbacked. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

What's usual for us may not be the same for everyone. I'm inspired by lives and stories of all those amazing people who overcome extraordinary challenges each day to live what we see as an ordinary life. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

We need to take things personally. We need to stop putting profits above people. We need to stop putting greed above need. We need to stop putting the rule of gold above the golden rule. We need to treat people as people and not as problems. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

The times today are too dangerous for the young and the smart to be not bothered. Know the truth. Remember, "We can deny the truth. But, we can't avoid it." We have been there; we have all been there. Ask a female friend who is fighting for a better pay scale, ask the father of an immigrant who is nervous about the future of his daughter, ask a gay friend who is fighting for the right to marry, ask an African-American friend who wants her younger brother to be unafraid and proud, ask a homeless worker in Bangladesh whose house just got swept by rising sea levels, ask a young child in Beijing who breathes an air polluted by fossil fuels, ask a child labor in India who works ten hours and twelve hours to get two square meals a day. And, when you ask, you will know. You will know why we need to take it personally. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

If you are born on this planet, we want to make sure you get the kind of education you actually deserve. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

You've to stand up for yourself. If you don't, no one else will. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Three Ps that I can't sacrifice: Process, Purpose, and Principles. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

I wonder how can I ever work for an organization that pollutes the world and refuses to clean up and sometimes even own up. And, I wonder how on earth can I work for an organization where one of my fellow classmates wouldn't get the same paycheck and the same perks and the same benefits as I would simply because she is a girl. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Purists don't take shortcuts. For me, the vision is more important than anything. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

I can't go out and plant a million trees, but I can go out and tell [students] to plant 10 each. Sometimes you need to ask yourself what exactly do you want- a grove or a forest? — Sharad Vivek Sagar

If money could have changed the world, money would have changed the world. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

We got up at 6am to go to school for a few years and we found it so challenging. Some people in our country have woken up at 6am every single morning for decades now so that this nation can wake up and see great mornings. I salute all those wonderful super humans who are inspiring a better tomorrow. Thank you, Teachers! — Sharad Vivek Sagar

There's a reason why I've spent one-third of my life doing this. My dream is to meet and connect 3 billion young people of the world to information and opportunities in my lifetime. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

An "eye" on the vision is more important than an "I" on the vision. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

The Big Investments of tomorrow need not be on the Stock Exchange. They need to be in our schools. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

I know there are days when we want to be liked by others a little more than we want to change the world. But, if we decided to speak up a little more and hesitate a little less, we will begin making ripples of change. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Sometimes people ask me why am I so excited about what I do. My reply mostly is, You see one celebrity and get excited. I see several hundred thousand future celebrities, change makers, and world movers, everyday. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

We haven't even reached 0.00000001% of where we want to reach. There is so much more to do. We want to make sure that no child should ever be on the mercy of anyone else for his/her education. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

My dream is to ensure or create a platform for every single kid, a platform that would enable them to level up in their lives and to achieve to their full potential. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

For too long, information, opportunities, and resources have been constraints, they need to be the bridges. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Some people believe in telling stories. Some believe in doing things about which stories will be told in times to come. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Even where there are no schools, there are teachers. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

People think entrepreneurs are all about fame and money. I was never in for either. And, will never be. This is a much bigger fight. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

The kinds of people we meet in our life have a huge impact on the kind of person we become. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Let things bother you. The times today are too dangerous for the young and the smart to be not bothered. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

There's magic in stories, magic in hope, and magic in coming together. I have learnt from people's stories, been inspired by their hope, and been strengthened by their coming together. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

There is no greater peace than work and no greater happiness than progress. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Change takes time. But, it also takes people. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

I fail to find even one "Netaji" among the several thousand "Netas" of today. India needs our sacrifices once more and my entire life is and will remain dedicated to the service of my country. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

If the UN has not failed in maintaining world peace or bilateral relations between nations, it has definitely not succeeded either. — Sharad Vivek Sagar

Some of the world's biggest challenges can be solved by some of the world's most marginalized communities themselves. The moment you inject information, education, and an entrepreneurial spark in a community, it gets empowered enough to inspire, build, and uplift itself. — Sharad Vivek Sagar