Jawaharlal Quotes & Sayings

Slogans are apt to petrify man's thinking ... every slogan, every word almost, that is used by the socialist, the communist, the capitalist. People hardly think nowadays. They throwT words at each other. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Remember always that there not so very much difference between various people as we seem to imagine. Maps and atlases show us countries in different colors. Undoubtedly people do differ from one another, but they resemble each other also a great deal, and it is well to keep this in mind and not misled by colors on the map or by national boundaries. — Jawaharlal Nehru

When the present is full of gloom, the past becomes haven of refuge that provides relief and inspiration. — Jawaharlal Nehru

I want nothing to do with any religion concerned with keeping the masses satisfied to live in hunger, filth, and ignorance. I want nothing to do with any order, religious or otherwise, which does not teach people that they are capable of becoming happier and more civilized on this earth, capable of becoming master of his fate and captain of his soul. — Jawaharlal Nehru

I think the years I have spent in prison have been the most formative and important in my life because of the discipline, the sensations, but chiefly the opportunity to think clearly, to try to understand things. — Jawaharlal Nehru

I have long believed that the only way peace can be achieved is through world government. — Jawaharlal Nehru

It is the habit of every aggressor nation to claim that it is acting on the defensive. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Citizenship consists in the service of the country. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Where freedom is menaced or justice threatened or where aggression takes place, we cannot be and shall not be neutral. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Restraint does not mean weakness. It does not mean giving in. — Jawaharlal Nehru

If I was asked what is the greatest treasure which India possesses and what is her finest heritage, I would answer unhesitatingly that it is the Samskrit language and literature and all that it contains. This is a magnificent inheritance and so long as this endures and influences the life of our people, so long will the basic genius of India continue. If our race forgot the Buddha, the Upanishads and the great epics (Ramayana and Mahabharata), India would cease to be India . — Jawaharlal Nehru

The Charkha in the hands of a poor widow brings a paltry price to her, in the hands of Jawaharlal; it is an instrument of India's freedom. — Mahatma Gandhi

Because we have sought to cover up past evil, though it still persists, we have been powerless to check the new evil of today.Evil unchecked grows, Evil tolerated poisons the whole system. And because we have tolerated our past and present evils, international affairs are poisoned and law and justice have disappeared from them. — Jawaharlal Nehru

It is dangerous and harmful to be guided in our life's course by hatreds and aversions, for they are wasteful of energy and limit and twist the mind and prevent it from perceiving the truth. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Without that passion and urge, there is a gradual oozing out of hope and vitality, a settling down on lower levels of existence, a slow merging into non-existence. We become prisoners of the past and some part of its immobility sticks to us. — Jawaharlal Nehru

In our society competitive capitalism has put family life and working life on a collision course.In Canada statistics show that over 70 percent of the burden of caring for children, the aged, the disabled and the sick falls on women most of whom receive no pay for these very essential tasks.Normally speaking, it may be said that the forces of capitalism, if left unchecked, tend to make the rich richer and the poor poorer and thus increase the gap between them. — Jawaharlal Nehru

The National Herald, founded by Jawaharlal Nehru, supported the Emergency throughout, and cautiously removed the quote 'Freedom is in peril, defend it with all your might' from its masthead. — Coomi Kapoor

But it is distressing that any organisation consisting of large numbers of young men, should be so utterly little minded and lacking in not only vision but in commonsense or common understanding. The R.S.S. is typical in this respect of the type of organisation that grew up in various parts of Europe in support of fascism ... — Jawaharlal Nehru

We talk of high philosophies and our ancient greatness but act in narrow grooves and show intolerance to our neighbour. These are basic questions for us to keep in mind, for our future depends on the answer that we give to them. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Children are like buds in a garden and should be carefully and lovingly nurtured, as they are the future of the nation and the citizens of tomorrow. — Jawaharlal Nehru

History is the record of human progress, a record of the struggle of the advancement of the human mind, of the human spirit, towards some known or unknown objective. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Ignorance is always afraid of change. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Democracy is good. I say this because other systems are worse. — Jawaharlal Nehru

America is a country no one should go to for the first time. — Jawaharlal Nehru

The forces in a capitalist society, if left unchecked, tend to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. — Jawaharlal Nehru

There is nothing more horrifying than stupidity in action. — Jawaharlal Nehru

It is now clear that science is incapable of ordering life. A life is ordered by values. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Poverty anywhere is a danger to prosperity everywhere — Jawaharlal Nehru

I was in high school when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru unfurled India's flag in New Delhi. — A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

In order to understand people, we have to understand their way of life and approach. If we wish to convince them, we have to use their language in the narrow sense of the mind. Something that goes even much further than that is not the appeal to logic and reason, but some kind of emotional awareness of the other people. — Jawaharlal Nehru

When you imitate the enemy's tactics, you take on his liabilities. — Jawaharlal Nehru

There is perhaps nothing so bad and so dangerous in life as fear. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Often in history we see that religion, which was meant to raise us and make us better and nobler, has made people behave like beasts. Instead of bringing enlightenment of them, it has often tried to keep them in the dark; instead of broadening their minds, it has frequently made them narrow-minded and intolerant of others. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Only a prisoner who has been confined for long behind high walk can appreciate the extraordinary psychological value of these outside walks and open views. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Success often comes to those who dare to act. It seldom goes to the timid who are ever afraid of the consequences. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Loyal and efficient work in a great cause, even though it may not be immediately recognized, ultimately bears fruit — Jawaharlal Nehru

We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open. — Jawaharlal Nehru

It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of human ity. — Jawaharlal Nehru

You don't change the course of history by turning the faces of portraits to the wall. — Jawaharlal Nehru

The person who talks most of his own virtue is often the least virtuous. — Jawaharlal Nehru

I think that sacrifices of animals in the name of religion are barbarous and they degrade the name of religion. — Jawaharlal Nehru

My entire family has been with the Congress right from the time of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Congress is in our blood and as a loyalist, I am always there for Congress. — Sanjay Dutt

India cannot sit on the fence anymore. It may have to make a choice. Either way it is going face problems, — Jawaharlal Nehru

Successive governments in India have not been able to get out of the chakravyuh created by Jawaharlal Nehru in J&K. — Anonymous

Khadi to me is the symbol of unity of Indian humanity, of its economic freedom and equality and, therefore, ultimately, in the poetic expression of Jawaharlal Nehru, 'the livery of India's freedom'. — Mahatma Gandhi

A leader or a man of action in a crisis almost always acts subconsciously and then thinks of the reasons for his action. — Jawaharlal Nehru

One of the first to reevaluate Genghis Khan was an unlikely candidate: peace advocate Jawaharlal Nehru, the father of Indian independence. — Jack Weatherford

I have always thought that the best way to find out what is right and what is not right, what should be done and what should not be done, is not to give a sermon, but to talk and discuss, and out of discussion sometimes a little bit of truth comes out. — Jawaharlal Nehru

The ideals and objectives of yesterday was still ideals of today, but they lost some of their luster and even, as one seemed to go towards them, they lost the shining beauty which had warmed the heart and vitalized the body. Evil triumphed often enough, but what was far worse was the coarsening and distortion of what seemed so right. Was human nature so essentially bad that it would take ages of training ,through suffering and misfortune, before it could behave reasonably and raise man above the creature of lust and violence and deceit that he now was? And, meanwhile , was every effort to change radically in the present or the near future doomed to failure — Jawaharlal Nehru

It is far better to know our own weaknesses and failures than to point out those of others. — Jawaharlal Nehru

India has known the innocence and insouciance of childhood, the passion
and abandon of youth, and the ripe wisdom of maturity that comes from long experience of pain and pleasure; and over and over a gain she has renewed her childhood and youth and age — Jawaharlal Nehru

A theory must be tempered with reality. — Jawaharlal Nehru

By education I am an Englishman, by views an internationalist, by culture a Muslim & a Hindu only by accident of birth. — Jawaharlal Nehru

There are two things that have to happen before an idea catches on. One is that the idea should be good. The other is that it should fit in with the temper of the age. If it does not, even a good idea may well be passed by. — Jawaharlal Nehru

That great lover of peace, a man of giant stature who moulded, as few other men have done, the destinies of his age. — Jawaharlal Nehru

The basic fact of today is the tremendous pace of change in human life. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Crises and deadlocks when they occur have at least this advantage, that they force us to think. — Jawaharlal Nehru

It is only too easy to make suggestions and later try to escape the consequences of what we say. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul. Peace is not merely the absence of war. It is also a state of mind. Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Evil unchecked grows, evil tolerated poisons the whole system. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru wanted India to develop close ties with China and learn from its experience. — Manmohan Singh

Every great revolution, whether it is right or not, we really know has any vital, urgent need to basis. It comes not just from itself. — Jawaharlal Nehru

We can't encourage narrow mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought. — Jawaharlal Nehru

No country or people who are slaves to dogma and the dogmatic mentality can progress, and unhappily our country and people have become extraordinarily dogmatic and little-minded — Jawaharlal Nehru

Please remember that law and sense are not always the same. — Jawaharlal Nehru

The traditional Indian view was to protect our independence; it was therefore quite consistent with the requirements of the time and the feeling of the people. The world may have been misled by Jawaharlal Nehru's own international projection, which in fact had no reality on the ground. — Subramanian Swamy

A man who is afraid will do anything. — Jawaharlal Nehru

The only alternative to coexistence is codestruction. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Those who boast are seldom the great. — Jawaharlal Nehru

A country is known by the way it treats its animals — Jawaharlal Nehru

Play the hand you're dealt. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Obviously, the highest type of efficiency is that which can utilize existing material to the best advantage. — Jawaharlal Nehru

The future has to be lived before it can be written about. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Science and technology have freed humanity from many burdens and given us this new perspective and great power. This power can be used for the good of all. If wisdom governs our actions; but if the world is mad or foolish, it can destroy itself just when great advances and triumphs are almost without its grasp. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance — Jawaharlal Nehru

What the mysterious is I do not know. I do not call it God because God has come to mean much that I do not believe in. I find myself incapable of thinking of a deity or of any unknown supreme power in anthropomorphic terms, and the fact that many people think so is continually a source of surprise to me. Any idea of a personal God seems very odd to me. — Jawaharlal Nehru

The boundaries of democracy have to be widened so as to include economic equality also. This is the great revolution through which we are all passing. — Jawaharlal Nehru

A great disaster is a symbol to us to remember all the big things of life and forget the small things, of which we have thought too much. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Those who are prepared to die for any cause are seldom defeated. — Jawaharlal Nehru

The Bhagavad Gita deals essentially with the spiritual foundation of human existence. It is a call of action to meet the obligations and duties of life; yet keeping in view the spiritual nature and grander purpose of the universe. — Jawaharlal Nehru

The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people, round which are intertwined her memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats. She has been a symbol of India's age-long culture and civilization, ever changing, ever flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga. — Jawaharlal Nehru

To be in good moral condition requires at least as much training as to be in good physical condition. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Let us be a little humble; let us think that the truth may not perhaps be entirely with us. — Jawaharlal Nehru

I am the last Englishman to rule in India. — Jawaharlal Nehru

What we really are matters more than what other people think of us. — Jawaharlal Nehru

History is almost always written by the victors and conquerors and gives their view. Or, at any rate, the victors' version is given prominence and holds the field. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Its [Communism's] unfortunate association with violence encourages a certain evil tendency in human beings. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Action itself, so long as I am convinced that it is right action, gives me satisfaction. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Failure comes only when we forget our ideals and objectives and principles. — Jawaharlal Nehru

It is science alone that can solve the problems of hunger and poverty, of insanitation and illiteracy, of superstition and deadening custom and tradition, of vast resources running to waste, or a rich country inhabited by starving people ... Who indeed could afford to ignore science today? At every turn we have to seek its aid ... The future belongs to science and those who make friends with science. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Most things, except agriculture, can wait — Jawaharlal Nehru

Peace is not merely an absence of war. It is also a state of mind. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Great causes and little men go ill together. — Jawaharlal Nehru

As fear is a close companion to falsehood, so truth follows fearlessness. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru's first Cabinet list set a standard that would never again be matched, while establishing a precedent for diversity that all his successors would strive to emulate. A — Shashi Tharoor

Act with courage and dignity; stick to the ideals that give meaning to life. — Jawaharlal Nehru

What we need is a generation of peace. — Jawaharlal Nehru

Time is not measured by the passing of yaers but by what one does, what one feels, and what one achieves. — Jawaharlal Nehru

There is only one thing that remains to us, that cannot be taken away: to act with courage and dignity and to stick to the ideals that have given meaning to life. — Jawaharlal Nehru