Indíra Gándhí: Nation

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

Indíra Gándhí

"Preface, 4th Five Year Plan" http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/4th/4ppre.htm, Government of India Planning Commission (July 18, 1970).

“I am here today, I may not be here tomorrow. But the responsibility to look after national interest is on the shoulder of every citizen of India. I have often mentioned this earlier. Nobody knows how many attempts have been made to shoot me, lathis have been used to beat me. In Bhubaneswar itself, a brickbat hit me. They have attacked me in every possible manner. I do not care whether I live or die. I have lived a long life and I am proud that I spend the whole of my life in the service of my people. I am only proud of this and nothing else. I shall continue to serve until my last breath and when I die, I can say, that every drop of my blood will invigorate India and strengthen it.”

Indíra Gándhí

In: Selected Speeches of Indira Gandhi: January 1, 1982-October 30, 1984 http://books.google.com/books?id=ndA3AQAAIAAJ, Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, 1986, p. 495.
Her last speech delivered in Orissa on 30 October 1984 before she was assassinated.

Life , People

“I am not interested in a long life. I am not afraid of these things. I don't mind if my life goes in the service of this nation. If I die today, every drop of my blood will invigorate the nation.”

Indíra Gándhí

Source: Speech, Bhubaneswar, India (October 30, 1984), quoted in "Death in the Garden," by William E. Smith, Time (November 12, 1984) http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,926929-3,00.html.

Life

“I’m not for nationalization because of the rhetoric of nationalization, or because I see in nationalization the cure-all for every injustice. I’m for nationalization in cases where it’s necessary.”

Indíra Gándhí

Oriana Fallaci. Interview with Indira Gandhi in New Delhi, February 1972

“We believe in freedom with a passion that only those who have been denied it for so long can understand it. We believe in equality because so many in our nation have been denied for so long, we believe in human worth for that is the basis for all our current work in India.”

Indíra Gándhí

Jul 29 1982 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHk9zoG6PXw

Freedom , Passion , Understanding

“The great need in the world today is for for nations to so define their national interest that it makes for greater harmony, greater equality and justice and greater stability in the world.”

Indíra Gándhí

Source: 1980 to Roy Jenkins < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHk9zoG6PXw

Justice , World