Morarji Desai: Trending quotes

“I believe in preventing cruelty to all living beings in any form.”

Morarji Desai

19th World Vegetarian Congress 1967

“Things should be done for their own sake. I accept that I will never understand reality, so I concentrate on action, dharma [duty] and commitment.”

Morarji Desai

As quoted in "Morarji Desai: The Ascetic Activist" by Lawrence Malkin and William Stewart, in TIME (4 April 1977) http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,947858-2,00.html

Understanding , Reality

“When what I believe is the truth, I must act on it. But, I consider that you have every right to think what you think is the truth. I pay a price for adhering to my truth. I pay and do it cheerfully.”

Morarji Desai

Morarji Desai speaks about life and celibacy

Truth , Thinking

“Life at any time can become difficult: life at any time can become easy. It all depends upon how one adjusts oneself to life.”

Morarji Desai

As quoted in Change your Body - Is your Body Acidic or Alkaline? http://books.google.co.in/books?id=n4iZAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT44 (2014) by Monica Wright, and Matt Thom, p. 44

Life , Time , Dependency

“I consider astrology as a perfect science. But, I also believe what has to happen cannot be changed. Then what’s the use? When you know, you worry about it. That why I never consult any astrologer. Of course, many of them come to me. But, no one can say I invited him or asked any questions. But when I believe it’s a science, how can I deny it?”

Morarji Desai

Morarji Desai speaks about life and celibacy

Question , Science , Change , Perfection

“I do not say that one who is vegetarian is full of compassion and one who is not, is otherwise. We sometimes find people, who are vegetarians, are very bad people.”

Morarji Desai

19th World Vegetarian Congress 1967

People

“Very often, unfortunately the wrong kind of publicity appears in the press…That happens. Is God free from it? Was Mahatma Gandhi free from it? It’s due to ignorance also. Some of these people deliberately misquote.”

Morarji Desai

Morarji Desai speaks about life and celibacy

God , People , Appearance

“One has got to choose between the two evils, also between the lesser of the two evils in the matter of food, and therefore vegetarian food has got to be taken by man in order to sustain human life”

Morarji Desai

19th World Vegetarian Congress 1967

Life , Food , Evil

“For a democracy to be healthy and effective, three political parties fight elections so that they can replace one another in Governments every few years. Dictatorial governments are either communist, or fascist, or military or personal. Nothing can control the power and wealth of a dictator. History has shown that there were no benevolent dictators and even if a saint became a dictator, he would be corrupted by the unlimited power and wealth at his command, and soon become a despot and tyrant. Mahatma Gandhi, who got us freedom by the unique method of non-violent resistance against evil was an ideal democrat.”

Morarji Desai

As quoted in Commissions and Omissions by Indian Prime Ministers (1996) by Janak Raj Jai, Volume 1, p. 218

Democracy , History , Freedom , Evil

“I worked as a volunteer at that session and heard Mahatma Gandhi for the first time. I was profoundly impressed by his personality. Mahatma Gandhi was explaining his weapon of non-violent struggle for securing w:SwarajSwaraj…. Mahatma Ganndhi told his young companions – May be you don’t agree today with what I say. But I am confident that within twenty five or thirty years, we will get Swaraj by this method. This purportedly proved true and just 31 years later India became independent.”

Morarji Desai

As quoted in Commissions and Omissions by Indian Prime Ministers (1996) by Janak Raj Jai, Volume 1, p. 210

Confidence , Time , Personality

“The Home Rule Movement had just started at that time. I used to attend many of the public meetings held under its auspices. I heard with great interest what Mrs Annie Besant whose language was so charmingly appealing and who used the silver tones of her voice with such effect that many students came under influence. After I passed my intermediate examination, in the last days of 1915, there was an annual session of Indian National Congress in Bombay which Sir Satyendra Prasanna Sanja presided.”

Morarji Desai

As quoted in Commissions and Omissions by Indian Prime Ministers (1996) by Janak Raj Jai, Volume 1, p. 210 http://books.google.co.in/books?id=5Wrc1K0uJTgC&pg=PA216

Home , Time

“I would, therefore, say that for no reason whatsoever, except in self-defense, should one think of killing any animal.”

Morarji Desai

19th World Vegetarian Congress 1967

Thinking , Animals

“You are free to do any action as you want. That’s not done by destiny. What you get is destiny. Because, that’s the result of your own actions. Destiny is not given by God, one thing to one man, something else to another man. Then God would be unjust, partial and would cease to be God.”

Morarji Desai

Morarji Desai speaks about life and celibacy

God

“An expert gives an objective view. He gives his own view.”

Morarji Desai

19th World Vegetarian Congress 1967