
“Nothing wrong with shooting… as long as the right people get shot.”
The Honorary Consul (1973)
“Nothing wrong with shooting… as long as the right people get shot.”
Broadcast to the people of the United States of America on Pakistan (February 1948), as quoted in "Jinnah dreamt of a secular Pakistan" in New Religion (11 February 2013) http://www.newreligion.eu/2013/02/jinnahs-dream-can-still-save-pakistan.html
Context: The constitution of Pakistan has yet to be framed by the Pakistan Constituent Assembly. I do not know what the ultimate shape of this constitution is going to be, but I am sure that it will be of a democratic type, embodying the essential principle of Islam. Today, they are as applicable in actual life as they were 1,300 years ago. Islam and its idealism have taught us democracy. It has taught equality of man, justice and fairplay to everybody. We are the inheritors of these glorious traditions and are fully alive to our responsibilities and obligations as framers of the future constitution of Pakistan. In any case Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic State to be ruled by priests with a divine mission. We have many non-Muslims — Hindus, Christians, and Parsis — but they are all Pakistanis. They will enjoy the same rights and privileges as any other citizens and will play their rightful part in the affairs of Pakistan.
From 1999 interview.
Noted in the October 2003 BBC News profile of Ebadi. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3181992.stm (retrieved Oct. 15, 2008)
“There is nothing beautiful or noble about death or fear.”
"Complete Hero" (2009)
“Neither fear your death's day nor long for it.”
X, 47. Alternatively translated as "Neither fear, nor wish for, your last day", in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: "Nor love thy life, nor hate; but what thou livest / Live well: how long or short permit to heaven", John Milton, Paradise Lost, book xi, line 553.
Epigrams (c. 80 – 104 AD)
“Still, you must know that the fear of death is irrational; death comes to everyone.”
Source: Calculating God (2000), Chapter 25 (p. 235)