Jawaharlal Nehru's Famous Quotes From Indian History

Inspirational quotes and thoughts by Jawaharlal Nehru: On the occasion of his death anniversary, we present some of the leader's inspirational quotes that have stuck with us over the years and are more important now than ever.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, was a visionary and exceptional leader who was instrumental in the country's struggle for independence. On this day, in the year 1964, the political stalwart passed away. The Sino-Indian War is thought to have had a negative impact on his health, causing it to fail.

Nehru, who was born in Allahabad (now Prayagraj) on November 14, 1889, was home-schooled until the age of 15 when he attended Harrow School in England and then to Trinity College in Cambridge. He returned to India at the age of 22 to practice law with his father, lawyer Motilal Nehru.

His political awakening is reported to have occurred when he learned of Annie Besant's incarceration in 1917. After that, he became a member of the All-India Home Rule League. After the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, in which 379 Indians were killed and over 1000 were injured, Nehru overheard the orchestrator, Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer, gloating about it on a train in 1919. This emboldened him, and he pledged to fight for India's independence.

Today, on the anniversary of his passing, we present some of the leader's inspirational comments that have stayed with us through the years and are more important now than ever.

"Democracy is good. I say this because other systems are worse."

"The person who talks most of his own virtue is often the least virtuous."

"Citizenship consists in the service of the country."

"Every little thing counts in a crisis."

"Democracy and socialism are means to an end, not the end itself."

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

"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."

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

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

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

"Socialism is… not only a way of life, but a certain scientific approach to social and economic problems."

"The purely agitational attitude is not good enough for a detailed consideration of a subject."