"My poetry is a declaration of war, not an exordium to defeat. It is not the defeated soldier's drumbeat of despair, but the fighting warrior's will to win. It is not the de-spirited voice of dejection but the stirring shout of victory."

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Politics See all quotes by Atal Bihari Vajpayee →

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“Secularists like you don’t have to spend sleepless nights over this. I will carry the secular baggage on my broad shoulders.”

“Politics is a game of compromise.”

“I would like this house to join me in paying fulsome tribute to our scientists, engineers and defence personnel whose singular achievements have given us a renewed sense of national pride and self confidence.”

“He is a young leader of opposition. Who is always criticizing me. But I see in him a great future.”

“Hindu tan man, Hindu Jeevan, Rag rag Hindu mera parichay. English translation: Hindu body and soul, Hindu life, in every pore my identity is of a Hindu”

“I have a vision of India: an India free of hunger and fear, an India free of illiteracy and want. I dream of an India that is prosperous, strong and caring. An India, that regains a place of honour in the comity of great nations.”

Resonant Thoughts

"Germany agreed to restrict her Navy to one third the size of the British but was accorded the right to build submarines, explicitly denied her by the peace treaty, up to 60 percent of British strength…"

— William L. Shirer

Journalism1904–1993

#war

"First, there must be an end to war and national rivalry and only then could one turn to the internal miseries that, after all, had external conflict as their chief cause."

— Isaac Asimov

Science1920–1992

#war

"To interest a Frenchman in a boxing match you must tell him that his national honor is at stake. To interest an Englishman in a war you need only suggest that it is a kind of a boxing match. Tell us t…"

— André Maurois

opinion journalism1885–1967

#war

"“Yes. I like to see people get angry. I like it very much. But here in England they do not get angry like they do in Spain. In Spain they take out their knives and they curse and shout. In England the…"

— Agatha Christie

Literature1890–1976

#justice