135 Best Jawaharlal Nehru Quotes Of All Time

Here we have compiled a list of 135 best and famous quotes of Jawaharlal Nehru about life, nation, peace.

Jawaharlal Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India and a key figure in shaping the political face of independent India. He is often considered one of the greatest leaders in history. He was a nationalist and helped India in the way of becoming an independent country from British rule.

The great leader Nehru led his country through a time where they were trying to maintain their identity as an emerging new nation while being pressured by Western powers on all sides. He unified Hinduism with other religions like Islam and Christianity so that everyone could live together under one flag without any challenging situation arising from religious divides.

In 1947, Jawaharlal took office as Prime Minister of Independent India. His leadership inspired many people with his vision for democracy and civil rights to serve all Indians well into the future.

So, let’s start exploring these 135 best quotes of Indian political history heroes, and we hope you’ll also enjoy reading these amazing sayings.

Jawaharlal Nehru famous Quotes

“Do not advise too much: do the job yourself. This is the only advice you can give to others. Do it, and others will follow.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Unity must be of the mind and heart, a sense of belonging together and of facing together those who attack it.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Loyal and efficient work in a great cause, even though it may not be immediately recognized, ultimately bears fruit.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“To be in good moral condition requires at least as much training as to be in good physical condition.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“You don’t change the course of history by turning the faces of portraits to the wall.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“If the world suffers from mental deterioration or from moral degradation, then something goes wrong at the very root of civilization or culture. Even though that civilization may drag out for a considerable period, it grows less and less vital and ultimately tumbles down.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“I am getting old, and the sign of old age is that I begin to philosophize and ponder over problems which should not be my concern at all.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Logic and cold reason are poor weapons to fight fear and distrust. Only faith and generosity can overcome them.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“I think that sacrifices of animals in the name of religion are barbarous, and they degrade the name of religion.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Restraint does not mean weakness. It does not mean giving in.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“I was taught by a great man, never to hate – and never to fear.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“The ambition of the greatest men of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but so long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Those who boast are seldom the great.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Crises and deadlocks when they occur have at least this advantage, that they force us to think.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Only a prisoner who has been confined for long behind high walk can appreciate the extraordinary psychological value of these outside walks and open views.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Facts are facts and will not disappear on account of your likes.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Every great revolution, whether it is right or not, we really know has any vital, urgent need to basis. It comes not just from itself.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“There is nothing more horrifying than stupidity in action.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Great causes and little men go ill together.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Every little thing counts in a crisis.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“It is only too easy to make suggestions and later try to escape the consequences of what we say.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“History bears witness to the vital part that the ‘prophets’ have played in human progress – which is evidence of the ultimate practical value of expressing unreservedly the truth as one sees it. Yet it also becomes clear that the acceptances and spreading of that vision has always depended on another class of men – “leaders” who had to be philosophical strategists, striking a compromise between truth and men’s receptivity to it.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“A theory must be tempered with reality.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Please remember that law and sense are not always the same.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Politics and Religion are obsolete. The time has come for Science and Spirituality.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“America is a country no one should go to for the first time.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“What is history, indeed, but a record of change?” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“When the present is full of gloom, the past becomes haven of refuge that provides relief and inspiration.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“It is always more difficult to fight one’s own failings than the power of an adversary.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“And yet fear builds its phantoms which are more fearsome than reality itself, and reality, when calmly analyzed and its consequences willingly accepted, loses much of its terror.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Play the hand you’re dealt.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“The purely agitational attitude is not good enough for a detailed consideration of a subject.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“A language is something infinitely greater than grammar and philology. It is the poetic testament of the genius of a race and a culture, and the living embodiment of the thoughts and fancies that have molded them.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future?” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“There are two things that have to happen before an idea catches on. One is that the idea should be good. The other is that it should fit in with the temper of the age. If it does not, even a good idea may well be passed by.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“But the ideal is terribly difficult to grasp or to hold.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“The best and noblest gifts of humanity cannot be the monopoly of a particular race or country; its scope may not be limited nor may it be regarded as the miser’s hoard buried underground.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“But, after all, no safeguards are adequate, unless the will to give effect to them fully is present.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Most of us seldom take the trouble to think. It is a troublesome and fatiguing process and often leads to uncomfortable conclusions. But crises and deadlocks when they occur have at least this advantage, that they force us to think.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Let us be a little humble; let us think that the truth may not perhaps be entirely with us.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“The person who runs away exposes himself to that very danger more than a person who sits quietly.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Action itself, so long as I am convinced that it is right action, gives me satisfaction.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
. “We must remember that what our governments are doing today will set the tone for future administrations. The very powers that may be exercised, perhaps for adequate reasons today, may be exercised later for totally inadequate and perhaps even for objectionable reasons. It is always unsafe to weaken on principles.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“The person who talks most of his own virtue is often the least virtuous.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“A leader or a man of action in a crisis almost always acts subconsciously and then thinks of the reasons for his action.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“The art of a people is a true mirror of their minds.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“When you imitate the enemy’s tactics, you take on his liabilities.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“I wish that more and more adventurous young men would give up the gun in favor of the camera.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“The policy of being too cautious is the greatest risk of all.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“I have always thought that the best way to find out what is right and what is not right, what should be done and what should not be done, is not to give a sermon, but to talk and discuss, and out of discussion sometimes a little bit of truth comes out.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Those who are prepared to die for any cause are seldom defeated.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“The only alternative to coexistence is construction.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Time is not measured by the years that pass by, instead by the things you do, feel or accomplish…” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Obviously, the highest type of efficiency is that which can utilize existing material to the best advantage.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Time is not measured by the passing of years but by what one does, what one feels, and what one achieves.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“In this materialistic age of ours,’ says Professor Albert Einstein, ’the serious scientific workers are the only profoundly religious people.’15 In.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Evil unchecked grows, evil tolerated poisons the whole system.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Theoretical approaches have their place and are, I suppose, essential, but a theory must be tempered with reality.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Most things, except agriculture, can wait.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“As fear is a close companion to falsehood, so truth follows fearlessness.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
Our chief defect is that we are more given to talking about things than to doing them.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“A man who is afraid will do anything.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“I am a socialist not because I think it is a perfect system, but half a loaf is better than no bread. The other systems have been tried and found wanting. Let this one be tried – if for nothing else, for the novelty of the thing.’ Vivekananda.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“But if we go in for reservations on communal and caste basis, we swamp the bright and able people and remain second-rate or third-rate. I am grieved to learn of how far this business of reservation has gone based on communal considerations. It has amazed me to learn that even promotions are based sometimes on communal or caste considerations. This way lies not only folly but disaster. Let us help the backward groups by all means, but never at the cost of efficiency.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“I do not attach much importance to America’s bombs. I attach importance to her great vitality and integrity. The strength of America is deeper and more significant than her financial power.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“History is the record of human progress, a record of the struggle of the advancement of the human mind, of the human spirit, towards some known or unknown objective.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“We talk of high philosophies and our ancient greatness but act in narrow grooves and show intolerance to our neighbor. These are basic questions for us to keep in mind, for our future depends on the answer that we give to them.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“The Bhagavad Gita deals essentially with the spiritual foundation of human existence. It is a call of action to meet the obligations and duties of life; yet keeping in view the spiritual nature and grander purpose of the universe.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“In the name of religion, many great and fine deeds have been performed. In the name of religion also, thousands and millions have been killed, and every possible crime has been committed.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Democracy and socialism are means to an end, not the end itself.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Democracy is good. I say this because other systems are worse.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Democracy is good. I say this because other systems are worse. So, we are forced to accept democracy. It has good points and also bad. But merely saying that democracy will solve all problems is utterly wrong. Problems are solved by intelligence and hard work.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“It is science alone that can solve the problems of hunger and poverty, of insanitation and illiteracy, of superstition and deadening of custom and tradition, of vast resources running to waste, or a rich country inhabited by starving poor… Who indeed could afford to ignore science today? At every turn, we have to seek its aid. The future belongs to science and those who make friends with science.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“The boundaries of democracy have to be widened so as to include economic equality also. This is the great revolution through which we are all passing.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Success often comes to those who dare to act. It seldom goes to the timid who are ever afraid of the consequences.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Failure comes only when we forget our ideals and objectives and principles.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“To be successful in life, what you need is education.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“It is far better to know our own weaknesses and failures than to point out those of others.” — Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru Quotes About Life

“A great disaster is a symbol to us to remember all the big things of life and forget the small things, of which we have thought too much.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“The light has gone out of our lives, and there is darkness everywhere.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“It is now clear that science is incapable of ordering life. A life is ordered by values.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“The forces in a capitalist society, if left unchecked, tend to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Action to be effective must be directed to clearly conceived ends.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“It is a fundamental rule of human life, that if the approach is good, the response is good.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“For only they can sense life who stand often on the verge of it, only they whose lives are not governed by the fear of death.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“I think the years I have spent in prison have been the most formative and important in my life because of the discipline, the sensations, but chiefly the opportunity to think clearly, to try to understand things.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“It is dangerous and harmful to be guided in our life’s course by hatreds and aversions, for they are wasteful of energy and limit and twist the mind and prevent it from perceiving the truth.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“There is only one thing that remains to us, that cannot be taken away: to act with courage and dignity and to stick to the ideals that have given meaning to life.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“If any person raises his hand to strike down another on the ground of religion, I shall fight him till the last breath of my life, both as the head of the government and from the outside.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“The light has gone out of our lives, and there is darkness everywhere following Gandhi’s assassination.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Ignorance is always afraid of change.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm, and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“The future has to be lived before it can be written about.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“I want nothing to do with any religion concerned with keeping the masses satisfied to live in hunger, filth, and ignorance.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“There is perhaps nothing so bad and so dangerous in life as fear.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“It is better to understand a part of truth and apply it to our lives than to understand nothing at all and flounder helplessly in a vain attempt to pierce the mystery of existence.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Yet the past is ever with us, and all that we are and that we have comes from the past. We are its products, and we live immersed in it. Not to understand it and feel it as something living within us is not to understand the present. To combine it with the present and extend it to the future, to break from it where it cannot be so united, to make of all this the pulsating and vibrating material for thought and action – that is life.” — Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru Quotes About Nation

“You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its women.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“We can’t encourage narrow mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Children are like buds in a garden and should be carefully and lovingly nurtured, as they are the future of the nation and the citizens of tomorrow.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“India cannot sit on the fence anymore. It may have to make a choice. Either way, it is going face problems,” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“It is the habit of every aggressor nation to claim that it is acting on the defensive.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“All the nations and peoples are too closely knit together today for any one of them to imagine that it can live apart. Peace has been said to be indivisible, so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster in this one world that can no longer be split into isolated fragments.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“I am the last Englishman to rule in India.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“A tyrst with destiny – A the stroke of midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awaken to life and Freedom.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Blood and tears are going to be our lot, whether we like them or not. Our blood and tears will flow; maybe the parched soil of India needs them so that the fine flower of freedom may grow again.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“It is science alone that can solve the problems of hunger and poverty, of insanitation and illiteracy, of superstition and deadening custom and tradition, of vast resources running to waste, or a rich country inhabited by starving people… Who indeed could afford to ignore science today? At every turn, we have to seek its aid… The future belongs to science and those who make friends with science.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. 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.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“For the first time, I began to think, consciously and deliberately, of religion and other worlds. The Hindu religion especially went up in my estimation; not the ritual or ceremonial part, but its great books, the “Upnishads,” and the Bhagavad Gita.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. 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.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Citizenship consists in the service of the country.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“India has known the innocence and insouciance of childhood, the passion and abandon of youth, and the ripe wisdom of maturity that comes from long experience of pain and pleasure; and over and over again she has renewed her childhood and youth and age.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Culture is the widening of the mind and of the spirit. It is never a narrowing of the mind or a restriction of the human spirit or the country’s spirit.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“The Ganga to me is the symbol of India’s memorable past which has been flowing into the present and continues to flow towards the ocean of the future.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“What we need is a generation of peace.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“The future belongs to science and those who make friends with science.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“A country under foreign domination seeks escape from the present in dreams of a vanished age and finds consolation in visions of past greatness. That is a foolish and dangerous pastime in which many of us indulge. An equally questionable practice for us in India is to imagine that we are still spiritually great though we have come down in the world in other respects. Spiritual or any other greatness cannot be founded on lack of freedom and opportunity, or on starvation and misery.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Poverty anywhere is a danger to prosperity everywhere.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“A country is known by the way it treats its animals.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“No country or people who are slaves to dogma and the dogmatic mentality can progress, and unhappily our country and people have become extraordinarily dogmatic and little-minded.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“At the dawn of history, India started on her unending quest, and trackless centuries are filled with her striving and the grandeur of her success and her failures. Through good and ill fortune alike, she has never lost sight of that quest or forgotten the ideals which gave her strength.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Where freedom is menaced, or justice threatened or where aggression takes place, we cannot be and shall not be neutral.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.”— Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru Quotes About Peace

“Peace is not merely an absence of war. It is also a state of mind.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“The basic fact of today is the tremendous pace of change in human life.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Without peace, all other dreams vanish and are reduced to ashes.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“I have long believed that the only way peace can be achieved is through world government.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“The man who has gotten everything he wants is all in favor of peace and order.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people.” — Jawaharlal Nehru
“Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul. Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people. ”— Jawaharlal Nehru
“Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul. Peace is not merely the absence of war. It is also a state of mind. Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people.” — Jawaharlal Nehru

What is Jawaharlal Nehru famous for?

Jawaharlal Nehru is famous for being the first Prime Minister of India, and he was influential in gaining independence from Britain. Jawaharlal Nehru became Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru after King George VI awarded his knighthood to him. Also, he served an integral role to help gain Indian Independence from British rule starting back with Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolent protest movement against oppression called The Salt Satyagraha (1930).

What Jawaharlal Nehru did for India?

Nehru was a hugely influential figure in the history of India. In 1947, he became Prime Minister and started to build this new nation from scratch. Nehru had many great qualities that allowed him to do what he did – among them his intelligence, dedication, charisma with people, and the ability for hard work under pressure.

He is one of the most important political leaders in Indian history because when it comes down to it, without Nehru’s leadership, there would not have been an independent democratic country called “India.”

How many years Jawaharlal Nehru ruled India?

Jawaharlal Nehru ruled India for a total of 17 years.

During his period as Prime Minister, he led the country in war times with Pakistan in 1947 and oversaw economic reforms that helped it recover from centuries of colonial rule by Britain. He was also an advocate for democracy and became popular worldwide after delivering speeches on Indian independence at international forums like the United Nations General Assembly.