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The Purely Agitational Attitude Is Not Good Enough For A Detailed Consideration Of A Subject.

-Jawaharlal Nehru

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The Purely Agitational Attitude

Jawaharlal Nehru

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The Purely Agitational Attitude Is Not Good Enough For A Detailed Consideration Of A Subject.

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Not Good Enough

More From Jawaharlal Nehru

In Order To Understand People, We Have To Understand Their Way Of Life And Approach. If We Wish To Convince Them, We Have To Use Their Language In The Narrow Sense Of The Mind. Something That Goes Even Much Further Than That Is Not The Appeal To Logic And Reason, But Some Kind Of Emotional Awareness Of The Other People.

It Is Only Too Easy To Make Suggestions And Later Try To Escape The Consequences Of What We Say.

It Is A Fundamental Rule Of Human Life, That If The Approach Is Good, The Response Is Good.

Wars Are Fought To Gain A Certain Objective. War Itself Is Not The Objective; Victory Is Not The Objective; You Fight To Remove The Obstruction That Comes In The Way Of Your Objective. If You Let Victory Become The End In Itself Then You've Gone Astray And Forgotten What You Were Originally Fighting About.

No Country Or People Who Are Slaves To Dogma And Dogmatic Mentality Can Progress.

As Fear Is A Close Companion To Falsehood, So Truth Follows Fearlessness.

Great Causes And Little Men Go Ill Together.

Science And Technology Have Freed Humanity From Many Burdens And Given Us This New Perspective And Great Power. This Power Can Be Used For The Good Of All. If Wisdom Governs Our Actions; But If The World Is Mad Or Foolish, It Can Destroy Itself Just When Great Advances And Triumphs Are Almost Without Its Grasp.

It Is The Habit Of Every Aggressor Nation To Claim That It Is Acting On The Defensive.

I Wish That More And More Adventurous Young Men Would Give Up The Gun In Favour Of The Camera.

Let Us Be A Little Humble; Let Us Think That The Truth May Not Perhaps Be Entirely With Us.

What The Mysterious Is I Do Not Know. I Do Not Call It God Because God Has Come To Mean Much That I Do Not Believe In. I Find Myself Incapable Of Thinking Of A Deity Or Of Any Unknown Supreme Power In Anthropomorphic Terms, And The Fact That Many People Think So Is Continually A Source Of Surprise To Me. Any Idea Of A Personal God Seems Very Odd To Me.

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.

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.

Please Remember That Law And Sense Are Not Always The Same.

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 It's Great Books, The "upnishads," And The "bhagavad Gita."

The Basic Fact Of Today Is The Tremendous Pace Of Change In Human Life.

It Is Far Better To Know Our Own Weaknesses And Failures Than To Point Out Those Of Others.

Remember Always That There Not So Very Much Difference Between Various People As We Seem To Imagine. Maps And Atlases Show Us Countries In Different Colors. Undoubtedly People Do Differ From One Another, But They Resemble Each Other Also A Great Deal, And It Is Well To Keep This In Mind And Not Misled By Colors On The Map Or By National Boundaries.

What We Really Are Matters More Than What Other People Think Of Us.

Those Who Boast Are Seldom The Great.

When You Imitate The Enemy's Tactics, You Take On His Liabilities.

I Am The Last Englishman To Rule In India.

...that Great Lover Of Peace, A Man Of Giant Stature Who Moulded, As Few Other Men Have Done, The Destinies Of His Age.

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.

Failure Comes Only When We Forget Our Ideals And Objectives And Principles.

Facts Are Facts And Will Not Disappear On Account Of Your Likes.

A Theory Must Be Tempered With Reality.

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 Moulded Them

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

Every Little Thing Counts In A Crisis.

The Light Has Gone Out Of Our Lives And There Is Darkness Everywhere Following Gandhi's Assassination.

There Is Nothing More Horrifying Than Stupidity In Action.

Peace Is Not Merely An Absence Of War. It Is Also A State Of Mind.

America Is A Country No One Should Go To For The First Time.

Unity Must Be Of The Mind And Heart, A Sense Of Belonging Together And Of Facing Together Those Who Attack It.

Time Is Not Measured By The Passing Of Years But By What One Does, What One Feels, And What One Achieves.

Crises And Deadlocks When They Occur Have At Least This Advantage, That They Force Us To Think.

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.

Democracy Is Good. I Say This Because Other Systems Are Worse.

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 A Gain She Has Renewed Her Childhood And Youth And Age

It Is Always More Difficult To Fight One's Own Failings Than The Power Of An Adversary.

Democracy And Socialism Are Means To An End, Not The End Itself.

Socialism Is... Not Only A Way Of Life, But A Certain Scientific Approach To Social And Economic Problems.

The Forces In A Capitalist Society, If Left Unchecked, Tend To Make The Rich Richer And The Poor Poorer.

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.

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.

People Avoid Action. Often Because They Are Afraid Of The Consequences, For Action Means Risk And Danger. Danger Seems Terrible From A Distance; It Is Not So Bad If You Have A Close Look At It

Action Itself, So Long As I Am Convinced That It Is Right Action, Gives Me Satisfaction.

Loyal And Efficient Work In A Great Cause, Even Though It May Not Be Immediately Recognized, Ultimately Bears Fruit.

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.

Most Things, Except Agriculture, Can Wait

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.

Logic And Cold Reason Are Poor Weapons To Fight Fear And Distrust. Only Faith And Generosity Can Overcome Them.

Its [communism's] Unfortunate Association With Violence Encourages A Certain Evil Tendency In Human Beings.

I Think That Sacrifices Of Animals In The Name Of Religion Are Barbarous And They Degrade The Name Of Religion.

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.

To Be Successful In Life What You Need Is Education.

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.

I Have Become A Queer Mixture Of The East And The West, Out Of Place Everywhere, At Home Nowhere.

The Light Has Gone Out Of Our Lives... Yet I Am Wrong, For The Light That Shone In This Country Was No Ordinary Light... And A Thousand Years Later That Light Will Still Be Seen In This Country And The World Will See It... For That Light Represented The Living Truth.

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.

By Education I Am An Englishman, By Views An Internationalist, By Culture A Muslim And A Hindu Only By Accident Of Birth.

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.

It Is Now Clear That Science Is Incapable Of Ordering Life. A Life Is Ordered By Values.

Lasting Peace Can Come Only To Peaceful People.

The Future Belongs To Science And Those Who Make Friends With Science.

Hunger And Poverty

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.

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.

The Future Has To Be Lived Before It Can Be Written About.

India Cannot Sit On The Fence Anymore. It May Have To Make A Choice. Either Way It Is Going Face Problems.

Theoretical Approaches Have Their Place And Are, I Suppose, Essential But A Theory Must Be Tempered With Reality.

Ignorance Is Always Afraid Of Change.

I Want Nothing To Do With Any Religion Concerned With Keeping The Masses Satisfied To Live In Hunger, Filth, And Ignorance. I Want Nothing To Do With Any Order, Religious Or Otherwise, Which Does Not Teach People That They Are Capable Of Becoming Happier And More Civilized On This Earth, Capable Of Becoming Master Of His Fate And Captain Of His Soul.

Long Years Ago, We Made A Tryst With Destiny And Now The Time Comes When We Shall Redeem Our Pledge... At The Stroke Of The Midnight Hour, When The World Sleeps, India Will Awake To Life And Freedom.

If I Was Asked What Is The Greatest Treasure Which India Possesses And What Is Her Finest Heritage, I Would Answer Unhesitatingly That It Is The Samskrit Language And Literature And All That It Contains. This Is A Magnificent Inheritance And So Long As This Endures And Influences The Life Of Our People, So Long Will The Basic Genius Of India Continue. If Our Race Forgot The Buddha, The Upanishads And The Great Epics (ramayana And Mahabharata), India Would Cease To Be India .

Greatest Treasure

The Purely Agitational Attitude Is Not Good Enough For A Detailed Consideration Of A Subject.

Not Good Enough

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.

Success Often Comes To Those Who Dare To Act. It Seldom Goes To The Timid Who Are Ever Afraid Of The Consequences.

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 Human Ity.

I Want Nothing To Do With Any Religion Concerned With Keeping The Masses Satisfied To Live In Hunger, Filth, And Ignorance.

Life Is Like A Game Of Cards. The Hand You Are Dealt Is Determinism; The Way You Play It Is Free Will.

We Live In A Wonderful World That Is Full Of Beauty, Charm And Adventure.

A Man Who Is Afraid Will Do Anything.

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.

Democracies Have

Poverty Anywhere Is A Danger To Prosperity Everywhere

The Ganga, Especially, Is The River Of India, Beloved Of Her People, Round Which Are Intertwined Her Memories, Her Hopes And Fears, Her Songs Of Triumph, Her Victories And Her Defeats. She Has Been A Symbol Of India's Age-long Culture And Civilization, Ever Changing, Ever Flowing, And Yet Ever The Same Ganga.

The Spectacle Of What Is Called Religion, Or At Any Rate Organised Religion, In India And Elsewhere, Has Filled Me With Horror And I Have Frequently Condemned It And Wished To Make A Clean Sweep Of It. Almost Always It Seemed To Stand For Blind Belief And Reaction, Dogma And Bigotry, Superstition, Exploitation And The Preservation Of Vested Interests.

Citizenship Consists In The Service Of The Country.

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?

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.

History Is Almost Always Written By The Victors And Conquerors And Gives Their View. Or, At Any Rate, The Victors' Version Is Given Prominence And Holds The Field.

A Leader Or A Man Of Action In A Crisis Almost Always Acts Subconsciously And Then Thinks Of The Reasons For His Action.

Slogans Are Apt To Petrify Man's Thinking ... Every Slogan, Every Word Almost, That Is Used By The Socialist, The Communist, The Capitalist. People Hardly Think Nowadays. They Throwt Words At Each Other.

Act With Courage And Dignity; Stick To The Ideals That Give Meaning To Life.

What We Need Is A Generation Of Peace.

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.

You Can Tell The Condition Of A Nation By Looking At The Status Of Its Women.

In Our Society Competitive Capitalism Has Put Family Life And Working Life On A Collision Course.in Canada Statistics Show That Over 70 Percent Of The Burden Of Caring For Children, The Aged, The Disabled And The Sick Falls On Women Most Of Whom Receive No Pay For These Very Essential Tasks.normally Speaking, It May Be Said That The Forces Of Capitalism, If Left Unchecked, Tend To Make The Rich Richer And The Poor Poorer And Thus Increase The Gap Between Them.

What Is History, Indeed, But A Record Of Change?

Culture Is The Widening Of The Mind And Of The Spirit.

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.

If In The Modern World Wars Have Unfortunately To Be Fought (and They Do, It Seems) Then They Must Be Stopped At The First Possible Moment, Otherwise They Corrupt Us, They Create New Problems And Make Our Future Even More Uncertain. That Is More Than Morality; It's Sense.

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.

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.

When The Present Is Full Of Gloom, The Past Becomes Haven Of Refuge That Provides Relief And Inspiration.

A Tyrst With Destiny - A The Stroke Of Midnight Hour, When The World Sleeps, India Will Awaken To Life And Freedom

Evil Unchecked Grows, Evil Tolerated Poisons The Whole System.

Those Who Are Prepared To Die For Any Cause Are Seldom Defeated.

I Have Long Believed That The Only Way Peace Can Be Achieved Is Through World Government.

World Government

Action To Be Effective Must Be Directed To Clearly Conceived Ends.

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.

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.

Often In History We See That Religion, Which Was Meant To Raise Us And Make Us Better And Nobler, Has Made People Behave Like Beasts. Instead Of Bringing Enlightenment Of Them, It Has Often Tried To Keep Them In The Dark; Instead Of Broadening Their Minds, It Has Frequently Made Them Narrow-minded And Intolerant Of Others.

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.

The Person Who Runs Away Exposes Himself To That Very Danger More Than A Person Who Sits Quietly.

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.

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