Independence Day in Words of India`s Great Leaders : Narendra Modi

Thursday, July 10, 2025

Independence Day in Words of India`s Great Leaders

Words of our great leaders serve as a reminder of the importance of Independence Day - a day that symbolises more than just a public holiday - it is when our country India became a free nation.

From the memorable speech of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who, on the eve of August 15, 1947 said, "At the dawn of history India started on her unending quest...," to PM Narendra Modi`s remembrance of freedom fighters - only some can do justice to what is arguably the most important date in the history of free India.

Here are a few quotes that capture the essence of Independence Day.

Mahatma Gandhi

I believe that the civilization India evolved is not to be beaten in the world. Nothing can equal the seeds sown by our ancestors, Rome went, Greece shared the same fate; the might of the Pharaohs was broken; Japan has become Westernized; of China nothing can be said; but India is still, somehow or other, sound at the foundation.

Jawaharlal Nehru

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.

Subhash Chandra Bose

One individual may die for an idea; but that idea will, after his death, incarnate itself in a thousand lives. That is how the wheel of evolution moves on and the ideas and dreams of one nation are bequeathed to the next.

Swami Vivekananda

If you think that you are bound, you remain bound; you make your own bondage. If you know that you are free, you are free this moment. This is knowledge, knowledge of freedom. Freedom is the goal of all nature.

Rabindranath Tagore (Gitanjali)

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.

Lal Bahadur Shastri

Force will be met with force. It doesn`t matter if we are destroyed. We will fight to the last to maintain the high honour of the Indian nation and its flag.

Indira Gandhi

Even if I died in the service of the nation, I would be proud of it. Every drop of my blood... will contribute to the growth of this nation and to make it strong and dynamic.

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

May our goal be the limitless heights of the sky.
May our feet be on the ground.
May our minds be full of unyielding determination.
May our hands be clasped together.
May our resolve be to march together.
If we do this, our victory is certain.

APJ Abdul Kalam

As a young citizen of India, armed with technology, knowledge and love for my nation, I realize, small aim is a crime.

Narendra Modi

Today as we live and breathe in the air of Independence we again think of all those courageous men who laid down their lives, spent their youthful days in jail, those who didn’t mind hanging by the noose for the cause of India’s Independence.