Indira Gandhi Birth Anniversary: Famous Quotes By 'Iron Lady Of India' – In Pics

“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.” Indira Gandhi was born in Allahabad, India, on November 19, 1917. She was India's first female prime minister, serving three consecutive terms (1966-77) and a fourth term from 1980 till her death in 1984. (Image Source: Getty)

“You can’t shake hands with a clenched fist.” Indira Nehru was the only child of Jawaharlal Nehru, who was a key role in India's campaign for independence from Britain, a leading leader of the powerful and long-dominant Indian National Congress (Congress Party), and the country's first prime minister (1947-64) (Image Source: Getty)

“Winning or losing the election is less important than strengthening the country.”Her grandfather, Motilal Nehru, was a leader in the independence struggle and a close friend of Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi. (Image Source: Getty)

“Have a bias toward action – let’s see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away.” “I am not a person to be pressured – by anybody or any nation.” She spent a year at Visva-Bharati University in Shantiniketan (now Bolpur, West Bengal state) and then at the University of Oxford in England. In 1938, she joined the Congress Party. (Image Source: Getty)

“All the people who fought for freedom were my heroes. I mean, that was the sort of story I liked reading freedom struggles and so on.” She was elected to the largely honorary position of party president in 1959. (Image Source: Getty)

“This is why we feel that democracy’s important: because democracy allows you to have small explosions and therefore avoid the bigger explosions.” Following Shastri's unexpected death in January 1966, Gandhi was named Congress Party leader—and consequently prime minister—in a compromise between the party's right and left wings. (Image Source: Getty)

“If I die a violent death, as some fear and a few are plotting, I know that the violence will be in the thought and the action of the assassins, not in my dying.” Her leadership, however, was often challenged by the party's right wing, led by former finance minister Morarji Desai. (Image Source: Getty)

“The power to question is the basis of all human progress.” Gandhi was known as Prime Minister for her political tenacity and extraordinary concentration of power. (Image Source: Getty)

“Martyrdom does not end something, it is only a beginning.” She went to war with Pakistan in support of the independence movement and the battle of independence in East Pakistan, resulting in an Indian triumph and the formation of Bangladesh, as well as expanding India's dominance to the point that it became the sole regional force in South Asia. (Image Source: Getty)

Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave. Indira Gandhi was named Woman of the Millennium in a BBC online poll in 1999. Time magazine named Gandhi one of the world's 100 most powerful women of the twentieth century in 2020. (Image Source: Getty)