WIST Quotations

Nehru, Jawaharlal -- “The Bombing of Open Towns,” speech, International Peace Campaign Conference, Paris (24 Jul 1938)

Dave — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 19:48:56 +0000

Because we have sought to cover up past evil, though it still persists, we have been powerless to check the new evil of today. Evil unchecked grows, evil tolerated poisons the whole system. And because we have tolerated our past and present evils, international affairs are poisoned and law and justice have disappeared from them.

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) Indian nationalist leader, politician, statesman, author
“The Bombing of Open Towns,” speech, International Peace Campaign Conference, Paris (24 Jul 1938)
(Source)

Nehru was comparing rising fascism to colonial imperialism, and the bombings of cities in Spain and China to ongoing British bombing of villages in the North-West Frontier of India. Collected in The Unity of India : Collected Writings, 1937-1940 (1942).

Nehru, Jawaharlal -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will. So I think I have perhaps learned that it is better to make the most of what you are than to rue yourself into exhaustion because you are not someone else.

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) Indian nationalist leader, politician, statesman, author
(Attributed)

Nehru, Jawaharlal -- Glimpses of World History, Letter 82, 4 Aug 1932 (1934)

Dave — Fri, 09 Dec 2022 17:40:21 +0000

Ignorance is always afraid of change. It fears the unknown and sticks to its rut, however miserable it may be there. In its blindness it stumbles on anyhow.

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) Indian nationalist leader, politician, statesman, author
Glimpses of World History, Letter 82, 4 Aug 1932 (1934)
(Source)

Nehru, Jawaharlal -- Quoted in Edgar Snow, Journey to the Beginning

Dave — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 16:26:34 +0000

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 true man, master of his fate and captain of his soul. To attain this I would put priests to work, also, and turn the temples into schools.

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) Indian nationalist leader, politician, statesman, author
Quoted in Edgar Snow, Journey to the Beginning

Nehru, Jawaharlal -- Quoted in the London Observer (29 Aug 1954)

Dave — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:06:22 +0000

The only alternative to coexistence is codestruction.

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) Indian nationalist leader, politician, statesman, author
Quoted in the London Observer (29 Aug 1954)