Wings of Fire: An Autobiography (Digital Exclusive Edition)

by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

"Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts."

"To succeed in life and achieve results, you must understand and master three mighty forces— desire, belief, and expectation."

"Let not thy winged days be spent in vain. When once gone no gold can buy them back again."

"He who knows others is learned, but the wise one is the one who knows himself. Learning without wisdom is of no use."

Desire, when it stems from the heart and spirit, when it is pure and intense, possesses awesome electromagnetic energy. This energy is released into the ether each night, as the mind falls into the sleep state. Each morning it returns to the conscious state reinforced with the cosmic currents. That which has been imaged will surely and certainly be manifested. You can rely, young man, upon this ageless promise as surely as you can rely upon the eternally unbroken promise of sunrise... and of Spring.

once your mind stretches to a new level it never goes back to its original dimension.

You cannot expect a person to deliver results if you humiliate him, nor can you expect him to be creative if you abuse him or despise him. The line between firmness and harshness, between strong leadership and bullying, between discipline and vindictiveness is very fine, but it has to be drawn. Unfortunately, the only line prominently drawn in our country today is between the 'heroes' and the 'zeros'.

"Bread baked without love is a bitter bread that feeds but half a man's hunger,"—those who cannot work with their hearts achieve but a hollow, half-hearted success that breeds bitterness all around.

For all your days prepare And meet them ever alike When you are the anvil, bear - When you are the hammer, strike.