One Life Is Not Enough Quotes

“When necessary bend like a willow, when necessary stand unbending like an oak.”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life Is Not Enough

“Jawaharlal Nehru was severely critical of the ICS which was disdainfully called ‘neither Indian nor civil nor service’.”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life Is Not Enough

“In order to create an identity, people need an idea of nationhood which transcends religion. Pakistanis to this day have not been able to answer that profound question: who are we?”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life is Not Enough

“In the modern world, economic policy takes precedence over foreign policy. This is a fundamental change in the way the world is moving today.”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life Is Not Enough

“modern India is Jawaharlal Nehru’s creation. He laid the foundations of a democratic, secular, pluralistic and inclusive nation-state and succeeding Prime Ministers strengthened those foundations.”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life Is Not Enough

“Duniya ek ajab saraye-faani dekhi, Har baat yahan ki aani-jaani dekhi. Jo aake na jaaye wo budhapa dekha, Jo jaake na aaye wo jawaani dekhi.”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life is Not Enough

“Jean Jacques Rousseau, man is not born free. Equality between human beings is impossible, although they could achieve a measure of fraternity.”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life is Not Enough

“Mao not once said that China was on top in anything. This studied modesty is typical of all Chinese leaders, and in contrast to our leaders who all the time pat themselves on the back and throw their achievements in the face of others. The Chinese tone is like, ‘we have done little, we wish to learn from you.”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life is Not Enough

“On 15 August 1997, during the occasion of fifty years of India’s independence, the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust organized an international conference to which former Zambian president, Kenneth Kaunda, was invited. In previous years, all participants had been put up in Lalit Suri’s hotel on Barakhamba Road. For the 1997 conference, Sonia decided that all invitees would stay in the Oberoi Hotel. Kaunda arrived a day late and, like in previous years, he drove from the airport to Suri’s hotel. I informed Sonia of his arrival, and that he was staying at Lalit’s hotel. She was incensed and asked me to meet Kaunda and request him to shift to the Oberoi. It was a manifestly unreasonable demand. I had known Kaunda for many years but my errand was a painful one. When I told him about this, he said he had settled down and, after a long flight, needed rest. I conveyed Kaunda’s message to her. That should have ended the matter; it did not. Arrogance took over. She asked me to go back to Kaunda and ask him to shift to the Oberoi. I attempted to dissuade her but she did not relent. I told her she was being irrational. Kaunda was one of Africa’s most admired and respected leaders. He was twenty-two years older than Sonia. Indira Gandhi and Rajiv would never have behaved in such an insensitive manner. On hearing her second message, Kaunda said that this would put him in an embarrassing position. ‘What do I tell Suri?’ he asked. Kaunda could observe my discomfiture. I told him there had been a falling out. Kaunda agreed to shift after apologizing to Suri.”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life is Not Enough

“Manmohan Singh is a decent though spineless man, who never stands up for his colleagues. He asked me to meet Sonia. I refused. Where honour was involved, no compromise was possible.”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life is Not Enough

“Hand, Great”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life is Not Enough

“We are things that make and pass into the sea upon an unknown mission. —H.G. Wells”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life is Not Enough

“Every man that comes into the world is subject to dissolution. When we have passed away, God alone survives, unchangeable. Whosoever comes to the feast of life, must, before it is over, drink from the cup of death... How much better it is to die with honour than live in infamy!”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life is Not Enough

“To sin by silence when one should protest makes cowards out of men. Let him who dares, speak and speak again, to right the wrongs of men. They say what they say, let them say.”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life is Not Enough

“out the wrong signal, half a dozen”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life Is Not Enough

“I believe that life is a journey without maps.”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life Is Not Enough

“Equality is a receding dream. No level playing fields exist. With apologies to the great Jean Jacques Rousseau, man is not born free. Equality between human beings is impossible, although they could achieve a measure of fraternity.”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life Is Not Enough

“An unexamined life is not worth living. —Plato”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life Is Not Enough

“From history I learnt that progress is not inherent in history. Dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is not a sign of ‘progress’. Two deadly world wars in a generation are melancholy examples of ‘progress’.”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life Is Not Enough

“On his return, Pandit Nehru stopped in Calcutta. The first letter he wrote on his China experience was to Edwina Mountbatten, and shared with her the content of his discussions with the Chinese leaders. Strictly speaking, this was against the oath of secrecy he had taken.”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life Is Not Enough

“On his return, Pandit Nehru stopped in Calcutta. The first letter he wrote on his China experience was to Edwina Mountbatten, and shared with her the content of his discussions with the Chinese leaders. Strictly speaking, this was against the oath of secrecy he had taken. At the time, of course, no one knew of this letter, and only came to light later when his selected works, edited by S. Gopal, were published.”
― K. Natwar Singh, One Life Is Not Enough