We always said that our struggle was not only against the British as representatives of colonialism, it was against all the evil that existed in India. The evil of the feudal system, the evil of the system based on caste, the evil of economic injustice.

The civil servant is primarily the master of the short-term solution.

Education is a liberating force, and in our age it is also a democratizing force, cutting across the barriers of caste and class, smoothing out inequalities imposed by birth and other circumstances.

I refuse to indulge in small talk. And compliments, if at all, I save for after the job is done.

People often ask me: Who has influenced you the most? Your father? Mahatma Gandhi? Yes, my choices were fundamentally influenced by them, by the spirit of equality they infused in me - my obsession for justice comes from my father, who in turn got it from Mahatma Gandhi.

Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.

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.