I know I'll astonish everyone by talking like this, but it's God's truth. Honors have never tempted me and I've never sought them.

My father was a statesman, I'm a political woman. My father was a saint. I'm not.

Until I was about eighteen, yes [I didn't want to get married]. But not because I felt like a suffragette, but because I wanted to devote all my energies to the struggle to free India. Marriage, I thought, would have distracted me from the duties I'd imposed on myself.

As I always say, I do not wish you an easy time, but I wish you that whatever difficulty you may have, you will overcome it.

... where does strength come from? It is not muscle strength any more. It is not also mere intellectual strength. What is strength? Strength is the support of the people.

Maybe I would have considered the problem if I'd met someone with whom I'd have liked to live. But I never met this someone and... No, even if I had met him, I'm sure I wouldn't have got married again. Why should I get married now that my life is so full? No, no, it's out of the question.

Life is always full of dangers and I don't think one should avoid dangers.