I don't mind if my life goes in the service of the nation. If I die, every drop of my blood will invigorate the nation.

Do you know why I won the last elections? It was because the people liked me, yes, because I had worked, yes, but also because the opposition had behaved badly toward me. And do you know why I won this war? Because my army was able to do it, yes, but also because the Americans were on the side of Pakistan.

My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition.

Nothing can convince me that people are at one with their work unless they're joyous about it.

I examine the consequences later, when a new situation arises and I then face the new situation. And that's it.

I had recently had the impression they were changing - not so much by becoming less pro-Pakistan as by becoming less anti-India. I was wrong. My visit to [Richard] Nixon did anything but avert the war.

All my games were political games; I was, like Joan of Arc, perpetually being burned at the stake.