For me the only point that has remained unchanged through the years is that in India there is still so much poverty.

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.

At first people asked us, 'Can you do it?' And we kept silent because we didn't believe in ourselves, we didn't believe that we could do things. Today people no longer say to us, 'Can you?' They say, 'When can you?' Because the Indians finally believe in themselves, they believe they can do things.

Peace we want because there is another war to fight against poverty, disease and ignorance.

I don't know how to put on an act; I always show myself for what I am, in whatever mood I'm in.

You've never been very generous, you Westerners, toward us Indians. You should have seen that things were changing, albeit slowly. You should have seen that something was happening. Not much, but something.

Our pride has grown in the last twenty-five years, though others don't understand it and underestimate it.