True power does not need arrogance, a long beard and a barking voice. True power strangles you with silk ribbons, charm and intelligence.

Sometimes I ask myself whether [Indira Gandhi] had, even then, a certain contempt for the system she represented and, years later, would overthrow.

You cannot survive if you do not know the past.

Besides the things I asked [Indira Gandhi], she told me about her son Rajiv, who is married to an Italian girl and is a pilot for Air India, then of her younger son Sanjay, who is an automobile designer and still a bachelor.

I have reached the conclusion that those who have physical courage also have moral courage. Physical courage is a great test.

I am an atheist, and if an atheist and a pope think the same things, there must be something true. There must be some human truth that is beyond religion.

I didn't want to kill a man. I'm not capable of killing a man. I wanted to kill a tyrant.