It was at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, when India finally attained its freedom from the British Raj, which lasted over 200 years. The first Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru announced this in a speech to the nation and he also hoisted the Indian flag at Lahore Gate, Red Fort in Delhi. Since then, every year August 15 is celebrated as Independence Day in India. And following the tradition, the Prime Minister of the country hoists the Indian flag and addresses the nation. This is a day when patriotism is in the air and people remember the selfless acts and struggles of our freedom fighters. The Indian flag is hoisted at government offices, schools, and even at homes celebrating our country. Cultural events depicting our patriotism and love for the country are also organised in school, colleges, and at various public places.
As we celebrate India's 77th Independence Day this year, here we list down some inspirational quotes on Indian Independence Day by famous personalities. Read on to know more:
1. "Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom." - Jawaharlal Nehru
2. Where the mind is without fear and the head held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening thought and action;
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
- Rabindranath Tagore
3. "Let new India arise out of peasants' cottage, grasping the plow, out of huts, cobbler, and sweeper." -Swami Vivekananda
4. "Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err." - Mahatma Gandhi
5. “So long as you do not achieve social liberty, whatever freedom is provided by the law is of no avail to you.” - B.R. Ambedkar
6. "Our nation is like a tree of which the original trunk is swarajya and the branches are swadeshi and boycott." - Subhas Chandra Bose
7. "Violent means will give violent freedom. That would be a menace to the world and to India herself." - Mahatma Gandhi
8. "A country's greatness lies in its undying ideals of love and sacrifice that inspire the mothers of the race" - Sarojini Naidu
9. "Freedom is not a mere matter of political decision or new constitutions... it is of the mind and heart and if the mind narrows itself and is befogged and the heart is full of bitterness and hatred, then freedom is absent." - Jawaharlal Nehru
10. "A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people." - Mahatma Gandhi
11. "Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living?" – Mahatma Gandhi.
12. “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” - Jawaharlal Nehru
13. "If your blood does not rage, then it is water that flows in your veins. For what is the flush of youth if it is not of service to the motherland?" – Chandra Shekhar Azad.
14. “A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.”- Mahatma Gandhi
15. “We have believed, and we do believe now that freedom is indivisible, that peace is indivisible, that economic prosperity is indivisible.”- Indira Gandhi
16. "Forget not that the grossest crime is to compromise with injustice and wrong. Remember the eternal law: you must give if you want to get." – Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
17. "Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living?" - Mahatma Gandhi
18. "Democracy and socialism are means to an end, not the end itself."- Jawaharlal Nehru
19. "India is a dream, a vision, and a hope of the greatest nation in the world." - Jawaharlal Nehru
20. "Freedom of mind is the real freedom. A person whose mind is not free though he may not be in chains, is a slave, not a free man. One whose mind is not free, though he may not be in prison, is a prisoner and not a free man. One whose mind is not free though alive, is no better than dead. Freedom of mind is the proof of one's existence"- BR Ambedkar
21. “It is easy to kill individuals, but you cannot kill ideas. Great empires crumbled, while the ideas survived.” - Bhagat Singh
