A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Quotes

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam ( born 15 October 1931) usually referred to as A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, is a renowned aerospace engineer, professor (of Aerospace engineering), and first Chancellor of the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology Thiruvananthapuram (IIST), who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. During his term as President, he was popularly known as the People's President. Abdul Kalam was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour in 1997.
In May 2011, Kalam launched his mission for the youth of the nation called the What Can I Give Movement with a central theme to defeat the evil of corruption. Abdul Kalam better known as a scientist, also has special interest in the field of arts like writing Tamil poems, and also playing the music instrument Veenai.

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Selected Quotes of  A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

1. I realized that if something is at stake, the human minds get ignited and the working capacity gets enhanced manifold.
    
2. Death has never frightened me. After all, everyone has to go one day.
    
3. Desire, when it stems from the heart and spirit, when it is pure and intense, possesses awesome electromagnetic energy. This energy is released into the ether each night, as the mind falls into the sleep state. Each morning it returns to the conscious state reinforced with the cosmic currents. That which has been imaged will surely and certainly be manifested.
    
4. Total commitment is the common denominator among all successful men and women.
    
5. I learnt that in a project, problems would always crop up; we should not allow problems to be our masters but we should defeat the problems. Then successes will sparkle.
    
6. The difference between an energtic and a confused person is the difference in the way their minds handle their experiences. Man needs his difficulties because they are neccessary to enjoy success. All of us carry some sort of a super-intelligence within us. Let it be stimulated to enable us to examine our deepest thoughts, desires, and beliefs.
    
7. The best performances are accomplished when you are relaxed and free of doubt.
    
8. Thinking should become your capital asset, no matter whatever ups and downs you come across in your life.
    
9. For achieving a good governance and great society, the starting point is righteousness in the heart.
    
10. When you speak, speak the truth; perform when you promise; discharge your trust... Withhold your hands from striking, and from taking that which is unlawful and bad.
     
11. I never doubted that the prayers in the temple reached the same destination as the ones offered in our mosque.
     
12. One of the important functions of prayer, I believe, is to act as a stimulus to creative ideas. Within the mind are all the rescources required for successful living. Ideas are present in the consciousness, which when released and given scope to grow and take shape, can lead to successful events. God, our Creator, has stored within our minds and personalities, great potential strength and ability. Prayer help us to tap and develop these powers.
     
13. You cannot expect a person to deliver results if you humiliate him, nor can you expect him to be creative if you abuse him or despise him.
     
14. Good teaching emanates from research. The teachers love for research and their experience in research are vital for the growth of the institution. Any University is judged by the level and extent of the research work it accomplishes. This sets in a regenerative cycle of excellence. Experience of research leads to quality teaching and quality teaching imparted to the young in turn enriches the research.
     
15. My message to you, young friends, is that education gives you wings to fly. Achievement comes out of fire in our sub-conscious mind that "I will win". So, each one of you assembled here and elsewhere, will have "Wings of Fire". The Wing of Fire will indeed lead to knowledge which will make you to fly as a Doctor, or an Engineer, or a scientist, or a teacher, or a political leader, or a bureaucrat or a diplomat or anything you want to be.
     
16. How good is a leader? No better than his people and their commitment and participation in the project as full partners!
     
17. The leader gives the credit for success to those who worked for it, and leader absorbs and owns the responsibility for the failure. This is the leadership.
     
18. Today, about 800 million in India are living in villages, and hence any mission towards prosperity has to be inclusive of the rural regions. As a logical step, we have to address, how the sustainable development of villages can be achieved.
     
19. The leader in any field, political, administrative, scientific, education, industry, judiciary, or any other human activity, should have the creative leadership capacity and courage to absorb the failure and give the successes to his or her team members.
     
20. I consider Prof. Sarabhai as the Mahatma Gandhi of India Science - generating leadership qualities in his team and inspiring them through both ideas and example.
     
21. To be a successful team leader, one has to stay back after the din and clutter of a working day to emerge better-equipped and ready to face a new day.
     
22. The challenge, my young friends, is that you have to fight the hardest battle, which any human being can ever imagine to fight; and never stop fighting until you arrive at your destined place, that is, a UNIQUE YOU! Friends what will be your tools to fight this battle. There are four criteria for building a unique personality, what are they: have a great aim in life, continuously acquire the knowledge, work hard and persevere to realize the great achievement.
     
23. To enable development of youth first and foremost, the teachers love for teaching is essential, with teaching as the soul of the teacher. The teacher must realize that they are responsible for shaping not just students but ignited youth who are the most powerful resource under the earth, on the earth and above the earth. With their full commitment to the great mission of teaching, the teacher transforms himself or herself as a great teacher only when he or she is capable of elevating the average student to high performance.
     
24. You will agree with me that the first loyalty of a journalist must be to the people. A journalist should be independent from any individuals, parties and organizations. While there should be no compromise on truth-telling, media organizations should exercise restraint when it comes to reporting news that may affect national interest, social fabric and peace in the society.
     
25. Whenever human beings find themselves alone, as a natural reaction, they start looking for company. Whenever they are in trouble, they look for someone to help them. Whenever they reach an impasse, they look for someone to show them the way out. Every recurrent anguish, longing, and desire finds its own special helper.
     
26. The biggest problem Indian youth faced, i felt, was a lack of clarity of vision, a lack of diretion.
     
27. When I visualize the five minds of the future(1. Disciplinary mind, 2. Synthesizing mind, 3. Creative mind, 4. Respectful mind, 5. Ethical mind), I have a message for the all the teachers and students. Nurturing all the five minds is possible, if you build the following five capacities among the youth. What are those five capacities? The five capacities are: research and inquiry, creativity and innovation, use of high technology, entrepreneurial and moral leadership are the five capacities required to be built through the education process.