These sayings by some of the country’s top icons continue to guide and inspire us.

1. Imperishable thoughts

One individual may die for an idea; but that idea will, after his death, incarnate itself in a thousand lives. – Subhas Chandra Bose.

2. Mind over machine guns

Bombs and pistols do not make a revolution. The sword of revolution is sharpened on the whetting-stone of ideas. – Bhagat Singh.

3. The religion of togetherness

The emphasis on religion as a basis of defining majorities and minorities in a secular state is quite misplaced and contradiction in terms. You all understand, I am sure, that religion does not aim at dividing. On the other hand, all true religions have a basic unity. – Lal Bahadur Shastri.

4. The first step forward

Progress is implied in independence. Without self-government neither industrial progress is possible, nor the educational scheme will be useful to the nation… – Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

5. The power of the youth

What the country needs most at the present moment is a spirit of self-sacrifice on the part of our educated young men, and they may take it from me that they cannot spend their lives in a better cause than raising the moral and intellectual level of their unhappy low castes and promoting their well-being. – Gopal Krishna Gokhale.

6. Ideal India

No one would die of starvation in independent India… Its military expenditure would not be heavy. Its army would not subjugate its own people or other lands. Its best-paid officials would not earn a great deal more than its lowest-paid servants. And finding justice in it would be neither costly nor difficult. – Sardar Vallabhai Patel.

7. Sinless society

Seven social sins: politics without principles, wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, and worship without sacrifice. – Mahatma Gandhi.

8. The changemakers among US

If a country is to be corruption-free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher. – APJ Abdul Kalam.

9. Defining oneself

I say it is not your pride that you are a Madrasi, it is not your pride that you a brahmin, it is not your pride that you belong to south India, it is not your pride that you are a Hindu, that it is your pride that you are an Indian. – Sarojini Naidu.

10. More than legalities

So long as you do not achieve social liberty, whatever freedom is provided by the law is of no avail to you. – BR Ambedkar.