Dr Abdul Kalam's Golden Words

We lost a great leader and our 11th President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam on July 27, 2015. A scientist and a great visionary, Dr Kalam was loved and respected by one and all. He was known as India’s Missile Man due to his long association with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Space Research Organisation, where he played the role of a scientist and science administrator to the hilt, and was actively involved with our country’s space programme and military missile development efforts.

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam was born in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. He finished his studies and went on to join DRDO as a scientist. He became the President of India in 2002. He was the third person to have been awarded India’s highest civilian honour – Bharat Ratna – before becoming the President.

After leaving the office of the President in 2007, Dr Kalam involved himself with many educational institutions.

He was a visiting professor at IIM Shillong, IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Indore and honorary fellow of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and was involved with many other of the country’s prominent and science-oriented educational establishments in various  capacities. 

He dreamt of India as a developed country and a knowledge superpower by the year 2020 and called upon students of the nation to come forward to achieve that.

Dr Kalam inspired the youth of this country by the books he wrote, prominent among them being Ignited minds and his autobiography Wings of fire. Never one to stop working, the great leader had just started addressing his beloved community – the students – at IIM Shillong, when he suffered a cardiac arrest that was to take him away from us. Today, this article is a homage to the great believer of student power. Following are some of the most inspirational quotes from this beloved leader:

• Thinking should become your capital asset, no matter whatever ups and downs you come across in your life.
• You have to dream before your dreams can come true.
• A dream is not that which you see in sleep, a dream is something that doesn’t let you sleep.
• To succeed in your mission you should have single minded devotion towards your goal.
• Excellence is a continuous process and not an accident.
• An end is not the end, in fact, END means Efforts Never Die.
• If you fail, never give up, because FAIL means First Attempt In Learning.
• If you get ‘No’ as an answer, remember NO means Next Opportunity.
• Dream, dream, dream. Dreams transform into thoughts and thoughts result in actions.
• Confidence and hard work are the best medicine to kill the disease called failure.
• You cannot change your future, but you can change your habits and surely your habits will change your future.
• Don’t take rest after your first victory because if you fail in the second, more lips are waiting to say that your first victory was just luck.
• If you want to shine like the sun then first you must burn like the sun.
• Be more dedicated to making solid achievements than to running after swift but synthetic happiness.
• Without your involvement you cant succeed and with your involvement you can’t fail.
• Vision ignites minds.
• Your best teacher is your last mistake.
• It is very easy to defeat someone, but it is very difficult to win someone.
• Man needs his difficulties because they are necessary to enjoy success.
• I am not a handsome guy but I can give my hand to someone who needs help. Beauty is in the heart, not in the face.