GS 4 - Some quotations [not exhaustive only indicative]

 DUTY

  • Non nobis solum nati sumus [Not for ourselves alone are we born] -Marcus Tullius Cicero
  • “Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” ― John Stuart Mill
  • “If I were to remain silent, I'd be guilty of complicity.” ― Albert Einstein
  • Human happiness and moral duty are inseparably interconnected.- Geoge Washington
  • Do not free a camel of the burden of his hump, you may be freeing him from being a camel- G.K. Chesterton
  • Be with a leader, when he is right, stay with him when he is still right, but leave him when he is wrong- Abraham Lincoln
  • We survived. You and I. And those who survive have a duty. Our duty is to do our best to keep on living. Even if our lives are not perfect. - Haruki Murakami
  • Do something everyday that you do not want to do, this is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain. - mark Twain
  • The philosophy of Nishkama Karma
  • “One painful duty fulfilled makes the next plainer and easier.”― Helen Keller, The Story of My Life
  • The depiction of sinking Titanic, but orchestra was still playing- fulfilling duty in adversity for momentary easiness.
  • “An enlightened man had but one duty - to seek the way to himself, to reach inner certainty, to grope his way forward, no matter where it led.”― Hermann Hesse
  • “Rise above the deceptions and temptations of the mind. This is your duty. You are born for this only; all other duties are self-created and self-imposed owing to ignorance.”― Sivananda
  • “If death strikes before I prove my blood, I promise, I will kill death.” –  Captain Manoj Pandey (Param Vir Chakra) [duty, valour]
  • “No one should abandon duties because he sees defects in them. Every action, every activity, is surrounded by defects as a fire is surrounded by smoke.” – Bhagavad Gita
  • “It is better to live in your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else’s life with perfection.” – The Bhagavad Gita.
  • You only have the right to work but never to it's fruits.
  • A Person who is satisfied with the gain comes naturally by his will, who is free from all conflicts and does not envy anyone, who remains stable in success and failure, is not bound by Karma
  • If you Do Karma With Selfless Action,then you will be able to free yourself from the bondage of desires.
  • No one attains perfection by merely giving up work because no one can remain action less even for a moment.
  • Example- Ethical Journalism-Revelation of Pandora Papers, Panama Paers etc
  • Protection of Khejdi trees, Chipko Aandolan, Sunderlal Bahuguna- duty towards environmental protection and justice, [recent- Fridays for future, Aarey forest protection
  • Ralph Waldo Emerson - So nigh is grandeur to our dust,So near is God to man, When Duty whispers low, "Thou must," The youth replies, "I can."


INTEGRITY
  • Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching. - C.S.Lewis
  • Integrity is the choice between what is convenient and what is right.
  • Lal Bahadur Shashtri resigned because of rail accident
  • Mysore University Chancellor failed in university exam, he did not utilise personal influence to pass him
  • Gandhiji called off NCM - chauri chaura incident
  • With integrity, you have nothing to fear and nothing to hide, you will do the right thing with no guilt.
  • Integrity is choosing the right thoughts and actions based on values than personal gain.
  • Plato's Unity of virtues- value system exists on the basis of integrity of values
  • The greatestness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively- Bob Marley
  • It is true that integrity alone would never make you a leader, but without integrity you will never be one.
  • Integrity is the ability to stand by an idea. - Ayn Rand
  • Everyone makes mistakes but only the one with integrity owns upto them.
  • If it is not right, do not do it, if it is not the truth , do notsay it. Marcus Aurelius
  • The supreme quality of leadership is integrity. -Eisenhower
  • Nothing at last is sacred but the integrity of your mind. -Ralph Waldo Emerson.
  • Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.- Samuel Johnson
  • Integrity is your destiny, it is the light that guides your way. - Plato
  • The strength of a nation is derived from integrity at home. - Confucius
  • One of the truest tests of integrity is it's blunt refusal to be compromised. - Chinua Achebe
  • The time is always right to do what is right.- artin Luther King Jr
  • Anyone who does not take truth seriously in small ones, cannot be trusted in large ones either.-Albert Einstein
  • There is no such thing as a minor lapse of integrity. -Tom Peters

INDIAN CONTEXT
  • Integrity is included while swearing in oath to public office
  • Constitutional value
  • Shanmugan Manjunath - IOC officer, shot dead when worked actively to stop selling of the adulterated fuel.
  • Rejection of dominion status and demand for Poorna Swaraj by Indian freedom fighters
  • Vidur in guiding Dhritarashtra without fear.
  • Thirukkural
  • Mandela while leading national movement for independence, did not orchestrate fake coup plots to eliminate political opponents, and any other wrongfully guided means, he eschewed impeccable integrity, Similarly Gandhi- and that has left a powerful legacy behind.
  • Mother Teresa, Roman Catholic nun, nobel peace prize winner- symbol of charitable and selfless work, spent many years serving poor and destitute, esp in Kerala
  • Florence Nightangale- commitment to a mission of public service, laid the groundwork in terms of moral accountability and integrity in nursing practice [evidence based practice, courage, commitment, truthfullness, compassion, humility].

DIGNITY, AUTONOMY, FREEDOM
  • “Yet what greater defeat could we suffer than to come to resemble the forces we oppose in their disrespect for human dignity?”― Ruth Bader Ginsburg, My Own Words
  • Movie- Court, Pink
  • Kite Runner, Thousand Splendid Suns- Khaled Hossenei
  • Amrita Pritam's Pinjar, Garam Hawa, 
  • Aristotle- Dignity does not consist in possessing honour but in the consciousness that we deserve them.
  • Those who expect to reap the benefit of freedom must undergo the fatigue of supporting it- Thomas Paine
  • Autonomy is the root of human dignity and source of all morality- Immanuel Kant
  • Dignity ensures that jiva is treated as Shiva- Swami Vivekananda
  • Knowing when to walk away is wisdom. Being able is courage. Walking away, with your head held high is dignity.
  •  Dignity does not consist in possessing honors, but in deserving them.-Aristotle [Movie Coco- the protagonist says that he just does not wants to be a singer because of his father's name, he wants to be worthy of it']
  • One's dignity may be assaulted, vandalized and cruelly mocked, but cannot be taken away unless it is surrendered.Michael J. Fox. In other words  Any man or institution that tries to rob me of my dignity will lose.-Nelson Mandela
  • When decorum is repression, the only dignity free men have is to speak out.- Abbie Hoffman
  • If it's meant for you, you won't have to beg for it. You will never have to sacrifice your dignity for your destiny.
  • Dignity is the ability to stand strong and tall in the face of adversity while being able to sit with the elderly and crawl with the children. Dignity is taking a stand for your beliefs without closing your mind to other’s opinion. Dignity is being an example by your deeds and through your words avoiding gossip, anger and lies. Dignity will manifest itself in the warmth of your smile, the depth of your love and kindness for your fellowman.
  • Protecting Draupadi's dignity- Mahabharata
  • Kafan- Premchand's story- shows importance of dignity in human life. Wife dies, but sheer poverty, husband and father in law takes the money to buy potatoes instead of buying the shroud. Poverty is the worst form of human abuse denying one's dignity.
  • Death with dignity is better than life with humiliation. 
  • The Feminist Movement, Dalit Panthers Movement [for equal rights and dignity], death of Hathras rape victim- no dignity in life, neither in death
  • Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity
  • Modi bowing down to the Parliament before entering- symbolic representation of dignity of the institution
  • Books like - A Vindication of Rights of a Woman- Mary Wollstonecraft, Diary of A Young Girl- Anne Frank, A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf, Baluta by Daya Panwar.
  • Autonomy is different from freedom. It means acting by choice.
“How happy is the little stone
That rambles in the road alone,
And doesn't care about careers,
And exigencies never fears;
Whose coat of elemental brown
A passing universe put on;
And independent as the sun,
Associates or glows alone,
Fulfilling absolute decree
In casual simplicity.”
― Emily Dickinson

PATRIOTISM, NATIONALISM
  • Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.
  • Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.
  • Where liberty dwells, there is my country. (Benjamin Franklin)
  • Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it. (Mark Twain)
  • This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave. (Elmer Davis)
  • Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity. Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong. (James Bryce)
  • Those who would give up essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security. (Benjamin Franklin)
  • We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.
  • Patriotism is the love of the country. But you can’t love your country without loving your countrymen and countrywomen. We don’t always have to agree, but we must empower each other, we must find the common ground, we must build bridges across our differences to pursue the common good.
  • Karo ya maro- Do or Die- Mahatma Gandhi

“Where the mind is without fear
and the head is 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 toward perfection.
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost it's way
into the dreary desert sand of dead habit.
Where the mind is led forward by thee
into ever widening thought and action.
In to that heaven of freedom, my father,
LET MY COUNTRY AWAKE!”- Rabindranath Tagore [Gitanjali]

“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.”

― Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, Writings And Speeches: A Ready Reference Manual



JUSTICE, EQUALITY
  • Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
  • Peace and justice are the two sides of the same coin
  • Injustice anywhere is a threat to peace everywhere- Martin Luther King Jr
  • Veil of Ignorance theory of John Rawls
  • It is in justice where ordering of society takes place- Aristotle
  • Justice is the first value in Preamble
COURAGE
  • If you have the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed.
  • It is courage, courage, courage, that raises the blood of life to crimson splendour. Live bravely and present a brave front to adversity. - Horace
  • Courage is not having the strength to go on, itis going on when you do not have strength. - Napolean
  • Courage is doing what you are afraid to do. There is no courage unless you are scared. 
  • Bhagvad Gita- Be free from fear, be fearless and have faith in the divine.
  • Courage is more exhilarating than fear and in the long run, it is easier. - Eleanor Roosevelt
  • Courage does not always roar. Sometimes, it is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying I will try again tomorrow.
  • An army of Sheep led by the lions is better than an army of lion led by the sheep- Alexander the Great
  • Courage- a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a metal willingness to endure it.
  • Fear is a reaction, Courage is a decision- Winston Churchill
  • Courage is resistance to fear, masterly of fear, not absence of fear. Mark Twain
  • Be brave, take risks, nothing can substitute experience. - Paulo Coelho
  • Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.- Winston Churchill
  • Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.
  • The secret f happiness is freedom, and the secret of freedom is courage. Thucydides.
  • I have seen extreme bravery from the least likely of people. Life is about the moments when it's all gone wrong. That is when we define ourselves. - Bear Grylls.
  • Courage is knowing what not to fear. - Plato
  • Courage is the most important virtue because without courage,you cannot practice any other virtue consistently.-Maya Angelou
  • A Prayer for Courage by Rabindranath Tagore
Let me not pray to be sheltered from dangers,

But to be fearless in facing them.

Let me not beg for the stilling of my pain,

But for the heart to conquer it.

Let me not look for allies in life's battlefield,

But to my own strength.

Let me not crave in anxious fear to be saved,

But hope for the patience to win my freedom.

Grant me that I may not be a coward,

feeling your mercy in my success alone,

But let me find the grasp of your hand in my failure.

  • Sometimes people do want to hear the truth because they do not want their illusions to be destroyed. Nietzsche
  • I slept and dreamt that life was a joy, I awoke and saw that Life was a service, I acted and behold, service was a joy. Rabindranath Tagore.
  • It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.
  • Movies - Village rockstars, Dhanak, I am Kalam, Dor
  • Durgashakti Nagpal, Satyendranath Dubey
  • Corage in terms of communication in public [Thirukkural]- 
    Though well learned, they’re considered worse than the ignorant,
    those who fear an assembly of good people.

    Out of stage-fright, those who can’t articulate
    their learnings well, maybe alive but are as good as lifeless.
  • Hakuna Matata

  • Vigour, an attitude of forgiveness towards others, courage, purity, goodwill, towards others, and freedom from pride. All of these, dear Arjuna, are considered by Me to be the great characteristics of a man who possesses a divine nature and has come into this world from heaven. Chapter 16, shloka 3
  • Kesavanand Bharti case, Nani Palkhivala- courageous to challenge- protection of fundamenatal rights
  • Public servants, healthcare workers during COVID 19, 100 cr vaccination, India's NDCs
  • 26/11 - ATS Hemant Karkare
  • Decorated officers like Brigadier Saurabh Singh Shekhawat, Gen Sam Manekshaw
  • Maj Gen Madhuri Kantikar- First woman army officer to reach the rank of Maj Gen [AFMC]

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