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Quotes / Thinkers / Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Thinker · 10 quotes

Muhammad Ali Jinnah quotes for UPSC

10 sourced quotes by Muhammad Ali Jinnah on character & virtue, religion, tolerance & secularism, leadership, democracy & freedom, peace, non-violence & conflict, with a use case for each in GS4, Essay and interviews.

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Character, courage, industry and perseverance are the four pillars on which the whole edifice of human life can be built and failure is a word unknown to me.
— Muhammad Ali JinnahAs quoted in Mohammad Ali Jinnah : A Political Study (1962) by M. H. Saiyid, p. 9
Use itInterview/GS4: character, courage, industry, perseverance as four pillars of life.
Character & VirtueResilience & PerseveranceGS4InterviewLife
I have lived as plain Mr. Jinnah and I hope to die as plain Mr. Jinnah. I am very much averse to any title or honours and I will be more than happy if there was no prefix to my name.
— Muhammad Ali JinnahAs quoted in Plain Mr. Jinnah : Selections from Quaid-e-Azam's Correspondence (1976)
Use itGS4: humility and aversion to titles; simplicity in public life.
Character & VirtueIntegrity & HonestyGS4
Think a hundred times before you take any decision, but once a decision is taken, stand by it as one man.
— Muhammad Ali JinnahAddress to the League Lucknow session in 1937, following elections held under the Government of India Act, as quoted in Mohammad Ali Jinnah,
Use itGS4: deliberate carefully, then stand firmly by decisions.
LeadershipDuty & ResponsibilityGS4InterviewLife
This is your government. It is quite different from its predecessors. Therefore, appreciate when a good thing is done. Certainly criticize fearlessly, when a wrong thing is done. I welcome criticism, but it must be honest and constructive.
— Muhammad Ali JinnahAddress at Edwards College in Peshawar, 18 April 1948
Use itGS2/4: welcome honest, constructive criticism of government.
Democracy & FreedomMedia, Speech & Public OpinionEssayGS2GS4
Our object should be peace within, and peace without. We want to live peacefully and maintain cordial friendly relations with our immediate neighbours and with the world at large.
— Muhammad Ali JinnahAddress in Lahore (15 August 1947)
Use itGS2: peace within and without; good-neighbourliness in foreign policy.
Peace, Non-violence & ConflictNation, Unity & DiversityGS2
Religion should not be allowed to come into Politics….Religion is merely a matter between man and God.
— Muhammad Ali JinnahAddress to the Central Legislative Assembly, 7 February 1935, also quoted in The Search for Saladin, p. 67
Use itGS2/Essay on secularism: religion is personal and must be kept out of politics.
Religion, Tolerance & SecularismGovernance & AdministrationEssayGS2
You are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed, that has nothing to do with the business of State.
— Muhammad Ali JinnahPresidential Address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, 11 August, 1947
Use itEssay on secular state: freedom of worship; religion is no business of the State.
Religion, Tolerance & SecularismDemocracy & FreedomEssayGS2
The Press is great power and it can do good as well as harm. If rightly conducted, it can guide and instruct public opinion.
— Muhammad Ali JinnahTalk with Journalists of Kashmir, 23 May 1944
Use itGS2: power of the press to guide public opinion — for good or harm.
Media, Speech & Public OpinionEssayGS2

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