A biography for A. P. J. Abdul Kalamhasn’t been written yet.
“The purpose of education is to make good human beings with skill and expertise... Enlightened human beings can be created by teachers.”
“Climbing to the top demands strength, whether it is to the top of Mount Everest or to the top of your career.”
“As a child of God, I am greater than anything that can happen to me.”
“My message, especially to young people is to have courage to think differently, courage to invent, to travel the unexplored path, courage to discover the impossible and to conquer the problems and succeed. These are great qualities that they must work towards. This is my message to the young people.”
“When we tackle obstacles, we find hidden reserves of courage and resilience we did not know we had. And it is only when we are faced with failure do we realise that these resources were always there within us. We only need to find them and move on with our lives.”
“The government, whether state or central, is elected. That means we have a responsibility to elect the right kind of leaders.”
“My hair grows and grows; you cannot stop it - that fellow grows, it grows wild.”
“Great dreams of great dreamers are always transcended.”
“There has to be a global mission of human progress.”
“Life is a difficult game. You can win it only by retaining your birthright to be a person.”
“If four things are followed - having a great aim, acquiring knowledge, hard work, and perseverance - then anything can be achieved.”
“It's when children are 15, 16 or 17 that they decide whether they want to be a doctor, an engineer, a politician or go to the Mars or moon. That is the time they start having a dream, and that's the time you can work on them. You can help them shape their dreams.”
“I firmly believe that unless one has tasted the bitter pill of failure, one cannot aspire enough for success.”
“How accurately can the law fix the crime? There has to be a mechanism for very fast action. The law is like this: catch them and punish them.”
“I love the sea.”
“Regarding marriage, it - somehow, it didn't happen. One fellow in such a big family not getting married is not an issue.”
“We have not invaded anyone. We have not conquered anyone. We have not grabbed their land, their culture, their history and tried to enforce our way of life on them.”
“Developing nations want to become developed nations.”
“The youth need to be enabled to become job generators from job seekers.”
“Excellence is a continuous process and not an accident.”