Abdul Kalam : The Missile Man Of India
Abdul Kalam, the scientist, president, an aerospace Engineer – popularly called the Missile Man of India is no wonder an inspiration to millions of Indians spread across the world. The winner of Bharat Ratna – India’s highest civilian honor is most popular for his interaction with the student community. I guess there are very few people who retain the child in them as they grow. Here is one man who has grown not inspite of the child like qualities but because of them. Here is a collection of 12 Memorable quotes from Abdul Kalam.
12 Memorable Quotes By APJ Abdul Kalam
It is very conflicting when someone uses the word dreams – they seem to be so cliched these days – especially with the amount of fantasy added to them. Having said that, I would be foolish to look at the idea of a dream lightly.
It was the dream of the wright brothers which make us fly today, it was the dream of cavemen which made us enjoy cooked food. I am sure at some point every little thing we do today might have felt unreasonably impossible for someone else generations together and they would have killed to have what we do today.
Maybe it makes sense to appreciate that and look at our dreams a little closer for these are the very precious ones which define us, enable us and push us to make them come true. For we all are here for that one dream – the dream to make our opportunities and our lives count!
There sure seems to be a lot of misconception when it comes to dream. And somehow in the parlance dreams seem to have taken a backstage, playing a lighter role.
But truth is – a dream is much more than that. As kalam says – it is not those dreams which make us dormant that count. We keep having those everyday and we don’t even remember most of them. But there are those few things which really define us – make us realize who we are really passionate about and what we are willing to stand up for.
Those are the real dreams and they deserve every little thing we can afford to make them come true.
We all hate our difficulties and challenges. I haven’t met many people who are excited at the sight of trouble, and I am no different either. But beyond all these challenges – there is a hidden message, sometimes a test to see how badly you want something and sometimes just a signal to alter the route you have followed so far.
But it is true that each of these challenges come with a purpose -a single purpose to help you achieve and realize your destiny. We can either let them have a strong impact on us, be completely overwhelmed by them and stop.
Or – We can stand our ground – tell ourselves or rather prove to ourselves that we are stronger than these challenges and like kalam says – give ourselves an opportunity to identify the gold hidden in the ruins.
This quote seems very similar to the one above depicting the reason, purpose and the path for these difficulties in life. They either make us or break us – this is what most people are going to tell you.
But difficulties alone don’t make us or break us – it is simply us who do that. We define what those difficulties mean to us. We define how much impact they are going to have on our lives and we alone determine the course these difficulties take.
We can do the easier action of finding someone to blame it on – most times it is Luck, the theologists say it is god while the fatalists say it is fate. But a simple man says – it is an aberration and we need to find a way around it. What do you think?
Ask every underachiever in life the reason behind his failure. Most of them seem to have some excellent stories. As Jordan Belfort says – “The only thing standing between you and your success is the bullshit story as to why you can’t have it”.
We need to realize this one truth – No one really cares why you didn’t do something. The reasons we give are not a justification for anyone else but ourselves and we tend to delve hours together on it to formulate these reasons.
But we need to step out of it, take a wider look at it – the answer is very simple – we just need to ask the right question. And the question is –
- Do you really want it?
- How badly do you want it?
- What are you willing to do for it?
Your answer to this determines your next course of action and the result of whether it is a success or a failure.
Does it remind you of this quote – Pain is essential but suffering is optional?!
I like the quote – it is rebellious, it is the ultimate belief in human will. But I am a simple man – I am not evolved enough not to feel anything. There are too many conflicts in my mind and I don’t find it that wrong at all.
But maybe we are looking at it all wrong. We don’t have to try and define everything in life – pain or suffering is a great motivator. We just need to learn how to channel it to bring out the best in us.
We would have remained at the same emotional state we were years ago if it were not for the pain or suffering we went through. They changed us as people, someone we are today. We might be proud or disappointed with it and we might even be suffering because of it.
If the answer is suffering – then great, start finding ways out of it, use it to motivate yourself and push yourself towards the solution. Don’t beat yourself up. Nothing good is going to come out of it! Be smart, find a way out of it!
Low confidence is a disease, failure is disease, low aim is a crime!
Gosh there are so many conflicting quotes in this world and sometimes it is really confusing which one to pick. So, for a moment – forget all these quotes.
Although we love quotes at inspire99, I do agree and understand that they tend to get a little romantic and bookish sometimes. Maybe cos these quotes give us only a small picture of life and not the complete story.
I am sure that even these greats had a lot of challenges in life and struggled with their everyday activities. But that’s not their problem – it is our – we tend to idolize every simple person we like.
Instead – start looking at them as human, start looking at failure as a natural phenomenon, quickly find ways to snap out of it and find solutions and look at it as an opportunity or a challenge. There is no point in wallowing in failure, the success is in your attitude of facing these failures.
What is the secret of success? – Talent? Resources? Time? Opportunities?
If someone said persistence/perseverance then I guess you have found the right synonym for strength/success as Kalam points out here.
We all are human and we all have a strong side and a weak side. Sorry to douse the enthusiasm a bit but none of us are perfect, but we sure are beautiful with our imperfections.
The point here is that whatever we would like to do in life – we can’t let the weak side of us call the shots cos it is going to lead us to disaster. We cannot let the fears or past failures guide our futures as well.
We need to focus on our past successes and persist. This strength is going to lead us to the destiny we deserve.
What does future hold for us? I feel like a young kid looking at a crystal ball hoping to see my life in a huge mansion with a fleet of cars and riches to command.
Then again – which one of us doesn’t want that? I am not going to debate whether we can change the future or not, but I am going to say that we ought to do everything we can to make that future we desire ours.
I don’t know whether I will be able to change my future or not but I sure would love to do everything in my power to get what I really feel very strongly for. Sometimes it just becomes secondary whether you get to your final destination or not.
And if it simply means changing a few habits, then why not? Are these habits really bigger than our dreams?
It all boils down to this one simple question – Who is bigger – YOU or YOUR PROBLEMS?
Come on Big Guy, you cannot let every pebble in the way block you. If you hit a pebble it – remove it from your feet, if you hit a wall push through it, jump over it, blast it with dynamite.
Do whatever you think is necessary – but do it. Don’t give in to the idea of failure or self pity. They are not going to lead you anywhere.
It is very easy to gain sympathy or pity in this world. Fortunately RESPECT doesn’t work that way!
It is exciting to read success stories – it fills us with hope, energy and the belief that anything and everything is possible in this world.
And truly enough most of these success stories are tweaked to give you the picture perfect ending we all love to see cos let us face it – tragedies don’t succeed that very well in cinema.
But that doesn’t mean that we recommend you to read failure stories. NO! We really don’t want you to do that. But we do want you to understand the importance of failures and maybe even appreciate them.
I think what Kalam is trying to say here is that there has never been a respectable success without a considerable failure. There have been mistakes in the world which have opened up new lines of opportunities and the way we have used them have led us to where we are today.
The best way out is to honor the importance of failures as well, appreciate them and stay clear of them. You don’t have to do all the mistakes to learn from them – you can read a few too 
Luck has got nothing to do with your success or life story. I have rarely heard successful people sharing credit with luck.
Luck sure is a very good excuse though, it helps us gratify ourselves and curse the omens. The sad thing about cursing the omens is that they don’t tell you what to do next.
You don’t want someone to tell you or keep telling you that you failed. You already know what you have gone through and defining that is not going to give you much in return.
Instead, look at the next step. Remember – what you see is what you get – you can’t go forward by looking backwards all the time.
Similarly you can’t realize true success if you keep looking at just the failure and just the failure alone.
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