Top 50 B.R. Ambedkar Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “Life should be great rather than long.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

2. “Religion is for man and not man for religion.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

3. “Learn to live in this world with self-respect.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

4. “Freedom of mind is the proof of one’s existence.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

5. “We are Indians, firstly and lastly.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

6. “Constitution is not a mere lawyers document, it is a vehicle of Life, and its spirit is always the spirit of Age.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

7. “If you believe in living a respectable life, you believe in self-help which is the best help!”

— B.R. Ambedkar

8. “So long as you do not achieve social liberty, whatever freedom is provided by the law is of no avail to you.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

9. “Democracy is not a form of government, but a form of social organisation.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

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10. “Neither god nor soul can save society.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

11. “History shows that where ethics and economics come in conflict, victory is always with economics.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

12. “Caste is not just a division of labour, it is a division of labourers.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

13. “If I find the constitution being misused, I shall be the first to burn it.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

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14. “Man is mortal. Everyone has to die some day or the other. But one must resolve to lay down one’s life in enriching the noble ideals of self-respect and in bettering one’s human life. We are not slaves. Nothing is more disgraceful for a brave man than to live life devoid of self-respect.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

15. “Unlike a drop of water which loses its identity when it joins the ocean, man does not lose his being in the society in which he lives. Man’s life is independent. He is born not for the development of the society alone, but for the development of his self.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

16. “Equality may be a fiction but nonetheless one must accept it as a governing principle.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

17. “There is a Difference Between Merely Living and Living Worthily.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

18. “Indians today are governed by two different ideologies. Their political ideal set in the preamble of the Constitution affirms a life of liberty, equality and fraternity. Their social ideal embodied in their religion denies them.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

19. “The Hindu civilisation is a diabolical contrivance to enslave humanity. Its proper name would be infamy.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

20. “The question is not whether a community lives or dies, the question is on what plane does it live? There are different modes of survival. But all are not equally honorable.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

21. “I want all people to be Indians first, Indian last and nothing else but Indians.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

22. “Justice has always evoked ideas of Equality, of proportion of compensation. In short, Justice is another name of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

23. “If you study carefully, you will see that Buddhism is based on reason. There is an element of flexibility inherent in it, which is not found in any other religion.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

24. “A bitter thing cannot be made sweet. The taste of anything can be changed. But poison cannot be changed into nectar.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

25. “The basic idea underlying religion is to create an atmosphere for the spiritual development of the individual. This being the situation, it is clear that you cannot develop your personality at all in Hinduism.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

26. “My definition of democracy is – A form and a method of Government whereby revolutionary changes in the social life are brought about without bloodshed. That is the real test. It is perhaps the severest test. But when you are judging the quality of the material you must put it to the severest test.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

27. “For a successful revolution it is not enough that there is discontent. What is required is a profound and thorough conviction of the justice, necessity and importance of political and social rights.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

28. “For an individual as well as a society, there is a gulf between merely living and living worthily. To fight in a battle and live in glory is one mode. To beat a retreat, to surrender and to live the life of a captive is also a mode of survival.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

29. “Everything, you see, is impermanent.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

30. “Dalit aspirations are a breach of peace. Annihilation of Caste is a breach of peace.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

31. “Nothing is infallible. Nothing is binding forever. Everything is subject to inquiry and examination.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

32. “Religion, social status, and property are all sources of power and authority which one man has, to control the liberty of another.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

33. “The Hindus accuse the Muslims of contumacy. The Muslims accuse Hindus of meanness. Both, however, forget that the communal problem exists not because the Muslims are extravagant and insolent in their demands and the Hindus are mean and grudging in their concessions. It exists and will exist wherever a hostile majority is brought face to face against a hostile minority. Controversies.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

34. “Democracy is not merely a form of Government... It is essentially an attitude of respect and reverence towards fellowmen.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

35. “I am convinced that the real remedy is intermarriage. Fusion of blood can alone create the feeling of being kith and kin, and unless this feeling of kinship, of being kindred, becomes paramount, the separatist feeling – the feeling of being aliens – created by caste will not vanish.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

36. “Untouchability shuts all doors of opportunities for betterment in life for Untouchables. It does not offer an Untouchable any opportunity to move freely in society; it compels him to live in dungeons and seclusion; it prevents him from educating himself and following a profession of his choice.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

37. “Every man who repeats the dogma of Mill that one country is no fit to rule another country must admit that one class is not fit to rule another class.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

38. “In my opinion, it is only when Hindu society becomes a casteless society that it can hope to have strength enough to defend itself. Without such internal strength, swaraj for Hindus may turn out to be only a step towards slavery.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

39. “Plato had no perception of the uniqueness of every individual, of his incommensurability with others, of each individual as forming a class of his own. He had no recognition of the infinite diversity of active tendencies, and the combination of tendencies of which an individual is capable.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

40. “The saints have never according to my study carried on a campaign against. Caste and Untouchability. They were not concerned with the struggle between men. They were concerned with the relation between man and God. They did not preach that all men were equal. They preached that all men were equal, in the eyes of God a very different and a very innocuous proposition which nobody can find difficult to preach or dangerous to believe in.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

41. “A just society is that society in which ascending sense of reverence and descending sense of contempt is dissolved into the creation of a compassionate society.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

42. “There can thus be no manner of doubt that the Muslim Society in India is afflicted by the same social evils as afflict the Hindu Society. Indeed, the Muslims have all the social evils of the Hindus and something more. That something more is the compulsory system of purdah for Muslim women. As a consequence of the purdah system a segregation of the Muslim women is brought about. The.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

43. “But once a missionary religion, Hinduism perforce ceased to be a missionary religion after the time when the Hindu society developed its system of castes. For, caste is incompatible with conversion. To.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

44. “How many generations of ours have worn themselves out by rubbing their foreheads on the steps of the god? But when did the god take pit on you? What big thing has he done for you? Generation after generation, you have been used to clean the village of its garbage and god gave you the dead animals to eat. In spite of all that, god did not show you any pity. It is not this god that you worship, it is your ignorance.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

45. “While I am prepared to bear with the imperfections and shortcomings of the society in which I may be destined to labour, I feel I should not consent to live in a society which cherishes wrong ideals, or a society which, having right ideals, will not consent to bring its social life into conformity with those ideals.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

46. “I refuse to join with them in performing the miracle – I will not say trick – of liberating the oppressed with the gold of the tyrant, and raising the poor with the cash of the rich.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

47. “The conception of secular state is derived from the liberal democratic tradition of west. No institution which is maintained wholly out of state funds shall be used for the purpose of religious instruction irrespective of the question whether the religious instruction is given by the state or any other body.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

48. “It took Gautama four weeks of meditation to obtain enlightenment. He reached final enlightenment in four stages. 4. In the first stage he called forth reason and investigation. His seclusion helped him to attain it easily. 5. In the second stage he added concentration. 6. In the third stage he brought to his aid equanimity and mindfulness. 7. In the fourth and final stage he added purity to equanimity and equanimity to mindfulness.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

49. “History shows that where ethics and economics come in conflict, victory is always with economics. Vested interests have never been known to have willingly divested themselves unless there was sufficient force to compel them.”

— B.R. Ambedkar

50. “You must not only discard the Shastras, you must deny their authority, as did Buddha and Nanak. You must have courage to tell the Hindus that what is wrong with them is their religion – the religion which has produced in them this notion of the sacredness of Caste. Will you show that courage?”

— B.R. Ambedkar