In this article, alongside his life journey, let us also look into APJ Abdul Kalam Quotes on Education which will inspire us to dream and achieve goals in our life. The first person in India who was known as the missile man of India; was the famous aerospace scientist Mr. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam.

Kalam was a well-known scientist of India who later joined the politics too. He worked hard to make his life as affluent as it has looked after gaining success. Since the starting of his life, he was a true hard worker who had left no stone unturned to fulfill his dreams and attain success. He was full of integrity and passion, and the zest of hard work.

Never Giving up Attitude

He owned the attitude of never giving up with an extreme amount of confidence. Even if he had failed in some experiment, he had never lost hope and neither quit because if he had; then we must not be reading the success saga of this unique and famous personality.

The efforts of Mr. Kalam had not just given wings to his dreams but also changed the life of his family and apart from that, his vision was to bring glory to the nation by giving his mind and soul to the missiles called Agni and Prithvi.

Mr. Kalam is known as one of the best scientists of the 21st century. He had made the Indian Army more equipped and made India a stronger nation by serving it as a scientist and later also by holding the post of President of India for the tenure of five years from 2002 to 2007.

He is an example for the youth of the nation, who had lived his journey from a small village Rameswaram to Rajya Sabha (upper house of the country).

Abdul Kalam – A Youth Icon

Mr. Kalam is a youth icon and always inspires everyone with his motivational quotes and earnest behavior. He addressed the youth with his kind words as the future of the country. He believed in the talent of the youth and tried his best to provide apt opportunities and convey the knowledge that he possessed after extreme hard work. APJ Abdul Kalam had the vision to make India a superpower till the year 2020.

Childhood of APJ Abdul Kalam

On the date of 15th October 1931; a boy was born in a house placed in Rameswaram, a small village in Tamil Nadu. The boy named Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam and later known as Mr. APJ Abdul Kalam around the world. In the family, he was the youngest among his four brothers and one sister.

Mr. Kalam belonged to a poor family but he was determined to study for a successful future. He started working at an early age and began with the job of a newspaper vendor to pay the expenses of his studies and other chores of his family. Although, he was average in studies but always keen to learn and a bright & hard-working student in his childhood.

He belonged to the Muslim religion while his best friend was a Hindu; his childhood was not affected by the discrimination of religion, caste, and creed. Kalam ji had equal respect towards everyone.

Also Read: Swami Vivekananda Message to Youth.

Education and Career

Abdul Kalam was a keen learner and he used to spend hours on his studies especially on the practice of Mathematics. He had completed his education from the Schwartz Higher Secondary School in Ramanathapuram. And after that he completed his graduation in Physics from Saint Joseph’s College, Tiruchirappalli in the year 1954.

Later he went to Madras, joined Madras Institute of Technology, and there he studied Aerospace Engineering. He was aware of the condition of his house and family, so he used to give his best to his studies and completed it with the help of scholarships. Once upon a time, when he was working on a project during his engineering course, the Dean was not fully satisfied with the progress of the project.

Therefore, he gave an impossible deadline of three days to Mr. Kalam for the completion of project and threatened him with his words to revoke his scholarship. Being a determined and earnest person Mr. Kalam had decided to give his blood and sweat to the project and worked day and night long to triumph over it. And, he successfully completed it within the impossible deadline of three days and impressed the Dean with his work.

He was always eager to learn and never let the stress take over him to quit the work. After accomplishing his graduation in aerospace engineering, Mr. Kalam started his career by working in Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) as a scientist in Aeronautical Development Establishment. He started by designing small hovercraft but this job was not truly satisfying his dreams and vision.

In the year 1969, he switched to Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and his life took a drastic change afterwards. He became the project director of SLV-III, India’s first Satellite Launch and successfully completed it. After a point of time, he visited NASA’s research center and decided to make an effort for the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

Apart from this, he lead many other projects and missiles and brought laurels to the nation with his sincere efforts. Though, the Union Cabinet was not ready to issue the apt funds for the projects but the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was convinced with the ideas and vision of Mr. APJ Abdul Kalam and by believing on his dedication she allotted the amount from the secret fund for the aerospace project by using her discretionary power.

Mr. Kalam had played an integral part in all those projects and gave massive success to all the projects with his diligence and strenuous work. Later, he also served as the secretary of DRDO and Chief Scientific Adviser of the Prime Minister.

President of India

25 July 2002 was the day when the citizens of the country got Mr. Kalam as the 11th President of India. With the support and love of everyone throughout the country he became the President with ease and the masses showcased their love via internet, newspaper & other media and he surpassed the electoral votes by huge difference.

Kalam was known as the People’s President because of the affection of people that he had earned by his work while serving on the post of President of the country. He was the very first scientist who reached the prestigious place of Rashtrapati Bhawan. Before being honored with the post of Presidency he was honored with India’s highest civilian honor the Bharat Ratna Award in 1997.

In his Presidency period he had decided the fate of many by resolving 20 mercy petitions out of 21 that were submitted in his tenure. He completed his tenure on the post of President on 25 July 2007. He also showed his wish to serve as the President of India one more time to work more in the favor of the nation but later he retrieved his candidature from the list in spite of the fact that the country men were going gaga over his decision.

Post Presidency

After serving at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, he went back to his all time passion that implies nurturing the future of the nation and to share his knowledge with the youth, he became the visiting professor in many Indian Institutes. Mr. Kalam used to live a simple life and had great hope and love in the children of the country.

He encouraged the masses with his motivating words in his lectures and seminars including giving his knowledge. He always addressed youth as the future of the nation and firmly believes on their talents & minds.

Death

Even on the last day of his life, Mr. Kalam was working and giving lecture in the Indian Institute of Management in Shillong. Five minutes had passed since the lecture had started and he collapsed due to the cardiac arrest and was declared dead on 27 July 2015. A wind of sorrow had blown throughout the country and grief took over everyone’s heart on the news of his demise.

People paid homage to him from every corner of the world. To show the condolence on the death of Mr. APJ Abdul Kalam the Prime Minister acknowledged his hard work and sincere services of years. His death was declared as the great loss to the scientist community because he had taken India to great heights. Mr. Kalam had left a vacuum that no one can fill.

An Inspiration to Masses

The life of Mr. Kalam always has been a great inspiration to the masses. He had spent his whole life while working hard with diligence and full of integrity & simplicity. He was an early bird as well as the night owl who used to work till late night. Mr. Kalam belonged from a poor background and had no such knowledge of engineering earlier but solely because of his hard work, he became an epitome for the masses.

In addition to that he was honored with many prestigious awards such as Bharat Ratna, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India and also Von Braun Award from the National Space Society & many more awards. In the Outlook India’s poll of the Greatest Indian Mr. Kalam had ranked two. In the year 2015, on his birth anniversary CBSE set topics on his name in its series.

Books and Writings

For the inspiration of the youth Mr. Kalam had penned many books; here are some which are named as – India 2020, Wings of Fire (autobiography), Ignited Minds, You are born to blossom, Turning Points, My Journey, A manifesto for change, Forget your future, Advantage India etc. His writing are full of positivity, motivation and wisdom. Reflects his struggle, success as well as his soulful dedication towards his passion.

APJ Abdul Kalam Quotes on Education, Students, Life

Mr. Kalam had written numerous motivating quotes to inspire everyone. Here are some magnificent quotes that he penned to show the never give up attitude and the power of dreams in a person’s life. That is why he had said,

“You have to dream before your dream can come true”

He was born in a small village but his dream gave him strength to pursue it and he became one of the most amazing scientists of 21st century.

“Dream, dream, dream. Dreams transform into thoughts and thoughts result in action”

Dreams are the seed that a person sows in the ground of his mind, nurtures it with sweat of hard work, and finally tastes the fruit of success. The definition of dream is not the same for Mr. Kalam, he had mentioned that,

“Dream is not that which you see while sleeping, it is something that does not let you sleep”

Everyone dreams, has wishes and desires during the sound sleep but the dreams turn into reality only by working hard for them, the dreams are which do not let the person sleep until it fulfilled. One more quote of Mr. Kalam for cherishing your dreams is,

“To succeed in your mission, you must have single-minded devotion to your goal”

The concentrated and single-minded devotion gives the success to the dreamer.

“Confidence and hard work is the medicine to kill disease called failure”

A person has to work hard with confidence in the right direction to give wings to the vision and abolish the fear of failure from the life.

“Don’t take rest after your first victory because if you fail in second, more lips are waiting to say that your first victory was just luck”

Hard work is a continuous process and one needs to work round the clock like Mr. Kalam. Never stop working after getting success in the very first step, work continually with determination until you achieve the final success and much more. Because

“Excellence happens not by accident. It is a process”

The earnest work is the only source to master the skill and it is an ongoing process.

“Winners are not those who never fail but those who never quit”

Giving up is never an option in the list of a winner even after losing in few battles. Because winners believe in themselves rather than anyone else. Every person on this planet owns the most wonderful brain, even if he is a backbencher. Mr. Kalam expressed his view with the quote that

“The best brains of the nation may be found on the last benches of the classroom”

The more one uses this wonderful part of his/her body, the more efficiently it works. Backbenchers are those who learn and do so many activities at the same time that is why their brain was referred to as the best brain by Mr. APJ because of its more use.

“Two rules for a peaceful life: Depression in failure should never go to heart, and ego in success should never go to the brain”

A person should never take the failure much seriously for it to tear his heart apart and break it into uncountable pieces, but also never let the success go into brain and make one an egoistic & ill-mannered person. It was also well quoted by the genius mind of Mr. Kalam

“Man needs difficulties in life because they are necessary to enjoy the success”

without the difficulties of lives, a person never enjoys the taste of success in real manner. While the difficulties before success enhance its taste and make it much more fruitful.

“I am not handsome but I can give my hand to someone who needs help… Because beauty is required in the heart, not in face”

The kind and genuine personality of Mr. Kalam reflects in his thoughts. Everyone needs to have empathy towards all to make the success useful not just to you but also for the society and the final quote says,

“If you want to shine like a sun, first burn like a sun”

A dreamer needs to burn himself in the agony to taste the nectar of success like Mr. APJ Abdul Kalam did, he had burnt himself in the furnace of hard work to shine like the bright burning sun. He had started his life from raw and ended it like a pro!

All in all, it is quite evident that all the life of APJ Abdul Kalam Ji is filled with instances which keep inspiring & motivating generations to come, especially youth and people who come from really humble backgrounds.

Moreover, he completed all his education from Indian Institutions, & hence set an epitome of home grown skill instead of draining the brain to help other country grow instead of our motherland. So, let’s take lessons from his life & his precious words which guide us through the tough path of life.