Given below are three quotations of great thinkers. What do each of these quotations convey to you in the present context? (a) “Learn everything that is good from others, but bring it in, and in your own way absorb it, do not become others.” – Swami Vivekananda (b) “Faith is of no avail in the absence of strength. Faith and strength, both are essential to accomplish any great work.” – Sardar Patel (c) “In law, a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics, he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so.” – Immanuel Kant

Interpreting three thinkers

The three quotations map onto how a person and a nation should learn, act and stay morally upright.

(a) Swami Vivekananda

He urges us to learn everything good from others but absorb it in our own way, without losing our identity. This is cultural confidence over blind imitation: adopt global science, ideas and best practices, yet root them in Indian values. In governance it means adapting foreign models to local realities — the essence of Atmanirbhar self-reliance and selective, discerning openness.

(b) Sardar Patel

Faith without strength is barren; conviction must be backed by capability and resolute action. Great works — like Patel's own integration of over 560 princely states — need both moral belief and the power and determination to execute it. For a civil servant it means pairing good intentions with competence, courage and administrative capacity.

(c) Immanuel Kant

Law punishes only violated rights; ethics judges even the intention to do wrong. Morality is thus higher and stricter than legality — a person of integrity is guided by conscience and good will, not merely fear of getting caught. For public servants this is the difference between mere compliance and genuine probity: being ethical when no one is watching.

Conclusion

Together they counsel a confident, capable and inwardly honest character — one that learns wisely, acts strongly and remains moral in thought as well as deed.