In this article, we have collated about 50 India quotes or quotes about India from explorers, travellers, historians and novelists from the past as well as the present. So if you are looking for quotes on India or India Instagram captions or even some inspirations to travel to India, then wait for no further and read on.

India is a land full of surprises and diversity. It is a country of extremes and this has been well experienced and documented by travellers and explorers of the yore as well as of the current times. While one can get absolutely mesmerized by the stunning landscapes of the Himalayan foothills, plains, coastal region, deserts and forests, the vibrant culture of the country is equally intriguing. In short, you can never be fully prepared to travel to India.

Because India will invariably throw some surprises at you.

For foreign travelers, India has either been a life-changing experience or a trip best forgotten. They have either loved the country or hated it. To be honest, I have found very few who hate India. There might have been problems such as dirty roads, cows on the streets, crowded trains, and differences in language, including Punjabi, Tamil, or Hindi. There have even been a few safety issues for female travelers. However, all my traveler and blogger friends have said that they would definitely visit India again.

Read about what foreign travellers have to say about their experience in India

So here are a few quotes on India or India quotes that actually depict what explorers, writers and travellers feel about India. These quotes about India describes the soul, fervour and spirit of India.

Quotes about India by Mark Twain

1. “[India is] the One land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for all the shows of all the rest of the globe combined.” – Mark Twain

I have always believed that Mark Twain has some of the best things to say about India. The writer of Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Prince and the Pauper and many other famous novels had spent about 3 months in India in 1896. He had mentioned that visiting India had been an adventure for which he was totally unprepared.

2. “India has two million gods, and worships them all. In religion all other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire.” – Mark Twain

3. “India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition. our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.” – Mark Twain

Quotes about India on her culture

4. “Indians are the Italians of Asia and vice versa. Every man in both countries is a singer when he is happy, and every woman is a dancer when she walks to the shop at the corner. For them, food is the music inside the body and music is the food inside the heart. ‘Amore’ or ‘Pyar’ makes every man a poet, a princess of peasant girl if only for second eyes of man and woman meets.” – Gregory David Roberts

5. “India is a place where colour is doubly bright. Pinks that scald your eyes, blues you could drown in.” – Kiran Millwood Hargrave

Didn’t I tell you, in India everything is in extremes? So are the colours. Everything is brighter and more colourful. Have you visited the festival of Holi in Brindavan, Mathura and Barsana? You will know what I mean.

6. “India teaches me again and again, that the categories into which I try to divide things don’t hold up.” – Dena Moes

This is so true about India. You will find skyscrapers and shanties within a short distance in India. Whether you like it or hate it, that is India for you.

7. “India is not, as people keep calling it, an underdeveloped country, but rather, in the context of its history and cultural heritage, a highly developed one in an advanced state of decay.” – Shashi Tharoor

8. “You can take the Indian out of the family, but you cannot take the family out of the Indian.” – Amit Kalantri

9. “India – a land where the last thing one needs to bother with is looking good. In India – at least in the circles I moved in – it’s natural to look beautiful by the smile in your heart and the way you move through the world.” – Erin Reese

Yes, we Indians smile a lot. We also love our jewellery and ornaments, but smile is something that is always there.

Quotes about India on Spirituality

10. “If I were asked under what sky the human mind has most fully developed some of its choicest gifts, has most deeply pondered on the greatest problems of life, and has found solutions, I should point to India.” – Max Muller

11. “I am an Indian and we celebrate all festivals in every region of every religion. That is why it is called Incredible India!” – Vinayak Muraleedharan

12. “In India, I found a race of mortals living upon the Earth, but not adhering to it, inhabiting cities, but not being fixed to them, possessing everything, but possessed by nothing.” – Apollonius Tyanaeus

13. “To me, India’s always represented ‘everything’; it represents ‘all.’ Everything is here. You can stay here forever, and you’ll never feel like you’ve missed out on life.” – Chris Martin

14. “India will teach us the tolerance and gentleness of mature mind, understanding spirit and a unifying, pacifying love for all human beings.” – Will Durant

15. “Waking up in India is like waking up to life itself.” – Reymond Page

16. “India has many customs and rituals that may seem bizarre to anyone not used to its distinctive culture. It is a strange combination of being a young nation as well as an ancient country.” – Hanadi Falki

17. “It is the intense spirituality of India, and not any great political structure or social organization that it has developed, that has enabled it to resist the ravages of time and the accidents of history.” – Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan

18. “In India we celebrate the commonality of major differences; we are a land of belonging rather than of blood.” – Shashi Tharoor

Quotes about India on Science & Mathematics

19. “Gravitation was known to the Hindus (Indians) before the birth of Newton. The system of blood circulation was discovered by them centuries before Harvey was heard of.” – P. Johnstone

20. “We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.” – Albert Einstein

Yes, “zero” was invented in India by Sanskrit scholar Pingala who used it in the form of a Binary system. Later, the concept of zero as a digit in the decimal place value notation was developed in India by Aryabhatta.

21. “It is true that even across the Himalayan barrier India has sent to the west, such gifts as grammar and logic, philosophy and fables, hypnotism and chess, and above all numerals and the decimal system.” – Will Durant (American Historian, 1885-1981)

22. “Whenever I have read any part of the Vedas, I have felt that some unearthly and unknown light illuminated me. In the great teaching of the Vedas, there is no touch of sectarianism. It is of all ages, climbs, and nationalities and is the royal road for the attainment of the Great Knowledge. When I read it, I feel that I am under the spangled heavens of a summer night.” – Thoreau (American Thinker)

23. “After the conversations about Indian philosophy, some of the ideas of Quantum Physics that had seemed so crazy suddenly made much more sense.” – W. Heisenberg (German Physicist, 1901-1976)

24. “Our present knowledge of the nervous system fits in so accurately with the internal description of the human body given in the Vedas (5000 years ago). Then the question arises whether the Vedas are really religious books or books on anatomy of the nervous system and medicine.” – B G Rele (The Vedic Gods)

Best Quotes about India

25. “India lives in several centuries at the same time.” – Arundhati Roy

26. “If I would be given a chance to rewrite the dictionary, I would flip through the pages so quick and would replace India with, the land where beauty is redefined in itself, kindness has been touched, warmth has been spread and emotions have been felt.” – Magith Noohukhan

27. “The world is the body and India is its life.” – Khalid Masood

28. “Everything is recycled in India, even dreams.” – Shashi Tharoor

29. “Don’t we each have the right to not stop seeking until we get as close to the source of wonder as possible? Even if it means coming to India and kissing trees in the moonlight for a while?” –Elizabeth Gilbert

30. “The World is my home and India is my living room. I’m independent in my living room to explore, hoping someday I will also be able to explore my own home.” – Bikram Mahata

31. “In India, even the most mundane inquiries have a habit of ending this way. There may be two answers, there may be five, a dozen or a hundred; the only thing that is certain is that all will be different.” – Eric Newby

32. “Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.” – Anita Desai

This is what India has on its visitors. And I believe, this is mainly because of her people. In India, guests are considered next to God and that is seen in the hospitality.

33. “When the land of snake charmers begins charming the world, the credit goes to its People, its Youth.” – Vivek Narayan Sharma

34. “Living in a small town [in India] was like living in a glass house!” – Mallika Nawal

35. “India will reveal to you the places in your heart that must be purified.” – Erin Reese

36. “India is not a country, but a home.” – Khalid Masood

37. “If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India.” – Romain Rolland

38. “I like the evening in India, the one magic moment when the sun balances on the rim of the world, and the hush descends, and ten thousand civil servants drift homeward on a river of bicycles, brooding on Lord Krishna and the cost of living.” – James Cameron

39. “I noted that people are happy here in India. When I went back home, people had everything in the materialistic sense and were surrounded with abundance, but they were not happy.” – Goldie Hawn

40. “More dreams are realized and extinguished in Bombay than any other place in India.” – Gregory David Roberts

41. “But nothing in India is identifiable, the mere asking of a question causes it to disappear or to merge in something else.” – E. M. Forster

42. “In some peculiar way, indeed, the rules were now beginning to seem quite logical. It was then I knew that I had been in India long enough.” – Tahir Shah

Quote about India on Travel & Food

43. “To other countries, I may go as a tourist, but to India, I come as a pilgrim.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

44. “There are some parts of the world that, once visited, get into your heart and won’t go. For me, India is such a place. When I first visited, I was stunned by the richness of the land, by its lush beauty and exotic architecture, by its ability to overload the senses with the pure, concentrated intensity of its colours, smells, tastes, and sounds. It was as if all my life I had been seeing the world in black and white and, when brought face-to-face with India, experienced everything re-rendered in brilliant technicolour.” – Keith Bellows

45. “Indian food is like classical music raga- it takes time to build up to a crescendo.” – Shobhaa De

46. “Kerala’s food evolved from the diverse people who traversed this land. The story of Kerala is closely linked to the story of the world’s eagerness for spices. Because of the wealth this land possessed, people of various countries, religions and races arrived, for trade. Flourishing commerce translated into an enthusiastic reception for those who could conduct business competently. Which, in turn, opened up avenues for new religions and communities. Eventually, colonization spelt an end to the hospitality, but it also gave rise to the strong ethos of Malayali-ness that now marks this land.” –Theresa Varghese

47. “The train system in India is chaotic and fun – it’s the best way to see the landscape. Being in with all the families and also being the odd animal is a colourful experience you’ll never forget.” – Natalie Dormer

If you have not done a train journey in India, you have not really travelled in India. Train journeys in India are chaotic and confusing. You will observe the locals in their elements in trains. And if you are travelling by a local train, you will see the local people and their daily life.

48. “There are three trips you take to India: the one you think you’re going to have – that you plan for; the one you actually have; and the one you live through once you go back home.” – Erin Reese

Some other India Quotes

49. “Rains are an act of God in India. And God, as we know, is a law unto himself. He is not responsible, neither is He accountable. That is the essence of God: He gives with two hands and takes away with eight more. Why else would Indian gods and goddesses have several pairs of hands?” – Kiran Nagarkar

50. “India is not a nation, nor a country. It is a subcontinent of nationalities.” – Muhammad Ali Jinnah

51. “I listen to the sound of India’s voices for the last time. Laughter ripples like water. A prayer is a single note held long. There is so much life here. And too much death. I feel a soft breeze caress my face and I look up. An orange ribbon is floating through the air. In India, it’s easy to see the wind.” –Cathy Ostlere

52. “Until she went with him to India the first time after they were married. Then it all made sense, and she realized that the hospitality he displayed to all guests was larger than he was – it was cultural, hereditary, something coded into his DNA.” –Thrity Umrigar

Didn’t I tell you before, Indians treat their guests next to god? Your experience of staying in India will be some of your best ones.

53. “Where does one go in a tremendous city like Calcutta to find insider information? I recalled India’s golden rule: do the opposite of what would be normal anywhere else.” – Tahir Shah

54. “Calcutta’s the only city I know where you are actively encouraged to stop strangers at random for a quick chat.” – Tahir Shah

This one I can vouch for. Calcutta or Kolkata is known for its friendliness and affability. Though known for many other things like literature, football and poetry, the cultural capital of India is a must-visit place for culture aficionados.

55. “Time spent in India has an extraordinary effect on one. It acts as a barrier that makes the rest of the world seem unreal.” – Tahir Shah

    

Those were some of the best quotes about India. These India quotes definitely show that importance of India in the field of science and mathematics as well as depict how the ancient Indian philosophy has been providing guidance and spirituality till today. As for travellers in India, the country sure has her way to charm and entice. Travel to India, you will have a great adventure on road.

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