He believed that secularism is the realization of the truth and every religion advocated love, tolerance, compassion and good-will. Besides, he was a… - Zakir Husain

When Mian (Dr. Hussain) reached the Rashtrapathi Bhavan after taking oath as President of India, he said that only three rooms out of its 340 sprawling rooms would suffice for his family...when we moved there were my mother, my daughter, Neelofer, some domestic servants, two cows, a parrot and about five thousand books and other household items. Of the three rooms, one was exclusively for him while my mother, my daughter and I stayed in the other room and the third room was used for meeting visitors and for taking food.

I have gained a lot from my German teachers and philosophers and I acknowledge this debt whole heartedly but it does not mean that others have not contributed to the growth of my ideas. I have been influenced in much the same way by thoughts of Indian, Swiss, English and American teachers and educational philosophers. I always treat truth and discretion as my lost property and pick it up wherever I find it.

Had your mother not been so well-organized, so simple, so virtuous and so resourceful, I would not have been what I am today.