Given below are three quotations of great thinkers. What do each of these quotations convey to you in the present context?
- (a)“Those who in trouble untroubled are, Will trouble trouble itself.” – Thiruvalluvar
- (b)“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes.” – William James
- (c)“The strength of a society is not in its laws, but in the morality of its people.” – Swami Vivekananda
Approach · directive: “what do these quotations convey”
What it asks · Read each quotation in plain terms, then apply it to present-day life and public service with a concrete example.
The question has 3 parts — answer each
- (a) Thiruvalluvar: read the couplet on staying untroubled in trouble, and say what it conveys in the present context
- (b) William James: read the claim that altering attitudes alters life, and say what it conveys in the present context
- (c) Swami Vivekananda: read the claim that a society's strength lies in its people's morality rather than its laws, and say what it conveys in the present context
Open with · Three thinkers, one thread: inner strength (composure, attitude and character) shapes outcomes more than circumstances or rules.
Cover
- (a) Thiruvalluvar: calm in adversity defeats adversity itself; panic multiplies problems, composure finds solutions — close to the Gita’s ideal of the sthitaprajna.
- (a) Today: a collector steering flood relief, a student after failure; resilience and emotional intelligence as core public-service competencies.
- (b) William James: attitudes — beliefs, feelings, dispositions — drive behaviour; change them and life outcomes change.
- (b) Today: growth mindset in learners; public campaigns such as Swachh Bharat succeed by shifting attitudes, not only by rules.
- (c) Vivekananda: laws set a minimum; a society’s strength lies in its people’s character, which makes laws obeyed willingly.
- (c) Today: dowry and child marriage persist despite laws; tax compliance, road safety and clean public spaces depend on civic morality.
- Common thread: institutions work best when citizens and officials internalise values — the purpose of ethics education.
Close with · Composure keeps judgement clear, attitude turns setbacks into growth, and character makes laws self-enforcing; a public servant who embodies all three governs by example.
Add value (verified)
- Bhagavad Gita 2.56: the sage of steady wisdom (sthitaprajna) is one whose mind is not shaken by adversity. Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita, Ch. II, verse 56, tr. Swami Swarupananda — sacred-texts.com ↗“56. He whose mind is not shaken by adversity, who does not hanker after happiness, who has become free from affection, fear, and wrath, is indeed the Muni of steady wisdom.”
- Very severe cyclonic storm Biparjoy crossed the Kutch coast near Jakhau on 15 June 2023; acting on IMD's advance warnings, Gujarat made comprehensive preparedness with national agencies. Ministry of Home Affairs, Annual Report 2023-24 (disaster management chapter) ↗“A very severe cyclonic storm "BIPARJOY" crossed Saurashtra & Kutch 179 between Mandvi (Gujarat) and Karachi (Pakistan) near Jakhau Port (Gujarat) on 15.06.2023 with maximum sustained wind speed of 125-135 kmph gusting to 145 kmph. Based on the advance warnings given by IMD, comprehensive preparedness was made by the State Government of Gujarat, along with National agencies to deal with the situation.”
- William James (Principles of Psychology, chapter on Habit): the ethical implications of habit concern which habits we choose to develop, and when. William James — Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ↗“The “ethical implications of the law of habit,” (PP 124) as James sees them, concern which habits we choose to develop, and when.”
- Economic Survey 2018-19, Ch. 2 (Leveraging the Behavioural Economics of Nudge): Swachh Bharat Mission and Beti Bachao Beti Padhao have successfully employed behavioural insights. Economic Survey 2018-19, Vol. 1, Ch. 2 (Leveraging the Behavioural Economics of Nudge) — indiabudget.gov.in (archived) ↗“This chapter illustrates how the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) and the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) have successfully employed behavioural insights.”
- Swami Vivekananda, quoted by the 2nd ARC (Ethics in Governance, Box 2.7): as knowledge grows, morality evolves; unselfishness is the foundation of morality. 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission, 4th Report: Ethics in Governance (2007), Box 2.7 — DARPG (archived) ↗“as knowledge comes, person grows, morality is evolved, and idea of non- separateness begins. Whether men understand it or not, they are impelled by that power behind to become unselfish. That is the foundation of morality. It is the quintessence of all ethics, preached in any language, or any religion, or by any prophet in the world”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2025, GS Paper IV — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 454 words (UPSC limit 150) · Minimalist IAS
Three thinkers from three traditions locate strength inside the person: composure in adversity, the power to change one's attitude, and a character that makes law almost unnecessary.
| Thinker | Core value | Present application |
|---|---|---|
| Thiruvalluvar | Composure | Crisis management |
| William James | Attitude | Behaviour change |
| Vivekananda | Character | Voluntary compliance |
(a) Thiruvalluvar: staying untroubled in trouble
- Meaning: one who stays calm in trouble turns trouble back on itself. Panic multiplies a crisis; equanimity keeps judgement clear and finds the way out.
- Indian echo: the Gita's sthitaprajna, the sage of steady wisdom, is one "whose mind is not shaken by adversity" (2.56).
- Present context, governance: before Cyclone Biparjoy (June 2023), Gujarat acted on IMD's advance warnings with comprehensive preparedness alongside national agencies. Calm planning, not panic, protects lives.
- Present context, individuals: an exam failure, a lost job or an online smear campaign tests the same capacity. Resilience and emotional intelligence can be learnt, and both are core competencies of public service.
- Caution: composure is not indifference; it is the steadiness that lets compassion act effectively.
(b) William James: change the attitude, change the life
- Meaning: attitudes, our settled ways of thinking and feeling, drive behaviour, and they can be changed. A failure read as feedback becomes a lesson.
- James's own psychology: in his account of habit, the ethical question is which habits we choose to develop, and when; repeated choices harden into character.
- Present context, policy: the Economic Survey 2018-19 showed that Swachh Bharat Mission and Beti Bachao Beti Padhao "successfully employed behavioural insights": they nudged behaviour instead of relying on rules alone.
- Present context, individuals: a growth mindset in learners; recovery from addiction begins with a changed self-view; an officer who treats a hard posting as an opportunity transforms it.
- Limit: attitude cannot replace structural change; poverty is not a state of mind.
(c) Vivekananda: morality, not law, as a society's strength
- Meaning: laws set the minimum and work only when most people obey them willingly; a society held together by enforcement alone is brittle.
- His view of ethics: in a passage quoted by the 2nd ARC in Ethics in Governance, he calls unselfishness "the foundation of morality".
- Present context: dowry and child marriage persist despite laws against both; tax compliance, road safety and waste segregation depend on voluntary conduct that no inspector can police; corruption survives where citizens tolerate it.
- Rights and duties: the Fundamental Duties remind citizens that rights need reciprocal morality.
- Implication: build character alongside statutes, through value education, role models and community participation, so that law and morality reinforce each other.
Composure keeps judgement clear, attitude turns setbacks into growth, and character makes laws self-enforcing. A public servant who embodies all three governs by example, the surest way to make a society strong from within.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.