India, Aug. 15 -- As India celebrates its 80th Independence Day, today's quote celebrates one of the stalwarts of the Indian independence movement, Sarojini Naidu. A poet, feminist, and political activist, Naidu was a woman of many talents.

Born in a Bengali family in Hyderabad, she went on to become the Indian woman president of the Indian National Congress, and later the first woman governor of a state after independence. Her poetry, which is as vivid as it is lyrical, earned her the nickname Nightingale of India from Mahatma Gandhi.

Naidu's poems were generally on the themes of patriotism, Indian culture, natural beauty and romance. Today's quote by her reads: "When there is oppression, the only self-respecting thing is to rise and s...