2022 · GS Paper 4 · Q3(c) · 10 marks
what do each of the following quotations mean to you? "Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it." — Dalai Lama
In short
The Dalai Lama's line means success should be judged by its cost: giving up comfort for a goal is achievement, while giving up integrity makes any victory hollow. Lance Armstrong, stripped of seven Tour de France titles in 2012, shows success bought with honesty becoming failure.
Model answer
Ghissu Editorial · Verified 4 Oct 2026 · 283 words
Means are part of the end
Gandhi's Seven Social Sins include "commerce without morality" and "knowledge without character", success without its ethical cost.
Sacrifice of comfort ennobles
Giving up leisure or safety for a larger goal measures commitment, as freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh showed.
Sacrifice of values corrupts
Trading integrity or health for a prize is an ends-means inversion, a hollow victory.
Corporate world
Volkswagen's emissions cheating, exposed in 2015, bought market share by giving up honesty and cost billions in penalties.
Public service
Ashok Khemka, who cancelled the mutation of a Gurugram land deal in 2012, accepted repeated transfers rather than give up integrity.
Education
Student suicides in Kota show the cost of chasing ranks at the price of mental health; the Ministry of Education issued coaching-centre guidelines in 2024.
Development
Joshimath's land subsidence (2023) showed that growth which gives up ecological safety is not progress.
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This chapter in the exam
Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from the world14 questions
Asked in 11 of 14 sittings since 2013
- 2025What do each of these quotations convey to you in the present context? "The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes." – William James
- 2021what do each of the following quotations mean to you? "We can never obtain peace in the outer world until and unless we obtain peace within ourselves." — Dalai Lama
All 14 questions, sorted by sub-topic, with model answers and practice.
Question from the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) Examination 2022 paper. Answer written by Ghissu's engine and checked against our editorial standards. Found an error? Tell us and we correct it within 48 hours.