Ghandi quotations
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
“An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.”
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.”
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it--always.”
“Where there is love there is life.”
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”
“God has no religion.”
“I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.”
“Hate the sin, love the sinner.”
“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”
“Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”
“A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.”
“To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.”
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
“The future depends on what you do today.”
“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.”
“Let the first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day:
- I shall not fear anyone on Earth.
- I shall fear only God.
- I shall not bear ill will toward anyone.
- I shall not submit to injustice from anyone.
- I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.”
“Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.”
“What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or in the holy name of liberty or democracy?”
“Truth never damages a cause that is just.”
“To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.”
“There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.”
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.”
“It is easy enough to be friendly to one's friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.”
“Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love.”
“It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”
“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.”
“You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.”
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
“Love is the strongest force the world possesses and yet it is the humblest imaginable.”
“There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.”
“Action expresses priorities.”
“My Life is My Message”
“There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever. ”
“I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings.”
“You don't know who is important to you until you actually lose them.”
“What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.”
“It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.”
“Truth is one, paths are many.”
“I believe in the fundamental truth of all great religions of the world.”
“There is no 'way to peace,' there is only 'peace.”
“In doing something, do it with love or never do it at all.”
“My imperfections and failures are as much a blessing from God as my successes and my talents and I lay them both at his feet.”
“The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.”
“Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into.”
“(When asked what he thought of Western civilization): 'I think it would be a good idea.”
“To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being.”
“They cannot take away our self respect if we do not give it to them.”
“The Roots of Violence: Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice, Politics without principles.”
“Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.”
“A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble. ”
“If we are to reach real peace in the world, we shall have to begin with the children.”
“Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.”
“Poverty is the worst form of violence.”
“I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.”
“To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is man's injustice to woman. If by strength is meant brute strength, then, indeed, is woman less brute than man. If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man's superior. Has she not greater intuition, is she not more self-sacrificing, has she not greater powers of endurance, has she not greater courage? Without her, man could not be. If nonviolence is the law of our being, the future is with woman. Who can make a more effective appeal to the heart than woman?”
“Seek not greater wealth, but simpler pleasure; not higher fortune, but deeper felicity.”
“If I had no sense of humour, I would long ago have committed suicide.”
“Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.”
“It is easier to build a boy, than to mend a man.”
“The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful then a thousand heads bowing in prayer.”
“Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.”
“The expert knows more and more about less and less until he knows everything about nothing.”
“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.”
“Nothing is so aggravating as calmness.”
“Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong.”
“There is force in the universe, which, if we permit it, will flow through us and produce miraculous results.”
“I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life.”
“When every hope is gone, 'when helpers fail and comforts flee,' I find that help arrives somehow, from I know not where. Supplication, worship, prayer are no superstition; they are acts more real than the acts of eating, drinking, sitting or walking. It is no exaggeration to say that they alone are real, all else is unreal.”
“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.”
“Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with innocent blood.”
“I want freedom for the full expression of my personality.”
“The inner voice is something which cannot be described in words. But sometimes we have a positive feeling that something in us prompts us to do a certain thing. The time when I learnt to recognise this voice was, I may say, the time when I started praying regularly.”
“What barrier is there that love cannot break?”
“There are many causes I would die for. There is not a single cause I would kill for.”
“Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.”
“I cannot conceive of a greater loss than the loss of one's self-respect.”
“There is no such thing as ‘too insane’ unless others turn up dead due to your actions.”
“Ethically they had arrived at the conclusion that man's supremacy over lower animals meant not that the former should prey upon the latter, but that the higher should protect the lower, and that there should be mutual aid between the two as between man and man. They had also brought out the truth that man eats not for enjoyment but to live.”
“Fearlessness is the first requisite of spirituality. Cowards can never be moral.”
“No one can ride on the back of a man unless it is bent.”
“It is wrong and immoral to seek to escape the consequences of one's acts.”
“I am but a poor struggling soul yearning to be wholly good, wholly truthful and wholly non-violent in thought, word and deed, but ever failing to reach the ideal which I know to be true. It is a painful climb, but each step upwards makes me feel stronger and fit for the next. ”
“The only tyrant I accept in this world is the 'still small voice' within me. And even though I have to face the prospect of being a minority of one, I humbly believe I have the courage to be in such a hopeless minority.”
“They may torture my body, break my bones, even kill me. Then they will have my dead body, but not my obedience.”
“Love never claims, it ever gives. Love ever suffers, never resents never revenges itself.”
“If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.”
“Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.”
“Live simply so that others may simply live.”
“It is not that I do not get angry. I don't give vent to my anger. I cultivate the quality of patience as angerlessness, and generally speaking, I succeed. But I only control my anger when it comes. How I find it possible to control it would be a useless question, for it is a habit that everyone must cultivate and must succeed in forming by constant practice.”
“Truth resides in every human heart,
and one has to search for it there,
and to be guided by truth as one sees it.
But no one has a right to coerce others
to act according to his own view of truth.”
“It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good heart whatever they might have to say.”
“Nothing has saddened me so much in life as the hardness of heart of educated people.”
“I should love to satisfy all, if I possibly can; but in trying to satisfy all, I may be able to satisfy none. I have, therefore, arrived at the conclusion that the best course is to satisfy one’s own conscience and leave the world to form its own judgment, favorable or otherwise.”
“Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph: a beginning, a struggle, and a victory.”
“Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment.”
“To believe that what has not occurred in history will not occur at all, is to argue disbelief in the dignity of man.”
“I first learned the concepts of non-violence in my marriage.”
“Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French. It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs... Surely it would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine can be restored to the Jews partly or wholly as their national home”
“A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.”
“The moment there is suspicion about a person's motives, everything he does becomes tainted.”
“Champions are made from something they have deep inside of them-a desire, a dream, a vison.”
“The golden rule of conduct is mutual toleration, seeing that we will never all think alike and we shall always see Truth in fragment and from different points of vision.”
“I may be a despicable person, but when Truth speaks through me I am
invincible.”
“True beauty lies in purity of the heart.”
“The greatness of humanity is not in being human, but in being humane.”
“The only difference between man and man all the world over is one of degree, and not of kind, even as there is between trees of the same species.
Where in is the cause for anger, envy or discrimination?”
“Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress.”
“It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.”
“There would be nothing to frighten you if you refused to be afraid.”
“Hatred can be overcome only by love. ”
“There goes my people. I must follow them, for I am their leader.”
“To forgive is not to forget. The merit lies in loving in spite of the vivid knowledge that one that must be loved is not a friend. There is not merit in loving an enemy when you forget him for a friend. ”
“But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth.”
“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”
“True love is boundless like the ocean and, swelling within one, spreads itself out and, crossing all boundaries and frontiers, envelops the whole world.”
“Birth and death are not two different states, but they are different aspects of the same state.”
“If I were asked to define the Hindu creed, I should simply say: Search after truth through non-violent means. A man may not believe in God and still call himself a Hindu. Hinduism is a relentless pursuit after truth... Hinduism is the religion of truth. Truth is God. Denial of God we have known. Denial of truth we have not known.”
“You yourself as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve love and affection.”
“If you don't find God in the next person you meet, it is a waste of time looking for him further.”
“You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.”
“The various religions
are like different roads
converging on the same point.
What difference does it make
if we follow different routes,
provided we arrive
at the same destination?”
“Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy.”
“A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.”
“In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth. ”
“A language is an exact reflection of the character and growth of its speakers.”
“Recall the face of the poorest and weakest man you have seen, and ask yourself if this step you contemplate is going to be any use to him.”
“The more efficient a force is, the more silent and the more subtle it is.”
“Terrorism and deception are weapons not of the strong, but of the weak.”
“If you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly.”
“As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world - that is the myth of the atomic age - as in being able to remake ourselves.”
“All your scholarship would be in vain if at the same time you do not build your character and attain mastery over your thoughts and your actions.”
“Manliness consists not in bluff, bravado or Lordliness. It consists in daring to do the right thing and facing consequences whether it is in matters social, political or other. It consists in deeds not words.”
“Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory.”
“If you want something really important to be done you must not merely satisfy the reason, you must move the heart also.”
“One man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole”
“Cowardice is impotence worse than violence. The coward desires revenge but being afraid to die, he looks to others, maybe to the government of the day, to do the work of defense for him. A coward is less than a man. He does not deserve to be a member of a society of men and women.”
“I claim to be no more than the average person with less than average ability. I have not the shadow of a doubt that any man or woman can achieve what I have, if he or she would make the same effort and cultivate the same hope and faith.”
“Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat for it is momentary.”
“As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, keep it.”
“Peace between countries must rest on the solid foundation of love between individuals.”
“Carefully watch your thoughts, for they become your words. Manage and watch your words, for they will become your actions. Consider and judge your actions, for they have become your habits. Acknowledge and watch your habits, for they shall become your values. Understand and embrace your values, for they become your destiny.”
“My effort should never be to undermine another's faith but to make him a better follower of his own faith.”
“One needs to be slow to form convictions, but once formed they must be defended against the heaviest odds.”
“An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does the truth become error because nobody will see it.
“It is man's social nature which distinguishes him from the brute creation. If it is his privilege to be independent, it is equally his duty to be inter-dependent. Only an arrogant man will claim to be independent of everybody else and be self-contained.”
“Behaviour is the mirror in which we can display our image.”
“A weak man is just by accident. A strong but non-violent man is unjust by accident.”
“I look upon an increase in the power of the State with the greatest fear because, although while apparently doing good by minimizing exploitation, it does the greatest harm to mankind by destroying individuality which lies at the heart of all progress.”
“Just as a man would not cherish living in a body other than his own, so do nations not like to live under other nations, however noble and great the latter may be.”
“An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.”
“Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.”
“I have also seen children successfully surmounting the effects of an evil inheritance. That is due to purity being an inherent attribute of the soul.”
“Yes I am, I am also a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist, and a Jew.”
“There's no God higher than truth.”
“Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong”
“A man of character will make himself worthy of any position he is given.”
“Stoning prophets and erecting churches to their memory afterwards has been the way of the world through the ages. Today we worship Christ, but the Christ in the flesh we crucified.”
“Don't talk about it. The rose doesn't have to propagate its perfume. It just gives it forth, and people are drawn to it. Live it, and people will come to see the source of your power.”
“Compassion is a muscle that gets stronger with use.”
“The devotion of such titans of spirit as Lenin to an Ideal must bear fruit. The nobility of his selflessness will be an example through centuries to come, and his Ideal will reach perfection.”
“Truth has drawn me into the field of politics; and I can say without the slightest hesitation, and yet in all humility, that those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means.”
“An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so. Now the law of nonviolence says that violence should be resisted not by counter-violence but by nonviolence. This I do by breaking the law and by peacefully submitting to arrest and imprisonment.”
“The law of love could be best understood and learned through little children.”
“Morality is a contraband in war.”
“I do not believe in the doctrine of the greatest good of the greatest number. The only real, dignified, human doctrine is the greatest good of all.”
“Truth should be the very breath of our life. When once this state in the pilgrim's progress is reached, all other rules of correct living will come without any effort, and obedience to them will be instinctive.”
“We stand on the threshold of a twilight-whether morning or evening we do not know. One is followed by the night, the other heralds the dawn.”
“Intolerance betrays want of faith in one's cause.”
“A man who is truthful and does not mean ill even to his adversary will be slow to believe charges even against his foes. He will, however, try to understand the viewpoints of his opponents and will always keep an open minds and seek every opportunity of serving his opponents.”
“If I were a dictator, religion and state would be separate. I swear by my religion. I will die for it. But it is my personal affair. The state has nothing to do with it. The state would look after your secular welfare, health, communications, foreign relations, currency and so on, but not your or my religion. That is everybody's personal concern!”
“Love is the strongest force the world possesses.”
“We do not need to proselytise either by our speech or by our writing. We can only do so really with our lives. Let our lives be open books for all to study.”
“I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill.”
“There is no way to peace; peace is the way.”
“Even the most despotic government cannot stand except for the consent of the governed.... Immediately the subject ceases to fear the despotic force, his power is gone.”
“No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive.”
“Civilization is the encouragement of differences.”
“Human language can but imperfectly describe God's ways. I am sensible of the fact that they are indescribable and inscrutable. But if mortal man will dare to describe them, he has no better medium than his own inarticulate speech.”
“Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.”
“True morality consists not in following the beaten track, but in finding the true path for ourselves, and fearlessly following it.”
“There are only two ways to live your life: as though nothing is a miracle, or as though everything is a miracle.”
“The world has enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.”
“We are constantly being astonished these days at the amazing discoveries in the field of violence. But I maintain that far more undreamt of and seemingly impossible discoveries will be made in the field of nonviolence.”
“Anger and intolerance are the twin enemies of correct understanding.”
“Joy lies in the fight, in the attempt, in the suffering involved, not in the victory itself”
“I was a coward. I used to be haunted by the fear of thieves, ghosts and serpents. I did not dare to stir out of doors at night. Darkness was a terror to me. It was almost impossible for me to sleep in the dark, as I would imagine ghosts coming from one direction, thieves from another and serpents from a third. I could not therefore bear to sleep without a light in the room. ”
“In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place."
“I believe that just as everyone inherits a particular form so does he inherit the particular characteristics and qualities of his progenitors, and to make this admission is to conserve one's energy.”
“And whilst he may not claim superiority by reason of learning, I myself must not withold that meed of homage that learning, wherever it resides, always commands.”
“Intellect takes us along in the battle of life to a certain limit, but at the crucial moment it fails us. Faith transcends reason. It is when the horizon is the darkest and human reason is beaten down to the ground that faith shines brightest and comes to our rescue.”
“I can retain neither respect nor affection for government which has been moving from wrong to wrong in order to defend its immorality”
“I offer you peace.
I offer you love.
I offer you friendship.
I see your beauty.
I hear your need.
I feel your feelings.
My wisdom flows from the highest Source.
I salute that Source in you.
Let us work together. For unity and peace.”
“Men flocked to see it and ascended it as it was a novelty and of unique dimensions. It was the toy of the exhibition. So long as we are children we are attracted by toys, and the tower was a good demonstration of the fact that we are all children attracted by trinkets. That may be claimed to be the purpose served by the Eiffel Tower.”
“I believe in trusting. Trust begets trust. Suspicion is foetid and only stinks. He who trusts has never yet lost in the world.”
“Civilization is the encouragement of differences.”
“I may be a despicable person, but when Truth speaks through me I am invincible”
“There are no good-byes, where ever you'll be, you'll be in my heart.”
“Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.”
“Unity to be real must survive the severest strain without breaking.”
“Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being. Without interrelation with society he cannot realize his oneness with the universe or suppress his egotism. His social interdependence enables him to test his faith and to prove himself on the touchstone of reality.”
“Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”
“Poverty is the worst form of violence.”
“Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity are the exclusive possession of no one race or religion.”
“A thousand candles can be lighted from the flame of one candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness can be spread without diminishing that of yourself.”
