Mahatma Gandhi Quotes

"All men are born equal and free" is not Nature's law in the literal sense.

Creation of effective public opinion depends on the cultivation of true courage, born of truthfulness and nonviolence.

Hate the sin and not the sinner is a precept which, though easy enough to understand, is rarely practiced, and that is why the poison of hatred spreads in the world ... It is quite proper to resist and attack a system, but to resist and attack its author is tantamount to resisting and attacking oneself. for we are all tarred with the same brush, and are children of one and the same Creator, and as such the divine powers within us are infinite. To slight a single human being is to slight those divine powers, and thus to harm not only that being but with him the whole world.

The difficulty one experiences in meeting himsa arises from weakness of mind.

I shall despair when I despair of myself, of God and humanity.

Every calamity should lead to a thorough cleansing of individual as well as social life.

There is already enough superstition in our country. No effort should be spared to resist further addition in the shape of Gandhi worship.

The mentality which made one section of the Indians look upon another as enemies was suicidal; it could only serve to perpetuate their slavery.

As soon as we become one with the ocean in the shape of God, there is no more rest for us, nor indeed do we need rest any longer.

Man has the supreme knack of deceiving himself; the Englishman is supremest among men.

I shall, of course, die with nonviolence on my lips.

Christianity in India is inextricably mixed up for the last hundred and fifty years with the British rule.

The unparalleled extravagance of English rule has demented the rajas and the maharajas who, unmindful of consequences, ape it and grind their subjects to dust.

The function of violence is to obtain reform by external means, the function of passive resistance, that is, soul-force, is to obtain it by growth from within, which, in its turn, is obtained by self-suffering, self-purification.

God has made of man and woman one complete whole. In the scheme of nature, both of them are equal.

Love and ahimsa are matchless in their effect.

Nonviolence is the greatest virtue, cowardice the greatest vice - nonviolence springs from love, cowardice from hate.

The people are like a flock of sheep, following where leaders lead them.

Non-violent resistance implies the very opposite of weakness. Defiance combined with non-retaliatory acceptance of repression from one's opponents is active, not passive. It requires strength, and there is nothing automatic or intuitive about the resoluteness required for using non-violent methods in political struggle and the quest for Truth.

Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.

For me patriotism is the sme as humanity. I am patriotic because I am human and humane. It is not exclusive. I will not hurt England or Germany to serve India ... My patriotism is inclusive and admits of no enmity or ill-will.

My dharma teaches me to give my life for the sake of others without even attempting to kill.

Real beauty is my aim.

If intellect plays a large part in the field of violence, I hold that it plays a larger part in the field of nonviolence.

Create and preserve the image of your choice.

Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.

Nations are born out of travail and suffering

Truth stands for the fact, nonviolence negates the fact.

If our ahimsa is not of the brave but of the weak, and if it will bend the knee before himsa, Gandhism deserves to be destroyed.

We may have our private opinions but why should they be a bar to the meeting of hearts?

Silence is a great help to a seeker after truth like myself.

God has blessed man with seed that has the highest potency and woman with a field richer than the richest earth to be found anywhere on his globe.

The deepest spiritual truths are always unutterable.

The mice which helplessly find themselves between the cats teeth acquire no merit from their enforced sacrifice.

I am a Christian and a Hindu and a Muslim and a Jew.

The world easily finds an honourable place for the magician who produces new and dazzling things.

I believe in God, not as a theory but as a fact more real than life itself.

A love that is based on the goodness of those whom you love is a mercenary affair.

3 is prime, 5 is prime, 7 is prime, but 9 is not prime; -in this incarnation.

He who spins before the poor, inviting them to do likewise, serves God as no one else does.

Those with the greatest awareness have the greatest nightmares.

Hence, we should not be attached even to a good cause. Only then will our means remain pure and our actions too.

Since one Satan is one too many for me, I would not multiply him.

God's time never stops.

Satyagraha does not depend on outside help, it derives all its strength from within.

[We] need the same advice that was given to Martha. If we but do "the one thing needful," there is no occasion for us to be "anxious and troubled" about the many things in the shape of wanting to know what our Governors will do, or who the next Prime Minister is likely to be, or what laws affecting us are likely to be passed.21

Under my plan, the state will be there to carry out the will of the people, not to dictate to them or to force them to do its will.

Find yourself by losing yourself for others.

Truth, purity, self-control, firmness, fearlessness, humility, unity, peace, and renunciation - these are the inherent qualities of a civil resister.

Every murder or other injury, no matter for what cause, committed or inflicted on another is a crime against humanity.

In the East, as in the West, newspapers are fast becoming people's Bible, Koran, Zend-Avesta and Gita all rolled into one.

Even if masses of people were to burn khadi publicly and say that it is an insane programme, I will declare that those people have gone mad.

A popular government wields a moral force, which is infinitely superior to the physical force that the foreign government could summon to its assistance.

The Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher's knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs. As it is, they succumbed anyway in their millions.

Even as wisdom often comes from the mouths of babes, so does it often come from the mouths of old people. The golden rule is to test everything in the light of reason and experience, no matter from where it comes.

Pure motives can never justify impure or violent action.

Even swadeshi, like any other good thing, can be ridden to death if it is made a fetish.

Religion is more than life. Remember that his own religion is the truest to every man even if it stands low in the scales of philosophical comparison.

One can measure the greatness and the moral progress of a nation by looking at how it treats its animals.

My idea of village SWARAJ is that is a complete republic, independent of its neighbors for its own vital wants, and yet interdependent for many others which dependence is a necessity.

Ordinary man can try million times..but only a ambitions man try diffrent in million ways ... create new ways to solve existing problems.jj

Nonviolent non-co-operators can only succeed when they have succeeded in attaining control over the hooligans of India.

Healthy, well-informed, balanced criticism is the ozone of public life.

Is a civilization worth the name, which requires, for its existence the very doubtful prop of a racial legislation and a lynch law?

I took the vow of celibacy in 1906. I had not shared my thoughts with my wife until then, but only consulted her at the time of making the vow. She had no objection.

Children inherit the qualities of the parents, no less than their physical features. Environment does play an important part, but the original capital on which a child starts in life is inherited from its ancestors. 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.

Polak and I had often very heated discussions about the desirability or otherwise of giving the children an English education. It has always been my conviction that Indian parents who train their children to think and talk in English from their infancy betray their children and their country. They deprive them of the spiritual and social heritage of the nation, and render them to that extent unfit for the service of the country. Having these convictions, I made a point of always talking to my children in Gujarati. Polak never liked this. He thought I was spoiling their future. He contended, with all the vigour and love at his command, that, if children were to learn a universal language like English from their infancy, they would easily gain considerable advantage over others in the race of life. He failed to convince me. I do not now remember whether I convinced him of the correctness of my attitude, or whether he gave me up as too obstinate. This happened about twenty years ago, and my convictions have only deepened with experience. Though my sons have suffered for want of full literary education, the kn

A satyagrahi has infinite patience, abundant faith in others, and ample hope.

Though God may be Love, God is Truth above all.

In order to get meat, we have to kill. And we are certainly not entitled to any other milk except the mother's milk in our infancy.

Keep your thoughts positive because your thought become YOUR WORDS.
Keep your words positive because your words become YOUR BEHAVIOR
Keep your behavior positive because your behavior becomes YOUR HABITS
Keep your habits positive because your habits become YOUR VALUES
Keep your values positive because your values become YOUR DESTINY

Nonviolence is an active force of the highest order. It is soul force or the power of the godhead within us.

Violent means will give violent freedom. That would be a menace to the world and to India herself.

Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.

Religion is not what is grasped by the brain, but a heart grasp.

Therefore the Gita is not for those who have no faith. The author makes Krishna say: 'Do not entrust this treasure to him who is without sacrifice, without devotion, without the desire for this teaching and who denies Me. On

In a self-respecting India, is not every woman's virtue as much every man's concern as his own sister's?

I can no more preach nonviolence to a cowardly man than I can tempt a blind man to enjoy healthy scenes.

No scheme of self-government, however benevolently or generously it may be bestowed upon us, will ever make us a self-governing nation, if we have no respect for the languages our mothers speak.

Service can have no meaning unless one takes pleasure in it. When it is done for show or for fear of public opinion, it stunts the man and crushes his spirit. Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served.

[I]t seems to me as clear as daylight that abortion would be a crime.

Before God the work of man will be judged by the spirit in which it is done, not by the nature of the work which makes no difference whatsoever.

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.

Nonviolence is the virtue of the manly. The coward is innocent of it.

Rights that do not flow from duty well performed are not worth having.

Blind adoration, in the age of action, is perfectly valueless, is often embarrassing and, equally, often painful.

It is open to a war resister to judge between the combatants and wish success to the one who has justice on his side. By so judging he is more likely to bring peace between the two than by remaining a mere spectator.

If we import compulsion in matters of religion, there is no doubt that we shall be committing suicide.

Tolstoy's so-called inconsistencies were a sign of his development and his passionate regard for truth.

Vehement writing, even if it is charged with truth, is no answer to violent action.

One thing we have endeavoured to observe most scrupulously, namely, never to depart from the strictest facts and, in dealing with the difficult questions that have arisen during the year, we hope that we have used the utmost moderation possible under the circumstances.

A dissolute character is more dissolute in thought than in deed. And the same is true of violence. Our violence in word and deed is but a feeble echo of the surging violence of thought in us.

Khaddar delivers the poor from the bonds of the rich and creates a moral and spiritual bond between the classes and the masses.

My only sanction is the love and affection in which you hold me. But it has its weaknesses, as it has its strengths.

The Krishna of the Gita is perfection and right knowledge personified, but the picture is imaginary.

It is much more difficult to live for nonviolence than to die for it.

I once killed a man for snoring too loudly.

The saving of labour of the individual should be the object and honest humanitarian considerations, and not greed, the motive.

Tolerance obviously does not disturb the distinction between right and wrong, or good and evil.

I believe that the yarn we spin is capable of mending the broken warp and woof of our life!

The indifference of the railway authorities to the comforts of the third-class passengers, combined with the dirty and inconsiderate habits of the passengers themselves, makes third-class travelling a trial for a passenger of cleanly ways.