Nonviolence Quotes

Nonviolence is not just abstention from war, fighting, or animal flesh. It is abstention from negative thoughts and negative speech. ~ Nathaniel Altman

Nonviolence is a universal principle and its operation is not limited by a hostile environment. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

I have no weapon but nonviolence. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

When a man vowed to nonviolence as the law governing human beings dares to refer to war, he can only do it so as to strain every nerve to avoid it. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

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

Nonviolence is an intensely active force when properly understood and used. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

After decades as a Buddhist committed to nonviolence, he had watched police officers running past him in the streets, moving toward and not away from the place of greatest danger. He now understood that his ability to practice nonviolence without risking his life had been predicated on the willingness of the state – in the form of police officers and soldiers – to use violence to protect him, Batchelor recognized that our relationship with violence is considerably more complicated than we might wish. ~ Kate Braestrup

Nonviolence presupposes a level of humanness--however low it may be, in every human being. ~ Narayan Desai

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. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Throughout the 64-day campaign, events and activities for peace and nonviolence take place all around the world, highlighting existing peacebuilding initiatives and inspiring new year-round activities for a more peaceful, nonviolent, just and sustainable world. ~ Robert Alan Aurthur

I'm grateful to God that, through the Negro church, the dimension of nonviolence entered our struggle. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

In a world facing the revolt of ragged and hungry masses of God's children; in a world torn between the tensions of East and West, white and colored, individuals and collectivists; in a world whose cultural and spiritual power lags so far behind her technological capabilities that we live each day on the verge of nuclear co-annihilation; in this world, nonviolence is no longer an option for intellectual analysis, it is an imperative for action ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

The man or the woman who can display the nonviolence of the brave can easily stand against as external invasion. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence. That is where we are today. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

The point of nonviolence is to build a floor, a strong new floor, beneath which we can no longer sink. A platform which stands a few feet above napalm, torture, exploitation, poison gas, A and H bombs, the works. Give man a decent place to stand. ~ Joan Baez

Non-violence is more powerful than violence. Nature eliminates violent animals bit by bit. ~ Amit Ray

Women are the most spectacular instance of this. After a period of independence that came with the spread of Christianity, they were relegated to a lower order. This is all the more interesting because the gospel and the first church were never hostile to women nor treated them as minors, and the situation of women in the Roman empire (particularly in the East) was relatively favourable. In spite of this, when Christianity became a power or authority, this worked against women. A strange perversion, yet fully understandable when we allow that women represent precisely the most innovative elements in Christianity: grace, love, charity, a concern for living creatures, nonviolence, an interest in little things, the hope of new beginnings - the very elements that Christianity was setting aside in favor of glory and success. ~ Jacques Ellul

Black Power If the motive is good, and there are no other possibilities, then seen most deeply it [violence] is nonviolence, because its aim is to help others. ~ Dalai Lama

Unless discipline is rooted in nonviolence, it might prove to be a source of infinite mischief. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

In any nonviolent campaign there are four basic steps: collection of the facts to determine whether injustices exist; negotiation; self-purification; and direct action. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

It may be considered folly by common opinion but this refusal to destroy life unnecessarily, this reverence for it, must become a deeply implanted part of his ethical standard. ~ Paul Brunton

I argue that even as the war is framed in certain ways to control and heighten affect in relation to the differential grievability of lives, so war has come to frame ways of thinking multiculturalism and debates on sexual freedom, issues largely considered separate from foreign affairs. ~ Judith Butler

The principle of always seeking an alternative applies to nonviolence as well. It is this: If nonviolence is to be credible, it must answer the questions that violence purports to answer, but in a better way. ~ Jim Wallis

We become Godlike to the extent we realize nonviolence, but we can never become wholly God. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

We dare not enter the kingdom of liberty with mere life-homage to truth and nonviolence. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

I will not be violent," I chant-mutter. "I will not be violent. I am peaceful and good. I do not want to give anyone the finger. ~ Carrie Jones

In order to live a life of nonviolence one must be willing to soften -- to open one's heart to others, to forgive, to be compassionate, to be graceful, to be loving toward others and oneself, to be kind. We must be willing, in other words, to reject hardness as the measure of power and justice, and to embrace, instead, so much of what is commonly associated with the feminine. Indeed, it is no longer tenable – if it ever were – to assess and critique nonviolence in terms of whether or not it conforms to some masculine idea of the justice-seeking self. ~ Alycee J. Lane

People who think nonviolence is easy don't realize that it's a spiritual discipline that requires a great deal of strength, growth, and purging of the self so that one can overcome almost any obstacle for the good of all without being concerned about one's own welfare. ~ Alice Walker

The bravery of the nonviolent is vastly superior to that of the violent. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

The rishis, who discovered the law of nonviolence in the midst of violence, were greater geniuses than Newton. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

The common factor of all religions is nonviolence. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Nonviolence does not require any outside or outward training. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

The black people in these films seemed to love the worst things in life - love the dogs that rent their children apart, the tear gas that clawed at their lungs, the fire-hoses that tore off their clothes and tumbled them into the streets. They seemed to love the men who raped them, the women who cursed them, love the children who spat on them, the terrorists that bombed them. Why are they showing this to us? Why were only our heroes nonviolent? I speak not of the morality of nonviolence, but of the sense that blacks are in especial need of this morality. ~ Ta-Nehisi Coates

tactical refusal of confrontation is itself only a stratagem of warfare. It's easy to understand, for example, why the Oaxaca Commune immediately declared itself peaceful. It wasn't a matter of refuting war, but of refusing to be defeated in a confrontation with the Mexican state and its henchmen. As some Cairo comrades explained it, "One mustn't mistake the tactic we employ when we chant 'nonviolence' for a fetishizing of non-violence ~ Anonymous

My faith in truth and nonviolence is ever growing, and as I am ever trying to follow them in my life, I too am growing every moment. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

essence of nonviolence was a refusal to retaliate against evil, a refusal based on the realization that "the law of retaliation is the law of the multiplication of evil. ~ David J. Garrow

When you are grateful,' Brother Steindl-Rast explained, 'you are not fearful, and when you are not fearful, you are not violent. When you are grateful, you act out of a sense of enough and not out of a sense of scarcity, and you are willing to share. If you are grateful, you are enjoying the differences between people and respectful to all people. The grateful world is a world of joyful people. Grateful people are joyful people. A grateful world is a happy world. ~ Douglas Carlton Abrams

My definition of democracy is -
A form and a method of Government whereby revolutionary changes in the social life are brought about without bloodshed.
That is the real test. It is perhaps the severest test. But when you are judging the quality of the material you must put it to the severest test. ~ B.R. Ambedkar

Today's world is traveling in some strange direction. You see that the world is going toward destruction and violence. And the specialty of violence is to create hatred among people and to create fear. I am a believer in nonviolence and I say that no peace or tranquility will descend upon the people of the world until nonviolence is practiced, because nonviolence is love and it stirs courage in people. ~ Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan

All ideologies end up killing people. If you separate love from nonviolence you turn nonviolence into an ideology, a gimmick. Structures that are not inhabited by justice and love have no liberating or reconciling force, and are never sources of life. ~ Jean Goss

Too much of anything creates an imbalance in life. This is true even of virtues such as nonviolence. You never know when the winds of change strike; when violence may be required to protect your society, or to even survive.' There ~ Amish Tripathi

Woman is the companion of man, gifted with equal mental capacity ... If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man's superior ... If non-violence is the law of our being, the future is with women. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political moral questions of our time. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

In 1989, thirteen nations comprising 1,695,000 people experienced nonviolent revolutions that succeeded beyond anyone's wildest expectations ... If we add all the countries touched by major nonviolent actions in our century (the Philippines, South Africa ... the independence movement in India ... ) the figure reaches 3,337,400,000, a staggering 65% of humanity! All this in the teeth of the assertion, endlessly repeated, that nonviolence doesn't work in the 'real' world. ~ Walter Wink

It is said about Lord Buddha sadaya-hrdaya darsita-pasu-ghatam. He saw the whole human race going to hell by this animal killing. So he appeared to teach ahimsa, nonviolence, being compassionate on the animals and human beings. In the Christian religion also, it is clearly stated, 'Thou shall not kill'. So everywhere animal killing is restricted. In no religion the unnecessary killing of animals is allowed. But nobody is caring. The killing process is increasing, and so are the reactions. Every ten years you will find a war. These are the reactions. ~ A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Preaching nonviolence on principle reproduces the existing institutionalized violence. ~ Herbert Marcuse

I plan to stand by nonviolence, because I have found it to be a philosophy of life that regulates not only my dealings in the struggle for racial justice, but also my dealings with people, and with my own self. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

The practice of truth and nonviolence melted religious differences, and we learnt to see beauty in each religion. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Nonviolence is not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Truth and nonviolence are as old as the hills. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

During the past few years I have avoided tiring myself and losing my breath. I must take care of my body, treat it with respect as a musician does his instrument. I apply nonviolence to my body, for it is not merely a tool to accomplish something. It itself is the end. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Nonviolence is the means, the end for everyone is complete independence. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

When nonviolence is accepted as the law of life, it must pervade the whole being and not be applied to isolated acts. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

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. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

The goals of true education are to teach acceptance, tolerance, and nonviolence. ~ Debasish Mridha

We Christians forget (if we ever learned) that attempts to redress real or imagined injustice by violent means are merely another exercise in denial - denial of God and her nonviolence towards us, denial of love of neighbor, denial of laws essential to our being. ~ Philip Berrigan

The way to truth lies through ahimsa (nonviolence). ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Building cultures of peace is long-haul work, undramatic and unheralded, and often infinitely tedious, and most of the people doing it probably don't even think of themselves as practitioners of nonviolence. Maybe it's time they did. ~ Carol Lee Flinders

My nonviolence does not admit of running away from danger and leaving the dear ones unprotected. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

I have been practicing, with scientific precision, nonviolence and its possibilities for an unbroken period of over fifty years. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

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

Nonviolence is the most potent technique for oppressed people. Unearned suffering is redemptive. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today it is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence; it is either nonviolence or nonexistence. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Never could I advocate nonviolence in this country and not advocate nonviolence for the whole world. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We will meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will. And we shall continue to love you. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

The only possible explanation for the absence of a proactive word to express nonviolence is that not only the political establishments but the cultural and intellectual establishments of all societies have viewed nonviolence as a marginal point of view, a fanciful rejection of one of society's key components, a repudiation of something important but not a serious force in itself. It is not an authentic concept but simply the abnegation of something else. It has been marginalized because it is one of the rare truly revolutionary ideas, an idea that seeks to completely change the nature of society, a threat to the established order. And it has always been treated as something profoundly dangerous. ~ Mark Kurlansky

If there is real non-violence in us, there can be no war in the world. ~ Abhijit Naskar

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

Ours has not been unadulterated nonviolence in thought, word and deed. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

The command to love our enemies reminds us that our first task towards oppressors is pastoral: to help them recover their humanity. Quite possibly the struggle, and the oppression that gave it rise, have dehumanised the oppressed as well, causing them to demonise their enemies. It is not enough to become politically free; we must also become human. Nonviolence presents a change for all parties to rise above their present condition and become more of what God created them to be. ~ Walter Wink

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

Nonviolence is the very essence of the gospels. ~ Helene Iswolsky

The fragrance of nonviolence was never sweeter than it was today amidst the stink of violence of the most cowardly type that was being displayed in the cities of India. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

The very word Islam means peace, which is nonviolence. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

In effect, terrorists now have the power to ignite war. They almost have their finger on the nuclear button. They almost have the status of heads of state. And that has enhanced the effectiveness and romance of terrorism.
The US government's response to September 11 has actually privileged terrorism. It has given it a huge impetus, and made it look like terrorism is the only effective way to be heard. Over the years, every kind of nonviolent resistance movement has been crushed, ignored, kicked aside. But if you're a terrorist, you have a great chance of being negotiated with, of being on TV, of getting all the attention you couldn't have dreamt of earlier. ~ Arundhati Roy

Love is an energy that is addictive, contagious and free. Earn it, chase it, give it to those in need. ~ Aaron Lauritsen

When I was 16, the guest speaker was King. And I was completely overwhelmed because I had been studying nonviolence, talking about it, reading about it, but here it was happening, here it was people boycotting the buses and people on the streets and taking risks, which I think was the key. ~ Joan Baez

Anything Freed with Guns will Go Back Eventually. ~ Vineet Raj Kapoor

Nonviolent actions are by their nature androgynous. In them the two impulses that have long been treated as distinct, 'masculine' and 'feminine,' the impulse of self-assertion and the impulse of sympathy, are clearly joined; the very genius of nonviolence, in fact, is that it demonstrates them to be indivisible, and so restores human community ... ~ Barbara Deming

Peace equals ability to handle conflict, with empathy, nonviolence, and creativity ... ~ Johan Galtung

Non-violence doesn't mean staying silent in the face of evil, rather it means acting out of the sense of responsibility, instead of reacting out of circumstantial impulse. ~ Abhijit Naskar

A nonviolent person's life is always at the disposal of him who would take it. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

...if we do not know how to defend ourselves, our women and our places of worship by force of suffering, i.e., nonviolence, we must, if we are men, be at least able to defend all these by fighting." (MLK)
"...If given a choice between violent resistance and passive acceptance, King and Gandhi both accepted violence..."
"...like violence, it [non-violent resistance] was aggressive, but it was spiritually, bot physically, so."

"...At the same time the mind and the emotions are active, actively trying to persuade the opponent to change his ways and convince him that he is mistaken and to lift him to a higher level of existence. ~ S. Nassir Ghaemi

Just as there are signs by which you can recognize violence with the naked eye, so is the spinning wheel to me a decisive sign of nonviolence. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Unless you go on discovering new applications of the law of nonviolence, you do not profit by it. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Nonviolence is often the path of wisdom, but not always. Love and passive resistance are wonderfully effective weapons against some kinds of tyranny, but not against all. ~ Freeman Dyson

Nonviolence is the summit of bravery. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

I think nonviolence and the mediation of conflict by means of respecting civility must be promoted. But being the kind of beings we [peoplep] are - wrestling with greed, and wrestling with fears and security, anxieties, wrestling with hatred that's shot through all of us - wars are here to stay. ~ Cornel West

Nonviolence has come among men and it will live. It is the harbinger of the peace of the world. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

The female warrior knows how to fight without violence. She knows when not to raise her sword, but instead hold up her heart. Her shield is not a defense against others but a shelter for all. ~ Riitta Klint

[The Dalai Lama] told me some years ago, "I've made every concession to China, and I've been as open and tolerant as I could, and still things get worse in Tibet." If you look at it from one point of view, as he himself says, his monastic position of forbearance and nonviolence hasn't reaped any benefits. And yet, he's thinking in terms of the long term, of centuries. ~ Pico Iyer

Any type of violence is against God, against religion, against spirituality, against humanity, and against nature. Maturity comes only through non-violence, love, and all-inclusiveness. ~ Amit Ray

Please be peaceful. We believe in law and order. We are not advocating violence, I want you to love your enemies ... for what we are doing is right, what we are doing is just
and God is with us. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

nonviolent action succeeds twice as often as violent means, in a third of the amount of time, and with a fraction of the casualties. ~ Rivera Sun

Nonviolence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

And they are torturing Muslims, and their drones are bombing wedding parties (by accident!), and the Dreamers are quoting Martin Luther King and exulting nonviolence for the weak and the biggest guns for the strong. ~ Ta-Nehisi Coates

My life is dedicated to the service of Indians through the religion of nonviolence which I believe to be the root of Hinduism. ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Demonstrations must be dignified and nonviolent, as the overwhelming protests in Ferguson and Staten Island have been. Do not confuse anarchists who don't want the system to work and thugs who want to exploit a situation with the majority who from day one have operated with impeccable nonviolence and clear goals. ~ Al Sharpton