Mahatma Gandhi quotes
Indian lawyer and ascetic who led the nonviolent independence movement. His satyagraha — truth-force — shaped twentieth-century moral politics.
36 passages across 15 themes. More on Mahatma Gandhi.
On action
“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
“Kaffirs are as a rule uncivilised—the convicts even more so. They are troublesome, very dirty and live almost like animals.”
“We who seek justice will have to do justice to others.”
“The only real, dignified, human doctrine is the greatest good of all, and this can only be achieved by uttermost self-sacrifice.”
“In matters of conscience, the law of majority has no place.”
“It has always been easier to destroy than to create.”
“No action which is not voluntary can be called moral.”
“Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.”
“Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men. The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
“Politics without principle, wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, and worship without sacrifice — are the seven social sins.”
On death
“Cowardice is impotence worse than violence. The coward desires revenge but being afraid to die, he looks to others… to do the work of defense for him.”
“Complete civil disobedience is a state of peaceful revolution, a refusal to obey every single state-made law.”
“There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for.”
“I hold the opinion firmly that Civil Disobedience is the purest type of constitutional agitation. Of course, it becomes degrading and despicable if its civil, i.e. non-violent character is a mere camouflage.”
“Disobedience is a right that belongs to every human being, and it becomes a sacred duty when it springs from civility.”
On presence
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change.”
“When there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence… I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honour than to remain a helpless witness to her own dishonour.”
“There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts.”
On time
“One of the objects of a newspaper is to understand popular feeling and to give expression to it; another is to arouse among the people certain desirable sentiments; and the third is fearlessly to expose popular defects.”
“Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.”
On love
“If India adopted the doctrine of love as an active part of her religion and introduced it in her politics. Swaraj would descend upon India from heaven. But I am painfully aware that that event is far off as yet.”
“If one has no affection for a person or a system, one should feel free to give the fullest expression to his disaffection so long as he does not contemplate, promote, or incite violence.”
On freedom
“There is no such thing as slow freedom. Freedom is like a birth. Till we are fully free we are slaves.”
“Under democracy individual liberty of opinion and action is jealously guarded.”
On fear
“Any action that is dictated by fear or by coercion of any kind ceases to be moral.”
“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.”
On faith
“Satan's successes are the greatest when he appears with the name of God on his lips.”
“Nonviolence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed.”
On harmony
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
On forgiveness
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
On anger
“I have learnt through bitter experience the one supreme lesson to conserve my anger, and as heat conserved is transmuted into energy, even so our anger controlled can be transmuted into a power which can move the world.”
On suffering
“I claim that in losing the spinning wheel we lost our left lung. We are, therefore, suffering from galloping consumption. The restoration of the wheel arrests the progress of the fell disease.”
On mind
“A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.”
On truth
“Always believe in your dreams, because if you don't, you'll still have hope.”
On wisdom
“Our sages have taught us to learn one thing; `As in the Self, so in the Universe.' It is not possible to scan the universe as it is to scan the self. Know the self and you know the universe.”