Nonviolent action does not have to get others to be nice. It can in effect force them to consult their consciences.

The point is to change one's life. The point is not to give some vent to the emotions that have been destroying one; the point is so to act that one can master them now.

People who attack others need rationalizations for doing so. We undermine those rationalizations.

People may find it more comfortable to listen to us if we equivocate, but in the long run only words that discomfort them are going to change our situation.

We cannot live without our lives

The injunction that we should love our neighbors as ourselves means to us equally that we should love ourselves as we love our neighbors.

The longer we listen to one another - with real attention - the more commonality we will find in all our lives. That is, if we are careful to exchange with one another life stories and not simply opinions.