I would far rather that India perished than that she won Her freedom at the sacrifice of truth.

Ours is a civil fight, and imprisonment as a civil prisoner has got to be earned by the strict observance of the programme.

It is the reformer who is anxious for the reform, and not society, from which he should expect nothing better than opposition, abhorrence and even mortal persecution.

Self-suppression is often necessary in the interest of truth and nonviolence.

Life will not be a pyramid with the apex sustained by the bottom, but an oceanic circle whose centre will be the individual.

In the secret of my heart I am in perpetual quarrel with God that He should allow such things [as the war] to go on. My non-violence seems almost impotent. But the answer comes at the end of the daily quarrel that neither God nor non-violence is impotent. Impotence is in men. I must try on without losing faith even though I may break in the attempt.

Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it