Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
Mahatma GandhiRetreat itself is often a plan of resistance and may be a precursor of great bravery and sacrifice. Every retreat is not cowardice which implies fear to die.
Mahatma GandhiI came in contact with every known Indian anarchist in London. Their bravery impressed me, but I felt that their zeal was misguided. I felt that violence was no remedy for India's ills, and that her civilisation required the use of a different and higher weapon for self-protection. - Hind Swaraj
Mahatma GandhiCivil disobedience is not only the natural right of a people, especially when they have no effective voice in their own Government, but that it is also a substitute for violence or armed rebellion.
Mahatma GandhiMy errors have been errors of calculation and judging men, not in appreciating the true nature of truth and ahimsa or in their application.
Mahatma GandhiThe law of sacrifice is uniform throughout the world. To be effective it demands the sacrifice of the bravest and the most spotless.
Mahatma GandhiHumankind has to get out of violence only through non-violence. Hatred can be overcome only by love. Counter - hatred only increases the surface as well as the depth of hatred.
Mahatma GandhiThere is no such thing as ‘too insane’ unless others turn up dead due to your actions.
Mahatma GandhiDo not concentrate on showing the misdeeds of the government, for we have to convert and befriend those who run it.
Mahatma GandhiIt 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.
Mahatma GandhiI have no secret methods. I know no diplomacy save that of truth. I have no weapon but non-violence.
Mahatma GandhiNonviolence in the sense of mere non-killing does not appear to me, therefore, to be of any improvement on the technique of violence.
Mahatma GandhiA full and candid admission of one's mistakes should make proof against its repetition.
Mahatma GandhiI am a poor mendicant. My earthly possessions consist of six spinning wheels, prison dishes, a can of goat's milk, six homespun loincloths and towels and my reputation, which cannot be worth much.
Mahatma GandhiTo answer brutality with brutality is to admit one's moral and intellectual bankruptcy.
Mahatma GandhiIt is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.
Mahatma GandhiI claim to know my millions. All the hours of the day I am with them. They are my first care and God that is to be found in the hearts of the dumb millions.
Mahatma GandhiThe purpose of life is undoubtedly to know oneself. We cannot do it unless we learn to identify ourselves with all that lives. The sum-total of that life is God.
Mahatma GandhiReturn to the villages means a definite, voluntary recognition of the duty of bread labour and all its connotes.
Mahatma GandhiI have even seen the writings suggesting that I am playing a deep game, that I am using the present turmoil to foist my fads on India, and am making religious experiments at India's expense. I can only answer that Satyagraha is made of sterner stuff. There is nothing reserved and nothing secret in it.
Mahatma GandhiIndependence of my conception means nothing less than the realization of the "Kingdom of God" within you and on this earth.
Mahatma GandhiThe ideal is a synthesis of the different cultures that have come to stay in India, that have influenced Indian life, and that, in their turn, have themselves been influenced by the spirit of the soil.
Mahatma GandhiThe sacred thread and the tuft of hair without a pure heart and a spirit of toleration do not make a Hindu.
Mahatma GandhiThe bomb-throwers have discredited the cause of freedom, in whose name they threw the bombs.
Mahatma GandhiThe Charkha is the symbol of sacrifice, and sacrifice is essential for the establishment of the image of the deity.
Mahatma GandhiAll I want to say, with the utmost emphasis at my command, is that the description of India as a military country is wrong.
Mahatma GandhiActive nonviolence of the brave puts to flight thieves, dacoits, murderers, and prepares an army of volunteers ready to sacrifice themselves in quelling riots, in extinguishing fires and feuds, and so on.
Mahatma GandhiIt is the best thing to blame ourselves when people cannot get on well with us. Boundless charity necessarily includes all or it ceases to be boundless. We must be strict with ourselves and lenient with our neighbors. For we know not their difficulties and what they overcome.
Mahatma GandhiEvolution of democracy is not possible if we are not prepared to hear the other side.
Mahatma GandhiOur nonviolence in respect of the Government is a result of our incapacity for effective violence.
Mahatma Gandhi