Mahatma Gandhi Quotes

Let India become alive by self-purification, that is self-restraint and self-denial, and she will be a boon to herself and mankind.

A policy is a temporary creed liable to be changed, but while it holds good it has got to be pursued with apostolic zeal.

The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

It is my own firm belief that the strength of the soul grows in proportion as you subdue the flesh.

Nonviolence, in its dynamic condition means conscious suffering.

We should meet abuse by forbearance. Human nature is so constituted that if we take absolutely no notice of anger or abuse, the person indulging in it will soon weary of it and stop.

If Britain wins wholly, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and perhaps even Bolshevik Russia will disappear.

It was not through democratic methods that Britain bagged India.

Action is no less necessary than thought to the instinctive tendencies of the human frame.

Poverty is the worst form of violence.

Khadi to me is the symbol of unity of Indian humanity, of its economic freedom and equality and, therefore, ultimately, in the poetic expression of Jawaharlal Nehru, 'the livery of India's freedom'.

One is ever young in the presence of the God of Truth, or Truth which is God.

It hurts me to think that people in their rush for everything modern despise all their ancient traditions and ignore them in their lives.

Nonviolence is the virtue of the manly. The coward is innocent of it.

The life of millions is my politics, from which I dare not free myself without denying my life-work and God.

War is an unmitigated evil. But it certainly does one good thing. It drives away fear and brings bravery to the surface.

The Gita distinguishes between the powers of light and darkness and demonstrates their incompatibility.

Himsa does not need to be taught, Man as animal is violent, but as spirit is nonviolent.

A satyagrahi is nothing if not instinctively law-abiding.

Virtue lies in being absorbed in one's prayers in the presence of din and noise.

Satyagraha does not begin and end with civil disobedience.

I call the Lancashire trade immoral, because it was raised and is sustained on the ruin of millions of India's peasants.

I isolate this non-co-operation from Sinn Feinism, for it is so conceived as to be incapable of being offered side by side with violence.

Truth stands for the fact, nonviolence negates the fact.

I do believe that, where 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 that she should, in a cowardly manner, become or remain a helpless witness to her own dishonour. But I believe that nonviolence is infinitely superior to violence, forgiveness is more manly than punishment.

Truth, which is permanent, eludes the historian of events. Truth transcends history.

Such expression is impossible in a cramped atmosphere. As I have no desire to offer civil disobedience I cannot write freely. As the author of satyagraha I cannot, consistently with my profession, suppress the vital part of myself for the sake of being able to write on permissible subjects. ... It would be like dealing with the trunk without the head.

Nonviolence to be a creed has to be all-pervasive.

Love can never express itself by imposing sufferings on others. It can only express itself by self-suffering, by self-purification.

All society is held together by nonviolence even as the earth is held in her position by gravitation.

Satyagraha is a purely spiritual weapon.

Freedom received though the efforts of others, however benevolent, cannot be retained when such effort is withdrawn.

The highest religion has been defined by a negative word: ahimsa.

Where my own mission is concerned, my thought is active, and I try to wish everyone well in spite of doubts and mistrust.

The Swaraj of my dream recognizes no race or religious distinctions.

Everything that we do is insignificant...and...it is very important that we do it!

May not men earn their bread by intellectual labor? No, the needs of the body must be supplied by the body.

Just as a prayer may be merely a mechanical intonation as of a bird, so may a fast be a mere mechanical torture of the flesh.

Freedom of a nation cannot be won by solitary acts of heroism though they may be of the true type, never by heroism so called.

There are no good-byes, where ever you'll be, you'll be in my heart.

The use of soul-force for turning stones into bread would have been considered, as it is still considered, as black magic.

Birth and death are not two different states, but they are different aspects of the same state.

One thing we have endeavoured to observe most scrupulously, namely, never to depart from the strictest facts and, in dealing with the difficult questions that have arisen during the year, we hope that we have used the utmost moderation possible under the circumstances.

Animal experimentation is the blackest of all the black crimes that a man is at present committing... We should be able to refuse to live if the price of living be the torture of sentient beings... I abhor [animal] experimentation with my whole soul. All the scientific discoveries stained with innocent blood I count as of no consequence... The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

The whole world is like the human body with its various members. Pain in one member is felt in the whole body.

Truth to me is infinitely dearer than the 'mahatmaship' which is purely a burden.

Love never claims, it ever gives. Love ever suffers, never resents never revenges itself.

Every expression of truth has in it the seeds of propagation, even as the sun cannot hide its light.