Mahatma Gandhi Quotes

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.

Now the man on duty used to be changed from time to time. Once one of these men, without giving me the slightest warning, without even asking me to leave the footpath, pushed and kicked me into the street. I was dismayed. Before I could question him as to his behaviour, Mr Coates, who happened to be passing the spot on horseback, hailed me and said: 'Gandhi, I have seen everything. I shall gladly be your witness in court if you proceed against the man. I am very sorry you have been so rudely assaulted.'

Religion is a thing to be lived. It is not merely sophistry.

The strength to kill is not essential for self-defence; one ought to have the strength to die.

A nonviolent action accompanied by nonviolence in thought and word should never produce enduring violent reaction upon the opponent.

The restoration of free speech, free association and free press is almost the whole Swaraj.

I know that Buddhism is to Hinduism what Protestantism is to Roman Catholicism, only in a much stronger light, to a much greater degree.

Be truthful, gentle, and fearless.

In an atmosphere of ahimsa, one has no scope to put his ahimsa to the test. It can be tested only in the face of himsa.

Temples are like spiritual hospitals, and the sinful, who are spiritually diseased, have the first right to be ministered to by them.

The greatness of humanity is not in being human, but in being humane.

Journalism has become the art of "intelligent anticipation of events."

Ours is one continual struggle against a degradation sought to be inflicted upon us by the Europeans, who desire to degrade us to the level of the raw Kaffir whose occupation is hunting, and whose sole ambition is to collect a certain number of cattle to buy a wife with and, then, pass his life in indolence and nakedness.

A satyagrahi should have a living faith in God.

Cow-protection can only be secured by cultivating universal friendliness, i.e. ahimsa.

If untouchability lives, Hinduism perishes and even India perishes, but if untouchability is eradicated from the Hindu heart, root and branch, then Hinduism has a definite message for the world.

For a nonviolent struggle, there is no age limit. The blind, the maimed and the bed-ridden may serve, and not only men but women also.

There is no yajna (sacrifice) greater than spinning calculated to bring peace to the troubled spirit, to soothe the distracted student's mind, to spiritualize his life.

Seeing God face to face is to feel that He is enthroned in our hearts even as a child feels a mother's affection without needing any demonstration.

Religion to be true must satisfy what may be termed humanitarian economics, that is, where the income and the expenditure balance each other.

Charkha is an instrument of service.

True love is boundless like the ocean and, swelling within one, spreads itself out and, crossing all boundaries and frontiers, envelops the whole world.

Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there, and to be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth.

I care so deeply about this matter that I'm willing to take on the legal penalties, to sit in this prison cell, to sacrifice my freedom, in order to show you how deeply I care. Because when you see the depth of my concern, and how civil I am in going about this, you're bound to change your mind about me, to abandon your rigid, unjust position, and to let me help you see the truth of my cause.

We find the general work of mankind is being carried on from day to day by the mass of people acting in harmony as if by instinct. If they were instinctively violent, the world would end in no time.

We have to tackle the triple malady which holds our villages fast in its grip; want of corporate sanitation, deficient diet and inertia.

The Charkha is an outward symbol of truth and nonviolence.

Rationalists are admirable beings, rationalism is a hideous monster when it claims for itself omnipotence. Attribution of omnipotence to reason is as bad a piece of idolatry as is worship of stock and stone believing it to be God.

I think it is wrong to expect certainties in this world, where all else but God that is Truth is an uncertainty. All that appears and happens about and around us is uncertain, transient. But there is a Supreme Being hidden therein as a Certainty, and one would be blessed if one could catch a glimpse of that Certainty and hitch one's waggon to it. The quest for that Truth is the summum bonum of life.

War knows no law except that of might.

Events that have happened during the past month have confirmed me in the opinion that the Imperial Government have acted in the Khilafat matter in an unscrupulous, immoral and unjust manner and have been moving from wrong to wrong in order to defend their immorality. I can retain neither respect nor affection for such a Government. The attitude of the Imperial and Your Excellency's Governments on the Punjab question has given me additional cause for grave dissatisfaction.

Of what avail is my love if it be only so long as I trust my friend?

Peace is its own reward.

History is a record of perpetual wars, but we are now trying to make new history.

Even as wisdom often comes from the mouths of babes, so does it often come from the mouths of old people. The golden rule is to test everything in the light of reason and experience, no matter from where it comes.

All crime is a kind of disease and should be treated as such.

Each and every one of you should consider himself to be a trustee for the welfare of the rest of his fellow labourers and not be self-seeking.

The first condition of humaneness is a little humility and a little diffidence about the correctness of one's conduct and a little receptiveness.

Let us learn from the English rulers the simple fact that the oppressors are blind to the enormity of their own misdeeds.

Hinduism does not rest on the authority of one book or one prophet, nor does it posses a common creed like the Kalma.

Love is the basis of our friendship as it is of religion.

When a man gives way to anger, he only harms himself.

The states can make the finest contribution to the building of India's future independence if they set the right example in their own territories.

Modern civilization has taught us to convert night into day and golden silence into brazen din and noise.

Decency and tolerance, to be of any value, must be capable of withstanding the severest strain.

Be congruent, be authentic, be your true self.

I have found by experience that man makes his plans to be upset by God, but, at the same time, where the ultimate goal is the search of truth, on matter how a man's plans are frustrated the issue is never injurious and often better than anticipated.

Freedom of the press is a precious privilege that no country can forego.