Mahatma Gandhi Quotes

Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served.

Civilization, in the real sense of the term, consists not in the multiplication, but in the deliberate and voluntary reduction of wants.

We are all very imperfect and weak things, and if we are to destroy all whose ways we do not like, there will be not a man left alive.

He who does not see God in the next person he meets need look no further.

All our philosophy is as dry as dust if it is not immediately translated into some act of living service.

Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence. Violence is any day preferable to impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent.

Experience convinces me that permanent good can never be the outcome of untruth & violence. Even if my belief is a fond delusion, it will be admitted that it is a fascinating delusion.

The Muslim is as much an Indian as I am and of the same blood.

Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.

Once one assumes an attitude of intolerance, there is no knowing where it will take one. Intolerance, someone has said, is violence to the intellect and hatred is violence to the heart.

A man of prayer regards what are known as physical calamities as divine chastisement.

I do believe that where there is a choice between cowardice and non-violence I would advise violence. Thus when my eldest son asked me what he should have done, had he been present when I was almost fatally assaulted in 1908, whether he should have run away and seen me killed or whether he should have used his physical force which he could and wanted to use, and defended me, I told him that it was his duty to defend me even by using violence.

Even as satyagraha is a weapon unique of its kind and not one of the ordinary weapons used by people, so is Khadi, a unique article of commerce which will not, cannot, succeed on terms common to other articles.

There is a world-wide conflict between capital and labour, and the poor envy the rich.

National education to be truly national must reflect the national condition for the time being.

God alone is the judge of true greatness because He knows men's hearts.

Of all the animal creations of God, main is the only animal who has been created in order that he may know his Maker. Man's aim is life is not therefore to add from day to day to his material prospects and to his material possessions, but his predominant calling is, from day to day to come nearer to his own Maker.

Nationalism, like virtue, has its own reward.

I cannot think of permanent enmity between man and man.

Our peaceful non-co-operation must be constructive, non-destructive. Poison should not emerge from the throes of love.

A prayerful study and experience are essential for a correct interpretation of the scriptures.

Monotony is the law of nature. Look at the monotonous manner in which the sun rises. The monotony of necessary occupation is exhilarating and life giving.

Let the first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day: - I shall not fear anyone on Earth. - I shall fear only God. - I shall not bear ill will toward anyone. - I shall not submit to injustice from anyone. - I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.

Buddha never rejected Hinduism, but he broadened its base. He gave it a new life and a new interpretation.

If you Christians acted more like your Christ, the world would be a better place.

Never own defeat in a sacred cause and make up your minds henceforth that you will be pure and that you will find a response from God.

Non-violence ... is the only thing that the atom bomb cannot destroy.

Everyone holds a piece of the truth.

Every worthy act is difficult. Ascent is always difficult. Descent is easy and often slippery.

Nonviolence to be worth anything has to work in the face of hostile forces.

Is it not possible for us all to realize that the masses will never mount to freedom through murder?

Centralization as a system is inconsistent with a non-violent structure of society.

Being dissatisfied and properly dissatisfied with the husk of Hinduism, you are in danger of losing even the kernel, life itself.

The Bhagavad-Gita calls on humanity to dedicate body, mind and soul to pure duty and not to become mental voluptuaries at the mercy of random desires and undisciplined impulses.

The Sermon on the Mount...went straight to my heart. I compared it with the Gita. My young mind tried to unify the teaching of the Gita, the `Light of Asia' and the Sermon on the Mount. That renunciation was the highest form of religion appealed to me greatly.

The measure of a country's greatness should be based on how well it cares for its most vulnerable populations.

If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.

Stoning prophets and erecting churches to their memory afterwards has been the way of the world through the ages. Today we worship Christ, but the Christ in the flesh we crucified.

Disease increases in proportion to the increase in the number of doctors in a place.

A religion cannot be sustained by the number of its lip-followers denying in their lives its tenets.

No religion which is narrow and which cannot satisfy the test of reason, will survive the coming reconstruction of society in which the values will have changed and character, not possession of wealth, title or birth, will be the test of merit.

The more I study Hindu scriptures, and the more I discuss them with Brahmins, the more I feel convinced that untouchability is the greatest blot upon Hinduism.

The Britisher is the top dog and the Indian the underdog in his own country.

Faith is a function of the heart. It must be enforced by reason. The two are not antagonistic as some think. The more intense one's faith is, the more it whets one's reason. When faith becomes blind it dies.

Whether humanity will consciously follow the law of love, I do not know. But that need not disturb me. The law will work just as the law of gravitation works whether we accept it or not.

Character alone will have real effect on the masses.

If fighting for the legislatures meant a sacrifice of truth and nonviolence, democracy would not be worth a moment's purchase.

Nothing is impossible for pure love.