Mohandas Gandhi

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Mohandas Karamchand "Mahatma" Gandhi (1869 - 1948) was an advocate and pioneer of nonviolence. He led the struggle for India's independence from British colonial rule.

As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world - that is the myth of the atomic age - as in being able to remake ourselves.

Corruption ought not to be an inevitable product of democracy.

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not any man’s greed.

The Rich must live more simply so that the Poor may simply live

Find purpose, the means will follow.

I do not believe in the doctrine of the greatest good of the greatest number. The only real, dignified, human doctrine is the greatest good of all.

I do not want my house to be walled in on sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.

I don’t know which is the greater task: to decentralise a top-heavy civilisation or to prevent an ancient civilisation from becoming centralised and top-heavy. In both cases the core of the problem is to discover what constitutes a good civilisation, then proclaim it to the people and help them to erect it.

I have been known as a crank, faddist, madman. Evidently the reputation is well deserved. For wherever I go, I draw to myself cranks, faddists, and madmen.

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.

It 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.

Let us all be brave enough to die the death of a martyr, but let no one lust for martyrdom.

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problem.*

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

The spirit of democracy cannot be imposed from without. It has to come from within.

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

To believe in something, and not live it, is dishonest.

What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?

Why change the world when we can change ourselves?

You should be the change that you want to see in the world.

Seven Blunders of the World

Wealth without work
Pleasure without conscience
Knowledge without character
Commerce without morality
Science without humanity
Worship without sacrifice
Politics without principle

Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.

Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.

If you don't ask, you don't get.

If my faith burns bright, as I hope it will even if I stand alone, I shall be alive in the grave, and what is more, speaking from it!

To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is man's injustice to woman. If by strength is meant brute strength, then, indeed, is woman less brute than man. If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man's superior. Has she not greater intuition, is she not more self-sacrificing, has she not greater powers of endurance, has she not greater courage? Without her, man could not be. If nonviolence is the law of our being, the future is with woman. Who can make a more effective appeal to the heart than woman? - Young India, 10/4/1930

My life is my message.

1 On nonviolence
2 On truth
3 On Satyagraha
4 On love
5 On Prayer
6 On religion
7 On the West
8 Quotes about Mohandas Gandhi
9 See also
10 External links

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On nonviolence

For this cause I too am prepared to die, but for no cause, my friend, will I be prepared to kill.

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

Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.
- Satyagraha Leaflet No. 13, May 3, 1919

Things undreamt of are daily being seen, the impossible is ever becoming possible. We are constantly being astonished these days at the amazing discoveries in the field of violence. But I maintain that far more undreamt of and seemingly impossible discoveries will be made in the field of nonviolence.

Passive resistance is an all-sided sword; it can be used anyhow; it blesses him who uses it and him against whom it is used.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
- describing the stages of establishment resistance to a winning strategy of nonviolent activism

We must always seek to ally ourselves with that part of the enemy that knows what is right.

If one has no affection for a person or a system, one should feel free to give the fullest expression to his disaffection so long as he does not contemplate, promote, or incite violence.
- March 18, 1922, during his trial for "exciting disaffection toward His Majesty's Government as established by law in India"

Non-violent resistance implies the very opposite of weakness. Defiance combined with non-retaliatory acceptance of repression from one's opponents is active, not passive. It requires strength, and there is nothing automatic or intuitive about the resoluteness required for using non-violent methods in political struggle and the quest for Truth.

If we were to drive out the English with the weapons with which they enslaved us, our slavery would still be with us even when they have gone.

It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence 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.

That which looks for mercy from an opponent is not non-violence

If love or non-violence be not the law of our being, the whole of my argument falls to pieces.

Non-violence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our very being.

Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.

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On truth

A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.

Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress.

Truth alone will endure; all the rest will be swept away before the tide of time.

Use truth as your anvil, nonviolence as your hammer and anything that does not stand the test when it is brought to the anvil of truth and hammered with nonviolence, reject it.

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall - think of it, always.

Even If I am a minority of one, truth is still the truth.

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 the truth.

Truth never damages a cause that is just.

Hope is eternal - Its worship never goes in vain.

Speak only if it improves upon the silence.

If one is able to stop smoking, he may continue, if he is unable to quit, then he must!

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On Satyagraha

Satyagraha was a term Gandhi coined for his overall activist strategy. One literal translation would be "truth force".

The fight of Satyagraha is for the strong in spirit, not the doubter or the timid. Satyagraha teaches us the art of living as well as dying.

In the code of the Satyagrahi (one who practices Satyagraha), there is no such thing as surrender to brute force.

In the dictionary of Satyagraha, there is no enemy.

A Satyagrahi loves his so-called enemy even as he loves his friend. He owns no enemy.

(When beginning a protest against the British rule of India, by breaking a law whereby Indians were not permitted to manufacture salt from seawater. Spoken after picking up a piece of raw salt from the seashore.) With this salt I am shaking the foundations of the [British] empire.

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On love

I can combine the greatest love with the greatest opposition to wrong.

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. The person who discovered the law of love was a far greater scientist than any of our modern scientists. Only our explorations have not gone far enough and so it is not possible for everyone to see all its workings.

A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.

All my actions have their rise in my inalienable love of mankind.

Hate the sin and love the sinner.(Traditional saying- not first said by him)

Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love.

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On Prayer

But in all my trials-of a spiritual nature, as a lawyer, in conducting institutions, and in politics-I can say that God saved me. When every hope is gone, 'when helpers fail and comforts flee', I experience that help arrives somehow, from I know not where.

Supplication, worship, prayer are no superstition; they are acts more real than the acts of eating, drinking, sitting or walking. It is no exaggeration to say that they alone are real, all else is unreal.

In spite of despair staring me in the face on the political horizon, I have never lost my peace. In fact, I have found people who envy my peace. That peace, I tell you, comes from prayer; I am not a man of learning, but I humbly claim to be a man of prayer. I am indifferent as to the form. Every one is a law unto himself in that respect. But there are some well-marked roads, and it is safe to walk along the beaten tracks, trod by the ancient teachers.

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On religion

I am a proud staunch Sanatani Hindu.

Hinduism has made marvelous discoveries in things of religion, of the spirit, of the soul. We have no eye for these great and fine discoveries. We are dazzled by the material progress that Western science has made. Ancient India has survived because Hinduism was not developed along material but spiritual lines.

Hinduism is a relentless pursuit of Truth. Truth is God and if today it has become moribund, inactive, irresponsive to growth, it is because we are fatigued; and as soon as the fatigue is over, Hinduism will burst upon the world with a brilliance perhaps unknown before.

The Geeta is the universal mother. I find a solace in the Bhagavadgeeta that I miss even in the Sermon on the Mount. When disappointment stares me in the face and all alone I see not one ray of light, I go back to the Bhagavad Gita. I find a verse here and a verse there , and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming tragedies - and my life has been full of external tragedies - and if they have left no visible or indelible scar on me, I owe it all to the teaching of Bhagavadgeeta.

I believe that the civilisation India has evolved is not to be beaten in the world. Nothing can equal the seeds sown by our ancestry. Rome went; Greece shared the same fate; the might of the Pharaohs was broken; Japan has become westernised; of China nothing can be said; but India is still, somehow or other, sound at the foundation.

Hindi Version:

Yunana Misra Roma, sab mit gaye jahaan men, (Greece, Egypt, Rome - all have been erased from this world) Kuch baat hai ki hasti, mitati nahin hamari(There is something in us, that our character never ceases from the face of this world)

Hinduism is a living organism liable to growth and decay subject to the laws of Nature. One and indivisible at the root, it has grown into a vast tree with innumerable branches. The changes in the season affect it. It has its autumn and its summer, its winter and its spring. It is, and is not, based on scriptures. It does not derive its authority from one book. Non violence has found the highest expression and application in Hinduism.

I am a Hindu because it is Hinduism which makes the world worth living. I am a Hindu hence I Love not only human beings, but all living beings.

Hinduism is a living organism. One and indivisible at the root, it has grown into a vast tree with innumerable branches. Knowledge is limitless and so also the application of truth. Everyday we add to our knowledge of the power of Atman (soul) and we shall keep on doing so.

I am unable to identify with orthodox Christianity. I must tell you in all humility that Hinduism, as I know it, entirely satisfies my soul, fills my whole being, and I find solace in the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads that I miss even in the Sermon on the Mount....I must confess to you that when doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and when I see not one ray of light on the horizon I turn to the Bhagavad Gita, and find a verse to comfort me; and I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. My life has been full of external tragedies and if they have not left any visible and indelible effect on me, I owe it to the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.
I have no other wish in this world but to find light and joy and peace through Hinduism.

Hinduism insists on the brotherhood of not only all mankind but of all that lives.

Hinduism is like the Ganga,, pure and unsullied at its source but taking in its course the impurities in the way. Even like the Ganga it is beneficent in its total effect. It takes a provincial form in every province, but the inner substance is retained everywhere.

On examination, I have found it to be the most tolerant of all religions known to me. Its freedom from dogma makes a forcible appeal to me inasmuch as it gives the votary the largest scope for self-expression.:

Hindu Dharma is like a boundless ocean teeming with priceless gems. The deeper you dive the more treasures you find.

I worship God as Truth only. I have not yet found Him, but I am seeking after Him

Nonviolence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed.
- 1922, Opening words of speech in defense trial - Young India (Mar. 23, 1922.)

I am a Hindu by birth. And yet I do not know much of Hinduism, and I know less of other religions. In fact I do not know where I am, and what is and what should be my belief. I intend to make a careful study of my own religion and, as far as I can, of other religions as well.
- from his autobiography

I would far rather that Hinduism died than untouchability lived.

I call myself a Sanatani [Eternal] Hindu, because I believe in the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Puranas, and all that goes by the name of Hindu scripture, and therefore in avataras and rebirth...

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.

The truth is that God is the force. He is the essence of life. He is pure and undefiled consciousness. He is eternal.

This freedom from all attachment is the realisation of God as Truth.

Even as a tree has a single trunk but many branches and leaves, there is one religion — human religion — but any number of faiths.

When the missionary of another religion goes to them, he goes like a vendor of goods. He has no special spiritual merit that will distinguish him from those to whom he goes. He does however possess material goods which he promises to those who will come to his fold.

My effort should never be to undermine another's faith but to make him a better follower of his own faith.

It is impossible for me to reconcile myself to the idea of conversion after the style that goes on in India and elsewhere today. It is an error which is perhaps the greatest impediment to the world’s progress toward peace … Why should a Christian want to convert a Hindu to Christianity? Why should he not be satisfied if the Hindu is a good or godly man? (Harijan: January 30, 1937)

I came to the conclusion long ago … that all religions were true and also that all had some error in them, and whilst I hold by my own, I should hold others as dear as Hinduism. So we can only pray, if we are Hindus, not that a Christian should become a Hindu … But our innermost prayer should be a Hindu should be a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim, a Christian a better Christian. (Young India: January 19, 1928)

My whole soul rebels against the idea that Hinduism and Islam represent two antagonistic cultures and doctrines. To assent to such a doctrine is for me a denial of God.

We must respect other religions, even as we respect our own. Mere tolerance thereof is not enough.

A religion that takes no account of practical affairs and does not help to solve them is no religion.

(When asked if he was a Hindu) Yes I am, I am also a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist, and a Jew.

“The sayings of Muhammed are a treasure of wisdom not only for Muslims but for all of mankind.”

The most heinous and the most cruel crimes of which history has record have been committed under the cover of religion or equally noble motives.

In numbers, Parsis are beneath contempt, but in contribution, beyond compare.

I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.

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On the West

I think it would be a good idea!
- In reply to a reporter's question "What do you think of Western Civilisation?"

It is my firm opinion that Europe does not represent the spirit of God or Christianity but the spirit of Satan. And Satan’s successes are the greatest when he appears with the name of God on his lips.

I consider western Christianity in its practical working a negation of Christ’s Christianity.

I do not consider Hitler to be as bad as he is depicted. He is showing an ability that is amazing and seems to be gaining his victories without much bloodshed
- Background for the above quote: It was made in May of 1940, when the battles of World War II were just beginning, where the Germany's blitzkrieg was indeed swift and relatively bloodless compared to the battle trenches of the World War One. Also at the time the persecution of the Jews in the eyes of the world was limited to lowered civil rights, concentration camps and ghettos. Just a few years before even so notable an adversary to Hitler as Winston Churchill, in his book Great Contemporaries (1937) had declared: "One may dislike Hitler’s system and yet admire his patriotic achievement. If our country were defeated, I hope we should find a champion as admirable to restore our courage and lead us back to our place among the nations."

Hitler killed five million [sic] Jews. It is the greatest crime of our time. But the Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher's knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs.
- Comment to biographer Louis Fischer (June, 1946).

Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest.
- Gandhi, An Autobiography, page 446 (Beacon Press paperback edition)

Just as a man would not cherish living in a body other than his own, so do nations not like to live under other nations, however noble and great the latter may be.

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Quotes about Mohandas Gandhi

Generations to come, it may be, will scarcely believe that such a one, as this, ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth. — Albert Einstein

A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi to come back -- but they are gone. We are it. It is up to us. It is up to you. — Marian Wright Edelman

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