Mahatma Gandhi Quotes

God, as Truth, has been for me a treasure beyond price. May He be so to every one of us.

We may never be strong enough to be entirely nonviolent in thought, word and deed. But we must keep nonviolence as our goal and make strong progress towards it.

God sometimes does try to the uttermost those whom he wishes to bless.

Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.

Morality which depends upon the helplessness of a man or woman has not much to recommend it. Morality is rooted in the purity of our hearts.

Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French.

It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.

A nation's culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.

If patience is worth anything, it must endure to the end of time. And a living faith will last in the midst of the blackest storm.

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.

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supercedes all other courts.

Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening.

There is more to life than increasing its speed.

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

Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.

You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.

A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.

Confession of errors is like a broom which sweeps away the dirt and leaves the surface brighter and clearer. I feel stronger for confession.

We may stumble and fall but shall rise again; it should be enough if we did not run away from the battle.

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

Poverty is the worst form of violence.

All compromise is based on give and take, but there can be no give and take on fundamentals. Any compromise on mere fundamentals is a surrender. For it is all give and no take.

Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.

When restraint and courtesy are added to strength, the latter becomes irresistible.

Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.

Religion is a matter of the heart. No physical inconvenience can warrant abandonment of one's own religion.

Are creeds such simple things like the clothes which a man can change at will and put on at will? Creeds are such for which people live for ages and ages.

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

My life is my message.

Peace is its own reward.

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

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

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.

When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator.

Infinite striving to be the best is man's duty; it is its own reward. Everything else is in God's hands.

In a gentle way, you can shake the world.

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

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.

Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is a monster that swallows it up.

Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding.

Truth never damages a cause that is just.

Action expresses priorities.

All the religions of the world, while they may differ in other respects, unitedly proclaim that nothing lives in this world but Truth.

I reject any religious doctrine that does not appeal to reason and is in conflict with morality.

Fear has its use but cowardice has none.

We win justice quickest by rendering justice to the other party.

Spiritual relationship is far more precious than physical. Physical relationship divorced from spiritual is body without soul.

It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow beings.

Man can never be a woman's equal in the spirit of selfless service with which nature has endowed her.

The good man is the friend of all living things.

I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won't presume to probe into the faults of others.

Morality is the basis of things and truth is the substance of all morality.

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?

I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and Non-violence are as old as the hills. All I have done is to try experiments in both on as vast a scale as I could.

Ours is one continued struggle against degradation sought to be inflicted upon us by the European, 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 man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act.

A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.

An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.

If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.

Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest.

Those who know how to think need no teachers.

The moment there is suspicion about a person's motives, everything he does becomes tainted.

Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.

Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity are the exclusive possession of no one race or religion.

Man falls from the pursuit of the ideal of plan living and high thinking the moment he wants to multiply his daily wants. Man's happiness really lies in contentment.

I will far rather see the race of man extinct than that we should become less than beasts by making the noblest of God's creation, woman, the object of our lust.

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

I do all the evil I can before I learn to shun it? Is it not enough to know the evil to shun it? If not, we should be sincere enough to admit that we love evil too well to give it up.

I do all the evil I can before I learn to shun it? Is it not enough to know the evil to shun it? If not, we should be sincere enough to admit that we love evil too well to give it up.

Every formula of every religion has in this age of reason, to submit to the acid test of reason and universal assent.

Increase of material comforts, it may be generally laid down, does not in any way whatsoever conduce to moral growth.

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

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.

The essence of all religions is one. Only their approaches are different.

Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into.

I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.

Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.

A weak man is just by accident. A strong but non-violent man is unjust by accident.

Measures must always in a progressive society be held superior to men, who are after all imperfect instruments, working for their fulfilment.

I know, to banish anger altogether from one's breast is a difficult task. It cannot be achieved through pure personal effort. It can be done only by God's grace.

The spirit of democracy is not a mechanical thing to be adjusted by abolition of forms. It requires change of heart.

God is, even though the whole world deny him. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.

Before the throne of the Almighty, man will be judged not by his acts but by his intentions. For God alone reads our hearts.

Nobody can hurt me without my permission.

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

There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed.

The real ornament of woman is her character, her purity.

Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.

It may be possible to gild pure gold, but who can make his mother more beautiful?

Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil. Capital in some form or other will always be needed.

Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy.

I think it is the height of ignorance to believe that the sexual act is an independent function necessary like sleeping or eating. Seeing, therefore, that I did not desire more children, I began to strive after self-control. There was endless difficulty in the task.

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

I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following.

To deprive a man of his natural liberty and to deny to him the ordinary amenities of life is worse then starving the body; it is starvation of the soul, the dweller in the body.

I am a humble but very earnest seeker after truth.

Prayer is a confession of one's own unworthiness and weakness.

We may have our private opinions but why should they be a bar to the meeting of hearts?

Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians - you are not like him.

An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.

I have worshipped woman as the living embodiment of the spirit of service and sacrifice.

Purity of personal life is the one indispensable condition for building up a sound education.

An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.

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.

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.

Nonviolence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed.

The law of sacrifice is uniform throughout the world. To be effective it demands the sacrifice of the bravest and the most spotless.

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

Non-violence and truth are inseparable and presuppose one another.

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

Non-violence requires a double faith, faith in God and also faith in man.

Non-violence is the article of faith.

Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it.

Everyone who wills can hear the inner voice. It is within everyone.

My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realising Him.

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 being.

Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.

Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.

Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.

It is the quality of our work which will please God and not the quantity.

There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever.

The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience.

I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough in me to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.

In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.

There is an orderliness in the universe, there is an unalterable law governing everything and every being that exists or lives. It is no blind law; for no blind law can govern the conduct of living beings.

What is true of the individual will be tomorrow true of the whole nation if individuals will but refuse to lose heart and hope.

Unwearied ceaseless effort is the price that must be paid for turning faith into a rich infallible experience.

Religion is more than life. Remember that his own religion is the truest to every man even if it stands low in the scales of philosophical comparison.

If co-operation is a duty, I hold that non-co-operation also under certain conditions is equally a duty.

Each one prays to God according to his own light.

To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.

It is any day better to stand erect with a broken and bandaged head then to crawl on one's belly, in order to be able to save one's head.

Man's nature is not essentially evil. Brute nature has been known to yield to the influence of love. You must never despair of human nature.

Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being.

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

Man is supposed to be the maker of his destiny. It is only partly true. He can make his destiny, only in so far as he is allowed by the Great Power.

That service is the noblest which is rendered for its own sake.

Justice that love gives is a surrender, justice that law gives is a punishment.

Self-respect knows no considerations.

Let not the 12 million Negroes be ashamed of the fact that they are the grandchildren of slaves. There is dishonor in being slave-owners.

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.

I claim that human mind or human society is not divided into watertight compartments called social, political and religious. All act and react upon one another.

Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.

Where there is love there is life.