Mahatma Gandhi 1869–1948
“Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.”
“Truth never damages a cause that is just.”
“I claim to be a simple individual liable to err like any other fellow mortal. I own, however, that I have humility enough to confess my errors and to retrace my steps.”
“I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won't presume to probe into the faults of others.”
“All the religions of the world, while they may differ in other respects, unitedly proclaim that nothing lives in this world but Truth.”
“Every formula of every religion has in this age of reason, to submit to the acid test of reason and universal assent. I reject any religious doctrine that does not appeal to reason and is in conflict with morality.”
“Truth is my God.”
“I am a humble but very earnest seeker after truth.”
“Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding.”
“Non-violence and truth are inseparable and presuppose one another.”
“Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.”
“Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.”
“An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.”
“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.”
“It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.”
“A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.”
“Morality is the basis of things and truth is the substance of all morality.”
“Morality is rooted in the purity of our hearts.”
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
“Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.”
“Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.”
“Glory lies in the attempt to reach one's goal and not in reaching it.”
“Confession of errors is like a broom which sweeps away the dirt and leaves the surface brighter and clearer. I feel stronger for confession.”
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong”
“A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.”
“The good man is the friend of all living things.”
“Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being.”
“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”
“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”
“Poverty is the worst form of violence.”
“My life is my message.”
“I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.”
“The main purpose of life is to live rightly, think rightly, act rightly. The soul must languish when we give all our thought to the body.”
“It is my own firm belief that the strength of the soul grows in proportion as you subdue the flesh.”
“Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it.”
“What do I think of Western civilization? I think it would be a very good idea.”
“Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.”
“Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.”
“Those who know how to think need no teachers.”
“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.”
“Truth is by nature self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear.”
“Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.”
“Action expresses priorities.”
“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.”
“Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French.”
“Rights that do not flow from duty well performed are not worth having.”
“Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.”
“But for my faith in God, I should have been a raving maniac.”
“We win justice quickest by rendering justice to the other party.”
“I took the vow of celibacy in 1906. I had not shared my thoughts with my wife until then, but only consulted her at the time of making the vow. She had no objection.”
“The pursuit of truth does not permit violence on one's opponent.”
“Man falls from the pursuit of the ideal of plane living and high thinking the moment he wants to multiply his daily wants. Man's happiness really lies in contentment.”
“Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.”
“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.”
“An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.”
“Commonsense is the realised sense of proportion.”