I have only three enemies. My favorite enemy, the one most easily influenced for the better, is the British Empire. My second enemy, the Indian people, is far more difficult. But my most formidable opponent is a man named Mohandas K. Gandhi. With him I seem to have very little influence.
You must watch my life, how I live, eat, sit, talk, behave in general. The sum total of all those in me is my religion.
A "no" uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a "yes" merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble.
I have learnt through bitter experience the one supreme lesson to conserve my anger, and as heat conserved is transmuted into energy, even so our anger controlled can be transmuted into a power which can move the world.
To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.
One man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole.
The only tyrant I accept in this world is the 'still small voice' within me.
Fear has its use but cowardice has none.
It is the quality of our work which will please God and not the quantity.
No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive.
My non-violence does not admit of running away from danger and leaving dear ones unprotected. Between violence and cowardly flight, I can only prefer violence to cowardice. I can no more preach non-violence to a coward than I can tempt a blind man to enjoy healthy scenes. ... Nonviolence is infinitely superior to violence. But the message of nonviolence is for those who know how to die, not for those who are afraid of death. If one has not that courage, I want him to cultivate the art of killing and being killed, rather than in a cowardly manner to flee from danger.
Human life is a series of compromises and it is not always easy to achieve in practice what one has found to be true in theory.
We must become the change we want to see.
Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.
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.
Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.
Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil. Capital in some form or other will always be needed.
Rights that do not flow directly from duty well performed are not worth having.
It ill becomes us to invoke in our daily prayers the blessings of God, the Compassionate, if we in turn will not practice elementary compassion towards our fellow creatures.
He who cannot protect himself or his nearest and dearest or their honor by non-violently facing death, may and ought to do so by violently dealing with the oppressor. He who can do neither of the two is a burden.
In matters of conscience, the law of majority has no place.
Seven social sins: politics without principles, wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, and worship without sacrifice.
First, they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.
WIST is my collection of quotations I find meaningful, moving, amusing (intended or not), well-phrased, and/or to which I just say I "Wish I'd Said That." But just because I quote it here doesn't mean I actually agree with it. If you have any comments, corrections, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to
Use the Fast Search search box to look for text in quotations or their sources.
To search for an author, go to the All Authors page. Or you can also use the custom Google search below for quotes and authors:
