Mahatma Gandhi (quotes)

Principles for living

.

Love

Culture of the mind must be subservient to the heart.
Exercise of faith will be the safest where there is a clear determination summarily to reject all that is contrary to truth and love.
Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first skill of self-giving love.
I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you. Let us work together for unity and love.
In doing something, do it with love or never do it at all.
Man’s nature is not essentially evil. Brute nature has been know to yield to the influence of love. You must never despair of human nature.
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 than the one derived from fear of punishment.
The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.
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.
When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it– always.
Where love is, there God is also.
Where there is love there is life.

.

Service

A friend inquired if ‘s objectives in serving the poor were purely humanitarian. replied, “Not at all. I am here to serve no one else but myself, to find my own self-realization through the service of these village folk.” Wayne Muller
All our philosophy is as dry as dust if it is not immediately translated into some act of living service.
Service can have no meaning unless one takes pleasure in it. When it is done for show or for fear of public opinion it stunts the man and crushes his spirit. 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. Mahatma K.
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.
Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.
That service is the noblest which is rendered for its own sake.
Man can never be a woman’s equal in the spirit of selfless service with which nature has endowed her.
I am endeavouring to see God through service of humanity; for I know that God is neither in heaven, nor down below, but in everyone.

.

Action

Action expresses priorities.
Action is my domain.
An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.
Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy.
It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.
The future depends on what we do in the present.
To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.
What is faith worth if it is not translated into action?
Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.
Action is no less necessary than thought to the instinctive tendencies of the human frame.
God never occurs to you in person but always in action.

.

Compassion

I call him religious who understands the suffering of others.

.

Kindness

The greatness of humanity is not in being human, but in being humane.
The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful then a thousand heads bowing in prayer.

.

Understanding

Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding.
Three-fourths of the miseries and misunderstandings in the world would disappear if we step into the shoes of our adversaries and understand their standpoint.
Relationships are based on four principles: respect, understanding, acceptance and appreciation.

.

Forgiveness

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first skill of self-giving love.
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
To forgive is not to forget. The merit lies in loving in spite of the vivid knowledge that one that must be loved is not a friend. There is not merit in loving an enemy when you forget him for a friend.

.

Non-violence

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary, the evil it dose 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.
My nonviolence 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 nonviolence to a coward than I can tempt a blind man to enjoy healthy scenes.
Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.
Permanent good can never be the outcome of untruth and violence.
Remember that all through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they seem invincible. But in the end, they always fall. Always.
Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat for it is momentary.
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.
When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it– always.
There is no such thing as ‘too insane’ unless others turn up dead due to your actions.
Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is a monster that swallows it up.
I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill.
Non-violence is the article of faith.
Non-violence requires a double faith, faith in God and also faith in man.
Nonviolence being the mightiest force in the world and also the most elusive in its working, demands the greatest exercise of faith.
Civil disobedience does not admit of any violence or countenancing of violence directly or indirectly.
Creation of effective public opinion depends on the cultivation of true courage, born of truthfulness and nonviolence.
If there is violence, it will certainly be crushed because violence can only end in a disgraceful rout.
In a society based on nonviolence, the smallest nation will feel as tall as the tallest.
In the application of the method of non-violence, one must believe in the possibility of every person, however depraved, being reformed under humane and skilled treatment.
Is she not more self-sacrificing, has she not greater courage? Without her, man would not be. If nonviolence is to be the law of our being, the future is with women.
My mission is to convert every Indian, every Englishman and finally the world to nonviolence for regulating mutual relations, whether political, economic, social or religious.
My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realising Him.
Non-violence and truth are inseparable and presuppose one another.
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.
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.
Nonviolence becomes meaningless if violence is permitted for self-defence.
Nonviolence is a universal principle and its operation is not limited by a hostile environment.
Peace through superior violence inevitably leads to the atom bomb and all that it stands for.
The nation cannot be kept on the nonviolent path by violence.
The pursuit of truth does not permit violence on one’s opponent.
Violence is the weapon of weak, non-violence that of the strong.
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.
A nonviolent life is an act of self-examination and self-purification, whether by an individual, group or nation.
A nonviolent system of government is clearly an impossibility so long as the wide gulf between the rich and the hungry millions persists.
For the nonviolent person, the whole world is one family. He will fear none, nor will others fear him.
Nonviolent action means mobilization of world opinion in our favour.
Nonviolent attainment of self-government presupposes a non-violent control over the violent elements in the country.
Violent means will give violent freedom. That would be a menace to the world and to India herself.

.

Peace

Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.
How can I make difference so that I may bring peace to this world that I love and cherish so much? A name flickers instantly in my mind.
I am a man of peace. I believe in peace. But I do not want peace at any price.
If we are to reach real peace in this world and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with children; and if they will grow up in their natural innocence, we won’t have to struggle; we won’t have to pass fruitless idle resolutions, but we shall go from love to love and peace to peace, until at last all the corners of the world are covered with that peace and love for which consciously or unconsciously the whole world is hungering.
My doctrine means that I must identify myself with life, with everything that lives, that I must share the majesty of life in the presence of God. The sum-total of this life is God. .. Man is not at peace with himself until he has become like unto God. The endeavor to reach this state is the supreme, the only ambition worth having. And this is self-realisation. This self-realisation is the subject of the Gita, as it is of all scriptures… to be a real devotee is to realise oneself. Self-realisation is not something apart.
Peace between countries must rest on the solid foundation of love between individuals.
Peace is its own reward.
Peace is the most powerful weapon of mankind.
The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.
There is no path to peace; peace is the path.
There is no yajna (sacrifice) greater than spinning calculated to bring peace to the troubled spirit, to soothe the distracted student’s mind, to spiritualize his life.
With every true friendship, we build more firmly the foundations on which the peace of the whole world rests.

.

Gentleness

In a gentle way, you can shake the world.
Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity are the exclusive possession of no one race or religion.
Civility does not …mean the mere outward gentleness of speech cultivated for the occasion, but an inborn gentleness and desire to do the opponent good.

.

Courage

A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.
My nonviolence 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 nonviolence to a coward than I can tempt a blind man to enjoy healthy scenes.
To run away from danger, instead of facing it, is to deny one’s faith in man and God, even one’s own self. It were better for one to drown oneself than live to declare such bankruptcy of faith.
A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.
We may stumble and fall but shall rise again; it should be enough if we did not run away from the battle.

.

Speaking out

A ‘No’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.
Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.
Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.

.

Being the change you want to see

We must be the change we wish to see in the world.
My life is my message.
Change from within
Be the change you wish to see in the world.
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.
Our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world as being able to remake ourselves.
A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.
Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny.

.

Listening to the inner voice

The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience.
The only tyrant I accept in this world is the ‘still small voice’ within me. And even though I have to face the prospect of being a minority of one, I humbly believe I have the courage to be in such a hopeless minority.
The inner voice is something which cannot be described in words. But sometimes we have a positive feeling that something in us prompts us to do a certain thing. The time when I learnt to recognise this voice was, I may say, the time when I started praying regularly.
A leader is useless when he acts against the promptings of his own conscience.

.

Will

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

.

Potential

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

.

Purity

Purity of mind and idleness are incompatible.
Purity of personal life is the one indispensable condition for building up a sound education.
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.
Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.

.

Learning

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
Learning takes us through many states of life, but it fails utterly in the hour of danger and temptation. Then faith alone saves.

.

Truth

All truths, not merely ideas, but truthful faces, truthful pictures, or songs, are highly beautiful.
All faiths constitute a revelation of Truth, but all are imperfect and liable to error.
An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.
Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.
Exercise of faith will be the safest where there is a clear determination summarily to reject all that is contrary to truth and love.
In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth.
Truth is by nature self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear.
Truth never damages a cause that is just.
Whenever you have truth it must be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected.
It is not given to man to know the whole Truth. His duty lies in living up to the truth as he sees it, and in doing so, to resort to the purest means, i.e., to non-violence. God alone knows absolute truth. Therefore, I have often said, Truth is God. It follows that man, a finite being, cannot know absolute truth. Nobody in this world possesses absolute truth. This is God’s attribute alone. Relative truth is all we know. Therefore, we can only follow the truth as we see it. Such pursuit of truth cannot lead anyone astray.
Non-violence and truth are inseparable and presuppose one another.
I am a humble but very earnest seeker after truth.
Every fight is one between different angles of vision illuminating the same truth.
God is, even though the whole world deny him. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.

.

Faith

A man with a grain of faith in God never loses hope, because he ever believes in the ultimate triumph of Truth.
A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.
Faith is not a delicate flower which would wither away under the slightest stormy weather.
Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into.
Faith must be enforced by reason. When faith becomes blind it dies.
My faith is brightest in the midst of impenetrable darkness.
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.
What is faith worth if it is not translated into action?
When every hope is gone, ‘when helpers fail and comforts flee,’ I find 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.
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
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.
A man of faith does not bargain or stipulate with God.
A man of faith will remain steadfast to truth even though the whole world might appear to be enveloped in falsehood.
Fear of death makes us devoid both of valour and religion. For want of valour is want of religious faith.
God cannot be realized through the intellect. Intellect can lead one to a certain extent and no further. It is a matter of faith and experience derived from that faith.
Learning takes us through many states of life, but it fails utterly in the hour of danger and temptation. Then faith alone saves.
My faith runs so very much faster than my reason that I can challenge the whole world and say, ‘God is, was and ever shall be’.
Non-violence is the article of faith.
Non-violence requires a double faith, faith in God and also faith in man.
Nonviolence being the mightiest force in the world and also the most elusive in its working, demands the greatest exercise of faith.
Only he can take great resolves who has indomitable faith in God and has fear of God.

.

Prayer

It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.
Prayer is not an old woman’s idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.
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.
Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening.
The inner voice is something which cannot be described in words. But sometimes we have a positive feeling that something in us prompts us to do a certain thing. The time when I learnt to recognise this voice was, I may say, the time when I started praying regularly.
Prayer is a confession of one’s own unworthiness and weakness.

.

Self-belief

If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.
People often become what they believe themselves to be. If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it. But when I believe I can, then I acquire the ability to do it even if I didn’t have it in the beginning.

.

Self-respect

I cannot conceive of a greater loss than the loss of one’s self-respect.
Self-respect knows no considerations.
They cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give it to them.

.

Positivity

Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behaviors. Keep your behaviors positive because your behaviors become your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.

.

Unity

Life is one indivisible whole.
I believe in the absolute oneness of God and therefore also of humanity. What though we have many bodies? We have but one soul.
The purpose of life is undoubtedly to know oneself. We cannot do it unless we learn to identify ourselves with all that lives. The sum-total of that life is God.
Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.

.

Simple living

Increase of material comforts, it may be generally laid down, does not in any way whatsoever conduce to moral growth.
Let us learn to live simply, so that others may simply live.
Seek not greater wealth, but simpler pleasure; not higher fortune, but deeper felicity.
There is more to life than increasing its speed.

.

Silence

In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth.

.

Freedom

The outward freedom that we shall attain will only be in exact proportion to the inward freedom to which we may have grown at a given moment. And if this is a correct view of freedom, our chief energy must be concentrated on achieving reform from within.
You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.
Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.
I want freedom for the full expression of my personality.
Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living?
Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.
No charter of freedom will be worth looking at which does not ensure the same measure of freedom for the minorities as for the majority.
No man loses his freedom except through his own weakness.
The moment the slave resolves that he will no longer be a slave, his fetters fall. Freedom and slavery are mental states.
We want freedom for our country, but not at the expense or exploitation of others, not so as to degrade other countries.

.

Harmony of thoughts, feelings and actions

Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed.
Happiness is when what you think and what you say and what you feel are in harmony.
To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.

.

Beauty

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

.

Health

It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.
As a rule, the mind, residing in a body that has become weakened by pampering, is also weak, and where there is no strength of mind there can be no strength of soul.

.

Being in the present

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.
The future depends on what we do in the present.

.

Duty

People tend to forget their duties but remember their rights.
If co-operation is a duty, I hold that non-co-operation also under certain conditions is equally a duty.
Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state becomes lawless or corrupt.
Man is sent into the world to perform his duty even at the cost of his life.
Rights that do not flow from duty well performed are not worth having.
The true source of rights is duty.

.

Quality

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

.

Wisdom and knowledge

Knowledge gained through experience is far superior and many times more useful than bookish knowledge.
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.
My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you. Let us work together for unity and love.

.

Interdependence

Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. Man is a social being. Without interrelation with society he cannot realize his oneness with the universe or suppress his egotism. His social interdependence enables him to test his faith and to prove himself on the touchstone of reality.
It is man’s social nature which distinguishes him from the brute creation. If it is his privilege to be independent, it is equally his duty to be inter-dependent. Only an arrogant man will claim to be independent of everybody else and be self-contained.

.

Patience

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.
To lose patience is to lose the battle.

.

Adaptability

Adaptability is not imitation. It means power of resistance and assimilation.

.

Humour

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

.

Effort

Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.
Unwearied ceaseless effort is the price that must be paid for turning faith into a rich infallible experience.
It is for us to make the effort. The result is always in God’s hands.

.

The importance of small and ordinary things

All big things are made up of trifles. My entire life has been built on trifles.
A great man may not do great things but they do ordinary things greatly.

.

Non-attachment

A burning passion coupled with absolute detachment is the key to all success.

.

Things that limit us

.

Greed

The Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.
There’s enough on this planet for everyone’s needs but not for everyone’s greed.
Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil. Capital in some form or other will always be needed.
There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed.

.

Poverty

Poverty is the worst form of violence.
There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.
To a man with an empty stomach food is God.

.

Anger

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.
Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding.
Man should forget his anger before he lies down to sleep.
Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is a monster that swallows it up.
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.

.

Cruelty to animals

Ethically they had arrived at the conclusion that man’s supremacy over lower animals meant not that the former should prey upon the latter, but that the higher should protect the lower, and that there should be mutual aid between the two as between man and man. They had also brought out the truth that man eats not for enjoyment but to live.
I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man.
I want to realize brotherhood or identity not merely with the beings called human, but I want to realize identity with all life, even with such beings as crawl on earth.
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being. I should be unwilling to take the life of a lamb for the sake of the human body.
The good man is the friend of all living things.

.

Cowardice

Cowardice is impotence worse than violence. The coward desires revenge but being afraid to die, he looks to others, maybe to the government of the day, to do the work of defense for him. A coward is less than a man. He does not deserve to be a member of a society of men and women.
To run away from danger, instead of facing it, is to deny one’s faith in man and God, even one’s own self. It were better for one to drown oneself than live to declare such bankruptcy of faith.
A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.
Cowards can never be moral.
Fear has its use but cowardice has none.
I do believe that, where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence. I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honour than that she should, in a cowardly manner, become or remain a helpless witness to her own dishonour. But I believe that nonviolence is infinitely superior to violence, forgiveness is more manly than punishment.

.

Hypocrisy

Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today.

.

Intolerance

If we want to cultivate a true spirit of democracy we cannot afford to be intolerant. Intolerance betrays want of faith in one’s cause.

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

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.

.

Thoughts on general issues

.

Thoughts on morality

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.
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.
True morality consists not in following the beaten track, but in finding out the true path for ourselves and fearlessly following it.
In matters of conscience, the law of majority has no place.
It is wrong and immoral to seek to escape the consequences of one’s acts.

.

Thoughts on God

God has no religion.
God speaks to us every day only we don’t know how to listen.
I believe in the absolute oneness of God and therefore also of humanity. What though we have many bodies? We have but one soul.
My imperfections and failures are as much a blessing from God as my successes and my talents and I lay them both at his feet.
When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator.
Where love is, there God is also.
God cannot be realized through the intellect. Intellect can lead one to a certain extent and no further. It is a matter of faith and experience derived from that faith.
God is the hardest taskmaster I have known on this earth, and he tries you through and through. And when you find that your faith is failing or your body is failing you, and you are sinking, he comes to your assistance somehow or other and proves to you that you must not lose your faith and that he is always at your beck and call, but on his terms, not on your terms. So I have found. I cannot really recall a single instance when, at the eleventh hour, he has forsaken me.
To me, God is Truth and Love; God is ethics and morality: God is fearlessness. God is the source of Light and Life and yet He is above and beyond all these. God is conscience… He is a personal God to those who need His personal presence. He is embodied to those who need His touch. He is the purest essence. He simply is to those who have faith. He is all things to all men.
God is, even though the whole world deny him. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.

.

Thoughts on religion

A religion that takes no account of practical affairs and does not help to solve them is no religion.
All faiths constitute a revelation of Truth, but all are imperfect and liable to error.
Every formula of every religion has in this age of reason, to submit to the acid test of reason and universal assent.
For me, the different religions are beautiful flowers from the same garden, or they are branches of the same majestic tree. Therefore, they are equally true, though being received and interpreted through human instruments equally imperfect.
Hypocrisy and distortion are passing currents under the name of religion.
I believe in the fundamental truth of all great religions of the world.
If we are to respect others’ religions as we would have them to respect our own, a friendly study of the world’s religion is a sacred duty.
It is easy enough to be friendly to one’s friends. But to befriend those who regard themselves as your enemies is the quintessence of all religion. The other is merely business.
It is the duty of every cultured man or woman to read sympathetically the scriptures of the world. If we are to respect others’ religions as we would have them respect our own, a friendly study of the world’s religions is a sacred duty.
Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is.
After long study and experience, I have come to the conclusion that (1) all religions are true; (2) all religions have some error in them; (3) all religions are almost as dear to me as my own Hinduism, in as much as all human beings should be as dear to one as one’s own close relatives.
All the religions of the world, while they may differ in other respects, unitedly proclaim that nothing lives in this world but Truth.
Everything I have personally experienced, and that also has been expressed by the leaders of the great religions points to the fact that a global spirituality already exists and was intrinsically there from the start as God (by whatever name) is one and is indivisible – everywhere outside time and place.
I came to the conclusion long ago that all religions were true and that also that all had some error in them, and while I hold by my own religion, I should hold other religions as dear as Hinduism. So we can only pray, if we were Hindus, not that a Christian should become a Hindu; but our innermost prayer should be that a Hindu should become a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim, and a Christian a better Christian.
I claim to represent all the cultures, for my religion, whatever it may be called, demands the fulfilment of all the cultures.
I have felt that the Gita teaches us that what cannot be followed in day-to-day practice cannot be called religion.
If a man reaches the heart of his own religion, he has reached the heart of the others, too. There is only one God, and there are many paths to him.
If I were a dictator, religion and state would be separate. I swear by my religion. I will die for it. But it is my personal affair. The state has nothing to do with it. The state would look after your secular welfare, health, communications, foreign relations, currency and so on, but not your or my religion. That is everybody’s personal concern!
In nature there is a fundamental unity running through all the diversity we see about us. Religions are given to mankind so as to accelerate the process of realisation of fundamental unity.
It is impossible that God, who is the God of Justice, could have made the distinctions that men observe today in the name of religion.
It is pleasant that there will be no religions in heaven.
My religion has no geographical limits.
My religion teaches me that whenever there is distress which one cannot remove, one must fast and pray.
One’s own religion is after all a matter between oneself and one’s Maker and no one else’s.
Religion is a matter of the heart. No physical inconvenience can warrant abandonment of one’s own religion.
Religion is a thing to be lived. It is not merely sophistry.
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.
Religion of our conception, thus imperfect, is always subject to a process of evolution and re-interpretation.
Religions are different roads converging on the same point. What does it matter that we take different roads so long as we reach the same goal? I believe that all religions of the world are true more or less. I say “more or less” because I believe that everything the human hand touches, by reason of the very fact that human beings are imperfect, becomes imperfect.
Religions are not for separating men from one another, they are meant to bind them.
The essence of all religions is one. Only their approaches are different.
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.
Those who believe religion and politics aren’t connected don’t understand either.

.

Thoughts on Christianity

I did once seriously think of embracing the Christian faith. The gentle figure of Christ, so full of forgiveness that he taught his followers not to retaliate when abused or struck, but to turn the other cheek – I thought it was a beautiful example of the perfect man.
I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
Though I cannot claim to be a Christian in the sectarian sense, the example of Jesus suffering is a factor in the composition of my undying faith in non-violence which rules all my actions, worldly and temporal.
Jesus was the most active resister known to history. His was nonviolence par excellence.
You Christians look after a document containing enough dynamite to blow all civilisation to pieces, turn the world upside down and bring peace to a battle-torn planet. But you treat it as though it is nothing more than a piece of literature.
Yes I am, I am also a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist, and a Jew.

.

Thoughts on women

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?
Is she not more self-sacrificing, has she not greater courage? Without her, man would not be. If nonviolence is to be the law of our being, the future is with women.
Man can never be a woman’s equal in the spirit of selfless service with which nature has endowed her.
I have worshipped woman as the living embodiment of the spirit of service and sacrifice.

.

Thoughts on death

Birth and death are not two different states, but they are different aspects of the same state.
Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.

.

Thoughts on sin

Seven Deadly Sins: Wealth without work. Pleasure without conscience. Science without humanity. Knowledge without character. Politics without principle. Commerce without morality. Worship without sacrifice.

Hate the sin, love the sinner.

.

Thoughts on democracy

A democrat should not rely upon the force of the arms his state could flaunt in the face of the world, but on the moral force his state could put at the disposal of the world.
Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today.
Democracy comes naturally to him who is habituated normally to yield willing obedience to all laws, human or divine.
Democracy disciplined and enlightened is the finest thing in the world. A democracy prejudiced, ignorant, superstitious, will land itself in chaos and may be self-destroyed.
Democracy is not a state in which people act like sheep.
Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with innocent blood.
My notion of democracy is that under it the weakest shall have the same opportunities as the strongest… no country in the world today shows any but patronizing regard for the weak… Western democracy, as it functions today, is diluted fascism… true democracy cannot be worked by twenty men sitting at the centre. It has to be worked from below, by the people of every village.
The spirit of democracy is not a mechanical thing to be adjusted by abolition of forms. It requires change of heart.
The spirit of democracy… requires change of the heart… requires the inculcation of the spirit of brotherhood.
To safeguard democracy the people must have a keen sense of independence, self-respect, and their oneness.
Under democracy, individual liberty of opinion and action is jealously guarded.
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?

.

More thoughts

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress.
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.
I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.
It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow beings.
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.
Nobody can hurt me without my permission.
Not to have control over the senses is like sailing in a rudderless ship, bound to break to pieces on coming in contact with the very first rock.
Spiritual relationship is far more precious than physical. Physical relationship divorced from spiritual is body without soul.
The moment there is suspicion about a person’s motives, everything he does becomes tainted.
The Roots of Violence: Wealth without work, Pleasure without conscience, Knowledge without character, Commerce without morality, Science without humanity, Worship without sacrifice, Politics without principles.
There is no school equal to a decent home and no teacher equal to a virtuous parent.
What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another.
When the ego dies, the soul awakes.
You don’t know who is important to you until you actually lose them.
A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.
I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people.
Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.
A principle is the expression of perfection, and as imperfect beings like us cannot practise perfection, we devise every moment limits of its compromise in practice.
A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.
A small group of determined and like-minded people can change the course of history.

.

About Mahatma Gandhi