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I Do Believe That Where There Is A Choice Between Cowardice And Non-violence I Would Advise Violence. Thus When My Eldest Son Asked Me What He Should Have Done, Had He Been Present When I Was Almost Fatally Assaulted In 1908, Whether He Should Have Run Away And Seen Me Killed Or Whether He Should Have Used His Physical Force Which He Could And Wanted To Use, And Defended Me, I Told Him That It Was His Duty To Defend Me Even By Using Violence.

-Mahatma Gandhi

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I Do Believe That

Mahatma Gandhi

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I Do Believe That Where There Is A Choice Between Cowardice And Non-violence I Would Advise Violence. Thus When My Eldest Son Asked Me What He Should Have Done, Had He Been Present When I Was Almost Fatally Assaulted In 1908, Whether He Should Have Run Away And Seen Me Killed Or Whether He Should Have Used His Physical Force Which He Could And Wanted To Use, And Defended Me, I Told Him That It Was His Duty To Defend Me Even By Using Violence.

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That We Should Obey Laws Whether Good Or Bad Is A New-fangled Notion. There Was No Such Thing In Former Days. The People Disregarded Those Laws They Did Not Like And Suffered The Penalties For Their Breach.

I Trust Men Only Because I Trust God.

If It Is Man's Privilege To Be Independent, It Is Equally His Duty To Be Inter - Dependent.

In His Boundless Love God Permits The Atheist To Live.

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.

A Nonviolent Action Accompanied By Nonviolence In Thought And Word Should Never Produce Enduring Violent Reaction Upon The Opponent.

Spiritual Relationship Is Far More Precious Than Physical. Physical Relationship Divorced From Spiritual Is Body Without Soul.

I Shall Die, But I Will Not Kill.

I Am But A Poor Struggling Soul Yearning To Be Wholly Good, Wholly Truthful And Wholly Non-violent In Thought, Word And Deed, But Ever Failing To Reach The Ideal Which I Know To Be True. It Is A Painful Climb, But Each Step Upwards Makes Me Feel Stronger And Fit For The Next.

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Violence Is The Fear To Other's Ideals.

The Life Of Millions Is My Politics, From Which I Dare Not Free Myself Without Denying My Life-work And God.

Keep Your Values Positive, Because Your Values Become Your Destiny.

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Positive Attitude

If We Would Be Pure, If We Would Save Hinduism, We Must Rid Ourselves Of This Poison Of Enforced Widowhood.

A Man Who Broods On Evil Is As Bad A Man Who Does Evil, If He Is No Worse.

Modern Civilization Has Taught Us To Convert Night Into Day And Golden Silence Into Brazen Din And Noise.

It Does Not Require Money To Be Neat, Clean And Dignified.

To Me Truth Is God And There Is No Way To Find Truth Except The Way Of Nonviolence.

Men Should Do Their Actual Living And Working In Communities Small Enough To Permit Of Genuine Self-government And The Assumption Of Personal Responsibilities, Federated Into Larger Units In Such A Way That The Temptation To Abuse Great Power Should Not Arise.

The Force Generated By Nonviolence Is Infinitely Greater Than The Force Of All The Arms Created By Man's Ingenuity.

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Ahimsa Is Nothing If Not A Well-balanced, Exquisite Consideration For One's Neighbour, And An Idle Man Is Wanting In That Elementary Consideration.

Man Cannot Breathe With Borrowed Lungs.

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Rights Of True Citizenship Accrue Only To Those Who Serve The State To Which They Belong.

Satan Mostly Employs Comparatively Moral Instruments And The Language Of Ethics To Give His Aims An Air Of Respectability.

Man's Happiness Really Lies In Contentment.

Creation Of Effective Public Opinion Depends On The Cultivation Of True Courage, Born Of Truthfulness And Nonviolence.

If Love Wasn't The Law Of Life, Life Would Not Have Persisted In The Midst Of Death.

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I Am Not Conscious Of A Single Experience Throughout My Three Months' Stay In England And Europe That Made Me Feel That After All East Is East And West Is West. On The Contrary, I Have Been Convinced More Than Ever That Human Nature Is Much The Same, No Matter Under What Clime It Flourishes, And That If You Approached People With Trust And Affection You Would Have Ten-fold Trust And Thousand-fold Affection Returned To You.

That Economics Is Untrue Which Ignores Or Disregards Moral Values.

Recall The Face Of The Poorest And Weakest Man You Have Seen, And Ask Yourself If This Step You Contemplate Is Going To Be Any Use To Him.

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A Living Faith In God Means Acceptance Of The Brotherhood Of Mankind.

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Cowards Can Never Be Moral.

If It Is By Force That We Wish To Achieve Swaraj, Let Us Drop Nonviolence And Offer Such Violence As We May.

To A Starving Man, God Can Only Appear In The Form Of Bread.

I Claim To Know My Millions. All The Hours Of The Day I Am With Them. They Are My First Care And God That Is To Be Found In The Hearts Of The Dumb Millions.

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Unity Among The Different Races And The Different Religions Of India Is Indispensable To The Birth Of National Life.

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In India There Is A Common Saying That The Way To Swaraj Is Through Mandalay.

The Law Is God. Anything Attributed To Him Is Not A Mere Attribute. He Is Truth, Love, Law And A Million Things That Human Ingenuity Can Name.

My Method Is Conversion, Not Coercion, It Is Self-suffering, Not The Suffering Of The Tyrant. I Know That Method To Be Infallible.

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We Do Want To Drive Out The Beast In Man, But We Do Not Want On That Account To Emasculate Him.

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Absolute Calm Is Not The Law Of Ocean. And It Is The Same With The Ocean Of Life.

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My Errors Have Been Errors Of Calculation And Judging Men, Not In Appreciating The True Nature Of Truth And Ahimsa Or In Their Application.

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All Crime Is A Kind Of Disease And Should Be Treated As Such.

Sickness Is The Result Not Only Of Our Acts, But Out Thoughts Also.

They Might Kill Me But They Cannot Kill Gandhism. If Truth Can Be Killed, Gandhism Can Be Killed.

Faith Alone Is The Sun Of Life.

Confession Of Errors Is Like A Broom Which Sweeps Away The Dirt And Leaves The Surface Brighter And Clearer. I Feel Stronger For Confession.

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Devotion To Truth Is The Sole Justification For Our Existence.

I Will Suffer The Agony If That Is To Be My Lot.

A Faith Gained In Strength Only When People Were Willing To Lay Down Their Lives For It.

God Is That Indefinable Something Which We All Feel But Which We Do Not Know.

Glory Lies In The Attempt To Reach One's Goal And Not In Reaching It.

Mortification Of The Flesh Has Been Held All The World Over As A Condition Of Spiritual Progress.

Simplicity Is The Essence Of Universality.

If We All Discharge Our Duties, Rights Will Not Be Far To Seek. If Leaving Duties Unperformed We Run After Rights, They Will Escape Us Like A Will-o'-the-wisp.

Why Should Men Arrogate To Themselves The Right To Regulate Female Purity?

I Must Not Serve A Distant Neighbour At The Expense Of The Nearest.

If We Had The Atom Bomb, We Would Have Used It Against The British.

Satyagraha Is A Process Of Educating Public Opinion, Such That It Covers All The Elements Of The Society And In The End Makes Itself Irresistible.

The Essence Of A Vow Does Not Consist In The Difficulty Of Its Performance But In The Determination Behind It Unflinchingly To Stick To It In The Teeth Of Difficulties.

If You Christians Acted More Like Your Christ, The World Would Be A Better Place.

But You Can Wake A Man Only If He Is Really Asleep. No Effort That You Make Will Produce Any Effect Upon Him If He Is Merely Pretending Sleep.

A Smattering Of English Is Worse Than Useless; It Is An Unnecessary Tax On Our Women.

Swaraj Does Not Depend On Jail Going. If It Did, There Are Thousands Of Prisoners In Jail Today. It Depends On Everyone Doing His Or Her Own Task.

Music Has Given Me Peace. I Can Remember Occasions When Music Instantly Tranquillized My Mind, When I Was Greatly Agitated Over Something. Music Has Helped Me To Overcome Anger.

At Times, Non-co-operation Becomes As Much A Duty As Co-operation.

If You Want To Change The World, Be That Change.

If The Village Worker Is Not A Decent Man Or Woman, Conducting A Decent Home, He Or She Had Better Not Aspire After The High Privilege And Honour Of Becoming A Village Worker.

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.

A Man Or A Woman Who Serves The Country With All His Or Her Heart Stands On Par With The Tallest Congress-man.

The Fullest Life Is Impossible Without An Immovable Belief In A Living Law In Obedience To Which The Whole Universe Moves.

Confession Of One's Guilt Purifies And Uplifts. Its Suppression Is Degrading And Should Always Be Avoided.

One Must Become As Humble As The Dust Before He Can Discover Truth.

The Man Who Fears Man Falls From The Estate Of Man. Fear God Alone.

Whilst The Bihar Calamity Damages The Body, The Calamity Brought About By Untouchability Corrodes The Very Soul.

Satyagraha Is A Law For Universal Application. Beginning With The Family, Its Use Can Be Extended To Every Other Circle.

I Believe That It Is Impossible To End Hatred With Hatred.

In The Very Act Of My Non-co-operation, I Am Seeking Their Co-operation In My Campaign.

Waiting On God Means Increasing Purity.

Robust Faith In Oneself And Brave Trust Of The Opponent, So Called Or Real, Is The Best Safeguard.

The Gita Is Not For Those Who Have No Faith.

The Only Virtue I Want To Claim Is Truth And Nonviolence.

Forgive And Forget, But Never Forget To Forgive. You May Find A Happier Heart Is The Key To A Happier Life.

Forgive And Forget

Passive Resistance Is A Method Of Securing Rights By Personal Suffering; It Is The Reverse Of Resistance By Arms.

Passive Resistance

Speak Only If It Improves Upon The Silence.

Where Love Is, There God Is Also.

It Will Be Necessary For Us Indians - Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Parsis And All Others To Whom India Is Their Home - To Recognize A Common Flag To Live And Die For.

The Way Of Mutual Strife And Exclusiveness Is The Only Way To Perdition And Slavery.

The Force Of The Spirit Is Ever Progressive And Endless. Its Full Expression Makes It Unconquerable In The World.

The Art Of Producing Good Music From A Cultivated Voice Can Be Achieved By Many, But The Art Of Producing That Music From The Harmony Of A Pure Life Is Achieved Very Rarely.

The Light Of The World Will Illuminate Within You When You Fast And Purify Yourself.

All Truths, Not Merely Ideas, But Truthful Faces, Truthful Pictures Or Songs, Are Highly Beautiful.

Peace Between Countries Must Rest On The Solid Foundation Of Love Between Individuals.

Strength Of Numbers Is The Delight Of The Timid. The Valiant In Spirit Glory In Fighting Alone.

At The Individual Level Swaraj Is Vitally Connected With The Capacity For Dispassionate Self-assessment , Ceaseless Self Purification And Growing Self-reliance.... It Is Swaraj When We Learn To Rule Ourselves

Without Devotion, Action And Knowledge Are Cold And Dry And Many Even Become Shackles.

I Want Freedom For The Full Expression Of My Personality.

One Hour Spent In Spinning Should Be An Hour Of Self-development For The Spinner.

Heroes Are Made In The Hour Of Defeat. Success Is, Therefore, Well Described As A Series Of Glorious Defeats.

I Am A Poor Mendicant. My Earthly Possessions Consist Of Six Spinning Wheels, Prison Dishes, A Can Of Goat's Milk, Six Homespun Loincloths And Towels And My Reputation, Which Cannot Be Worth Much.

Swaraj Of A People Means The Sum Total Of The Swaraj (self-rule) Of Individuals.

Is Not Education The Art Of Drawing Out Full Manhood Of The Children Under Training?

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 Things As Crawl Upon Earth.

You Will Find That God Is Always By The Side Of The Fearless.

To Lose Patience Is To Lose The Battle.

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.

My Work Will Be Finished If I Succeed In Carrying Conviction To The Human Family That Every Man Or Woman, However Weak In Body, Is The Guardian Of His Or Her Self-respect And Liberty.

I Have Not Lost The Hope That The Masses Will Refuse To Bow To The Moloch Of War But They Will Rely Upon Their Own Capacity For Suffering To Save Their Country's Honour.

Man Is Born Of Woman, He Is Flesh Of Her Flesh And Bone Of Her Bone.

Earth Provides Enough To Satisfy Every Man's Needs, But Not Every Man's Greed.

Unwearied Ceaseless Effort Is The Price That Must Be Paid For Turning Faith Into A Rich Infallible Experience.

In A Plan Of Life Based On Nonviolence, Woman Has As Much Right To Shape Her Own Destiny As Man Has To Shape His.

History Is Replete With Instances Of Men, Who, By Dying With Courage And Compassion On Their Lips Converted The Hearts Of Their Violent Opponents.

The Call Of The Spinning Wheel Is The Noblest Of All. Because It Is The Call Of Love. And Love Is Swaraj.

I Must Say That, Beyond Occasionally Exposing Me To Laughter, My Constitutional Shyness Has Been No Dis-advantage Whatever. In Fact I Can See That, On The Contrary, It Has Been All To My Advantage.

God Is Truth, Truth Is God.

With Every True Friendship, We Build More Firmly The Foundations On Which The Peace Of The Whole World Rests.

Disobedience To Be Civil Has To Be Open And Nonviolent.

Civil Disobedience

Lady Is The Buddy Of Man, Skilled With Equivalent Mental Limit.

The More I Reflect And Look Back On The Past, The More Vividly Do I Feel My Limitations.

The Only Way By Which You And I Can Wean Orthodox Hindus From Their Bigotry Is By Patient Argument And Correct Conduct.

Cowardice Is Incompatible With Divine Wisdom.

How Do You Know If The Next Act You Are About To Do Is The Right One Or The Wrong One? Consider The Face Of The Poorest And Most Vulnerable Human Being That You Have Ever Chanced Upon, And Ask Yourself If The Act That You Contemplate Will Be Of Benefit To That Person; And If It Will Be, It's The Right Thing To Do, And If Not, Rethink It.

When Freedom Is In Jeopardy, Non-co-operation May Be A Duty And Prison May Be A Palace.

There Is A World-wide Conflict Between Capital And Labour, And The Poor Envy The Rich.

Peace Through Superior Violence Inevitably Leads To The Atom Bomb And All That It Stands For.

There Is No Hope For The Aching World Except Through The Narrow And Straight Path Of Nonviolence.

Before Civil Disobedience Can Be Practised On A Vast Scale, People Must Learn The Art Of Civil Or Voluntary Obedience.

Today I Know That Physical Training Should Have As Much Place In The Curriculum As Mental Training.

We Are All Very Imperfect And Weak Things, And If We Are To Destroy All Whose Ways We Do Not Like, There Will Be Not A Man Left Alive.

Since Nothing Else That I See Merely Through The Senses Can Or Will Persist, He Alone Is.

When I Admire The Wonders Of A Sunset Or The Beauty Of The Moon, My Soul Expands In The Worship Of The Creator.

We Are Too Near The Scene Of Tragedy To Realize That This Canker Or Untouchability Has Traveled Far Beyond Its Prescribed Limits And Has Sapped The Very Foundation Of The Whole Nation.

Renunciation Which Is Natural Does Not Herald Its Coming By The Blowing Of Trumpets. It Comes In Imperceptibly Without Letting Anyone Notice It.

The Golden Rule Is To Act Fearlessly Upon What One Believes To Be Right.

God Gifted Man With Intellect So That He Might Know His Maker. Man Abused It So That He Might Forget His Maker.

There Is No Doubt That Our Last State Will Be Worse Than Our First, If We Surrender Our Reason Into Somebody's Keeping.

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.

Democracy Necessarily Means A Conflict Of Will And Ideas, Involving Sometimes A War Of The Knife Between Different Ideas.

Duly Enlightened Gandhi's Head By Mall Of The 'free Press Journal,' Bombay, In 1932watches May Disagree, But Let Us Not.

Some Form Of Common Worship And A Common Place Of Worship Appear To Be A Human Necessity.

The Function Of Nayee-talim Is Not To Teach An Occupation, But Through It To Develop The Whole Man.

I Can Neither Serve God Nor Humanity If As An Indian I Do Not Serve India, And As A Hindu I Do Not Serve Indian Mussalmans.

Does Not The History Of The World Show That There Would Have Been No Romance In Life If There Had Been No Risks?

Non-violence And Cowardice Are Contradictory Terms. Non-violence Is The Greatest Virtue, Cowardice The Greatest Vice. Non-violence Springs From Love, Cowardice From Hate. Non-violence Always Suffers, Cowardice Would Always Inflict Suffering. Perfect Non-violence Is The Highest Bravery. Non-violent Conduct Is Never Demoralising; Cowardice Always Is.

The Elephant Needs A Thousand Times More Food Than The Ant But That Is Not An Indication Of Inequality.

I Still Somehow Or Other Fancy That "my Philosophy" Represents The True Meaning Of The Teaching Of The Gita.

The Spirit Of Democracy Cannot Be Superimposed From The Outside. It Must Come From Within.

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