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Man's Happiness Really Lies In Contentment.

-Mahatma Gandhi

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Man's Happiness Really Lies

Mahatma Gandhi

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Man's Happiness Really Lies In Contentment.

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Indeed, One Perfect Resister Is Enough To Win The Battle Of Right Against Wrong.

A Satyagrahi Should Have A Living Faith In God.

Be The Change You're Trying To Create

I Submit That Scientists Have Not Yet Explored The Hidden Possibilities Of The Innumerable Seeds, Leaves And Fruits For Giving The Fullest Possible Nutrition To Mankind.

There Is Always Enough For The Needy, There Is Never Enough For The Greedy.

Those Who Are Lacking In Bhakti (devotion), Lacking In Faith, Are Ill Qualified To Interpret The Scriptures.

A Man Who Is Intentionally Unarmed Relies Upon The Unseen Force Called God By Poets, But Called The Unknown By Scientists.

There Is A Power Now Slumbering Within Us, Which Is Awakened Would Do To Evil What Light Does To Darkness.

My Swaraj Will Be Not Be A Result Of Murder Of Others But A Voluntary Act Of Continuous Self-sacrifice.

If All Were Nonviolent, There Would Be No Anarchy And There Would Be No Question Of Anybody Being Armed For Meeting Aggression From Without.

Service Without Humility Is Selfishness And Egotism.

A Nonviolent Person's Life Is Always At The Disposal Of Him Who Would Take It.

No Matter What The Cause Was And Wherever It Was, Indian Governments Must Never Requisition The Services Of British Soldiers To Deal With Civil Disturbances.

British Soldiers

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.

I Do Not Wish My House To Be Walled And My Windows Stuffed. I Want All Cultures To Blow Freely Through My Dwelling.

Journalism Has Become The Art Of "intelligent Anticipation Of Events."

If We Are Nonviolent Through And Through, Our Nonviolence Would Have Been Self-evident.

A Devotee Of Rama May Be Said To Be The Same As The Steadfast One (sthitaprajnya) Of The Gita.

Active Nonviolence Is Necessary For Those Who Will Offer Civil Disobedience But The Will And Proper Training Are Enough For The People To Co-operate With Those Who Are Chosen For Civil Disobedience.

Time Is Wealth, And The Gita Says The Great Annihilator Annihilates Those Who Waste Time.

You Cannot Neglect The Nearer Duty For The Sake Of A Remote.

The Spinning Wheel Is A Symbol Of Nonviolence For Me.

That Religion And That Nation Will Be Blotted Out Of The Face Of The Earth Which Pins Its Faith On Injustice, Untruth Or Violence.

Civilization, In The Real Sense Of The Term, Consists Not In The Multiplication, But In The Deliberate And Voluntary Reduction Of Wants.

Hinduism Has Become A Conservative Religion And, Therefore, A Mighty Force Because Of The Swadeshi Spirit Underlying It.

It Is Health That Is Real Wealth And Not Pieces Of Gold And Silver.

The Bible Is As Much A Book Of Religion With Me As The Gita And The Koran.

I May Be A Despicable Person, But When Truth Speaks Through Me I Am Invincible.

Who Can Make A More Effective Appeal To The Heart Than Woman?

An Awakened People Who Rely Upon Their Nonviolent Strength Are Independent In The Face Of Any Conceivable Combination Of The Armed Powers.

My Rama, The Rama Of Our Prayers, Is Not The Historical Rama, The Son Of Dasharatha, The King Of Ayodhya.

Return To The Villages Means A Definite, Voluntary Recognition Of The Duty Of Bread Labour And All Its Connotes.

Real Beauty Is My Aim.

God Has Given Us Only A Limited Sphere Of Action And A Limited Vision.

To Know Music Is To Transfer It To Life.

I Have Found That Life Persists In The Midst Of Destruction And, Therefore, There Must Be A Higher Law Than That Of Destruction. Only Under That Law Would A Well-ordered Society Be Intelligible And Life Worth Living.

If You Worry About Yesterday's Failures, Then Today's Successes Will Be Few. The Future Depends On What We Do In The Present

I Have Shut My Mind Against Nothing And I Am A Friend Of Great Britain. I Always Have Been. I Have No Axe To Grind.

Decency And Tolerance, To Be Of Any Value, Must Be Capable Of Withstanding The Severest Strain.

When I Despair, I Remember That All Through History The Way Of Truth And Love Has Always Won.

We May Attack Systems. We Must Not Attack Men.

The Restoration Of Free Speech, Free Association And Free Press Is Almost The Whole Swaraj.

Even If You Are A Minority Of One, The Truth Is The Truth.

Speak Your Mind

I Cannot Conceive Of A Greater Loss Than The Loss Of One's Self-respect.

A Courageous Man Prefers Death To The Surrender Of Self-respect.

Take Care Of This Moment.

God Never Occurs To You In Person But Always In Action.

You Will Eat Not To Satisfy Your Palate But Your Hunger. A Self-indulgent Man Lives To Eat; A Self-restrained Man Eats To Live.

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.

Non -violence Is Infinitely Superior To Violence , Forgiveness Is More Manly Than Punishment. Forgiveness Is The Ornament.

Watches May Disagree, But Let Us Not.

I Refuse To Buy From Anybody Anything However Nice Or Beautiful If It Interferes With My Growth Or Injures Those Whom Nature Has Made My First Care.

The Goal Ever Recedes From Us. The Greater The Progress The Greater The Recognition Of Our Unworthiness. Satisfaction Lies In The Effort, Not In The Attainment. Full Effort Is Full Victory.

It Is Very Significant That Some Of The Most Thoughtful And Cultured Men Are Partisans Of A Pure Vegetable Diet

I Would Like To Say That That Even The Teachings Of The Koran Cannot Be Exempted From Criticism.

Anger Is The Enemy Of Non-violence And Pride Is A Monster That Swallows It Up.

Love Never Claims, It Ever Gives. Love Ever Suffers, Never Resents Never Revenges Itself.

Disobedience That Is Wholly Civil Should Never Provoke Retaliation.

You Can Return Blow For Blow If You Are Not Brave Enough To Follow The Path Of Nonviolence.

You Are Not Going To Know The Meaning Of God Or Prayer Unless You Reduce Yourself To A Cipher.

To Yield To The Threat Or Actual Use Of Violence Is A Surrender Of One's Self Respect And Religious Conviction.

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.

The Spinning Wheel Is As Much A Necessity Of Indian Life As Air And Water.

Unless We Learn The Lesson Of Nonviolence Fully, We Shall Never Do Away With The Deadly Feuds Which Have Been The Curse Of The Frontier People.

Violence Always Thrived On Counter Violence.

What May Appear As Truth To One Person Will Often Appear As Untruth To Another Person. But That Need Not Worry The Seeker. When There Is Honest Effort, It Will Be Realised That What Appears To Be Different Truths Are Like Apparently Different Countless Leaves Of The Same Tree.

The Charkha Is Intended To Realize The Essential And Living Oneness Of Interest Among India's Myriads.

Destruction Of The Churches And The Like Is Not The Way To Swaraj As Defined By The Congress.

I Claim To Be No More Than An Average Man With Below Average Capabilities.

I Hold That Without Truth And Nonviolence There Can Be Nothing But Destruction Of Humanity.

Whatever May Be The Pros And Cons Of Going To The Public Theatre, It Is A Patent Fact That It Has Undermined The Morals And Ruined The Character Of Many A Youth In His Country.

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

A Little Of True Nonviolence Acts In A Silent, Subtle, Unseen Way And Leavens The Whole Society.

Everything We Do Is Futile, But We Must Do It Anyway.

Non-violence ... Is The Only Thing That The Atom Bomb Cannot Destroy.

For Winning Swaraj One Requires Iron Discipline.

If We Will Take Care Of Today, God Will Take Care Of The Morrow.

The Test Of Friendship Is Assistance In Adversity, And That, Too, Unconditional Assistance.

Why, Of All Places In Johannesburg, The Indian Location Should Be Chosen For Dumping Down All Kaffirs Of The Town, Passes My Comprehension. Of Course, Under My Suggestion, The Town Council Must Withdraw The Kaffirs From The Location. About This Mixing Of The Kaffirs With The Indians I Must Confess I Feel Most Strongly. I Think It Is Very Unfair To The Indian Population, And It Is An Undue Tax On Even The Proverbial Patience Of My Countrymen.

Fear Of Death Makes Us Devoid Both Of Valour And Religion. For Want Of Valour Is Want Of Religious Faith.

There Will Have To Be Rigid And Iron Discipline Before We Achieve Anything Great And Enduring, And That Discipline Will Not Come By Mere Academic Argument And Appeal To Reason And Logic. Discipline Is Learnt In The School Of Adversity.

God Does Not Punish Directly. His Ways Are Inscrutable.

A Wretched Parent Who Claims Obedience From His Children, Without First Doing His Duty By Them, Excites Nothing But Contempt.

Why Worry One's Head Over A Thing That Is Inevitable? Why Die Before One's Death?

Khaddar Is An Activity That Can Absorb All The Time Of All Available Men And Women And Grown-up Children, If They Have Faith.

For A Nonviolent Struggle, There Is No Age Limit. The Blind, The Maimed And The Bed-ridden May Serve, And Not Only Men But Women Also.

The Test Of Friendship Is Assistance In Adversity, And That Too, Unconditional Assistance, Co-operation Which Needs Consideration Is As A Commercial Contract And Not Friendship. Conditional Co-operation Is Like Adulterated Cement Which Does Not Bind.

Democracy Is An Impossible Thing Until The Power Is Shared By All, But Let Not Democracy Degenerate Into Mobocracy.

Impossible Things

Suffering Cheerfully Endured, Ceases To Be Suffering And Is Transmuted Into An Ineffable Joy.

Swaraj Means Ability To Regard Every Inhabitant Of India As Our Own Brother Or Sister.

I Do Not Accept The Orthodox Teaching That Jesus Was Or Is God Incarnate In The Accepted Sense Or That He Was Or Is The Only Son Of God.

God Has No Religion.

I Have Known Many Meat Eaters To Be Far More Nonviolent Than Vegetarians.

Let No One Try To Justify The Glaring Difference Between The Classes And The Masses, The Prince And The Pauper, By Saying That The Former Need More.

All Great Religions Have Rightly Regarded Kama As The Arch-enemy Of Man, Anger Or Hatred Coming Only In The Second Place.

A Duty Religiously Performed Carries With It Several Other Important Consequences.

Every Woman Will Tell The Curious That With The Disappearance Of The Spinning Wheel Vanished India's Happiness And Prosperity.

Unless We Are Able To Evolve A Spirit Of Mutual Tolerance For Diametrically Opposite Views, Non Co-operation Is An Impossibility.

I Learnt From Hussein How To Achieve Victory While Being Oppressed.

I Am A Passionate Seeker After Truth Which Is But Another Name For God.

Truth To Me Is Infinitely Dearer Than The 'mahatmaship' Which Is Purely A Burden.

Satyagraha Is A Relentless Search For Truth And A Determination To Search Truth.

My Opposition To The Socialist And The Other Consists In Attacking Violence As A Means Of Effecting Any Lasting Reform.

Renunciation Is Everyone's Prerogative.

Man Should Earnestly Desire The Well - Being Of All God's Creations And Pray That We May Have The Strength To Do So.

The Science Of War Leads One To Dictatorship, Pure And Simple. The Science Of Non-violence Alone Can Lead One To Pure Democracy. Power Based On Love Is Thousand Times More Effective And Permanent Than Power Derived From Fear Of Punishment. It Is A Blasphemy To Say Non-violence Can Be Practiced Only By Individuals And Never By Nations Which Are Composed Of Individuals. The Nearest Approach To Purest Anarchy Would Be A Democracy Based On Non-violence. A Society Organized And Run On The Basis Of Complete Non-violence Would Be The Purest Anarchy.

Our Ability To Reach Unity In Diversity Will Be The Beauty And The Test Of Our Civilization.

Satyagraha Can Rid Society Of All Evils, Political, Economic And Moral.

Never Own Defeat In A Sacred Cause And Make Up Your Minds Henceforth That You Will Be Pure And That You Will Find A Response From God.

Such Expression Is Impossible In A Cramped Atmosphere. As I Have No Desire To Offer Civil Disobedience I Cannot Write Freely. As The Author Of Satyagraha I Cannot, Consistently With My Profession, Suppress The Vital Part Of Myself For The Sake Of Being Able To Write On Permissible Subjects. ... It Would Be Like Dealing With The Trunk Without The Head.

When A Man Gives Way To Anger, He Only Harms Himself.

The Woman Has Circumvented Man In A Variety Of Ways In Her Unconsciously Subtle Ways, As The Man Has Vainly And Equally Consciously Struggled To Thwart The Woman In Gaining Ascendancy Over Him.

A Clean Confession Combined With A Promise Never To Commit The Sin Again, When Offered Before One Who Has The Right To Receive It, Is The Purest Type Of Repentance.

There Is No Principle Worth The Name If It Is Not Wholly Good.

My Heart Is Drawn Backwards And Forwards Between The Spinning Wheel And Books.

Intolerance Is A Species Of Violence And Therefore Against Our Creed.

The Sanyasa Of The Gita Is All Work And Yet No Work.

My Uniform Experience Has Convinced Me That There Is No Other God Than Truth

Means Are Ends In The Making

The Greatness Of A Person Lies In His Heart, Not In His Head; That Is Intellect.

Social Service That Savours Of Patronage Is Not Service.

I Believe That Cunning Is Not Only Morally Wrong But Also Politically Expedient, And Have Therefore Always Discountenanced Its Use Even From The Practical Standpoint.

I Believe That Just As Everyone Inherits A Particular Form So Does He Inherit The Particular Characteristics And Qualities Of His Progenitors, And To Make This Admission Is To Conserve One's Energy.

There Is No Such Thing As Slow Freedom. Freedom Is Like A Birth. Till We Are Fully Free We Are Slaves. All Birth Takes Place In A Moment.

In The Dictionary Of Satyagraha, There Is No Enemy.

A True Soldier Does Not Argue As He Marches, How Success Is Going To Be Ultimately Achieved. But He Is Confident That If He Only Plays His Humble Part Well, Somehow Or Other The Battle Will Be Won. In Is That Spirit That Every One Of Us Should Act. It Is Not Given To Us To Know The Future. But It Is Given To Everyone Of Us To Know How To Do Our Own Part Well.

God Himself Has Reserved No Right Of Revision Of His Own Laws Nor Is There Any Need For Him For Any Such Revision.

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.

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.

Let Your Life Be Your Message.

Hinduism Has Absorbed The Best Of All The Faiths Of The World And In That Sense Hinduism Is Not An Exclusive Religion.

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.

What Better Book Can There Be Than The Book Of Humanity.

What Is It But My Ahimsa That Draws Thousands Of Women To Me In Fearless Confidence?

Execution Of The Constructive Programme In Its Entirety Means More Than Swaraj. It Means Ram Raj, Khudai Sultanat Or The Divine Kingdom.

Ahimsa In Theory No One Knows. It Is As Indefinable As God.

My Modesty Has Prevented Me From Declaring From The House Top That The Message Of Non-co-operation, Nonviolence And Swadeshi Is A Message To The World.

India Is Less Manly Under The British Rule Than She Ever Was Before.

The Gita Distinguishes Between The Powers Of Light And Darkness And Demonstrates Their Incompatibility.

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.

God Always Saves The World From The Consequences Of Unintended Errors Of Men Who Live In Fear Of Him.

Freedom From All Attachment Is The Realization Of God As Truth.

The True Measure Of Any Society Can Be Found In How It Treats Its Most Vulnerable Members

In Times To Come People Will Not Judge Us By The Creed We Profess Or The Label We Wear Or The Slogans We Shout, But, By Our Work, Industry, Sacrifice, Honesty And Purity Of Character.

I Do Not Consider Hitler To Be As Bad As He Is Depicted. He Is Showing An Ability Which Is Amazing And He Seems To Be Gaining His Victories Without Much Bloodshed.

Man Does Not Live By Destruction.

It Is The Reformer Who Is Anxious For The Reform, And Not Society, From Which He Should Expect Nothing Better Than Opposition, Abhorrence And Even Mortal Persecution.

The Gita Is Not Only My Bible And My Koran, It Is More Than That, It Is My Mother.

For Me Popular Violence Is As Much An Obstruction In Our Path As The Government Violence.

No People Have Risen Who Thought Only Of Rights. Only Those Did So Who Thought Of Duties.

Non-co-operation Is The Nation's Notice That It Is No Longer Satisfied To Be In Tutelage.

True Beauty Lies In Purity Of The Heart.

Man Has Always Desired Power. Ownership Of Property Gives This Power. Man Hankers Also After Posthumous Fame Based On Power.

God's Word Is: 'he Who Strives Never Perishes.' I Have Implicit Faith In That Promise. Though, Therefore, From My Weakness I Fail A Thousand Times, I Shall Not Lose Faith.

Surely Conversion Is A Matter Between Man And His Maker Who Alone Knows His Creatures' Hearts. A Conversion Without A Clean Heart Is, In My Opinion, A Denial Of God And Religion. Conversion Without Cleanliness Of Heart Can Only Be A Matter Of Sorrow, Not Joy, To A Godly Person.

Exploitation Of The Poor Can Be Extinguished Not By Effecting The Destruction Of A Few Millionaires, But By Removing The Ignorance Of The Poor And Teaching Them To Non-cooperate With Their Exploiters.

He Who Runs May See That Opium And Such Other Intoxicants And Narcotics Stupefy A Man's Soul And Reduce Him To A Level Lower Than That Of Beasts.

It Goes Without Saying That Moderation And Sobriety Are Of The Very Essence Of Vow-taking.

Concentrate On Your Task.

It Is A Mark Of Wisdom Not To Kick Away The Very Step From Which We Have Risen Higher. The Removal Of One Step From A Staircase Brings Down The Whole Of It.

The Beauty Of Poetry Is That The Creation Transcends The Poet.

Manliness Consists Not In Bluff, Bravado Or Loneliness. It Consists In Daring To Do The Right Thing And Facing Consequences Whether It Is In Matters Social, Political Or Other. It Consists In Deeds Not Words.

It Is Better To Be Charged With Cowardice And Weakness Than To Be Guilty Of Denial Of Our Oath And Sin Against God.

The Spinning Wheel Is The One Thing To Which All Must Turn To In The Indian Clime For The Transition Stage At Any Rate And The Vast Majority Must For All Time.

Vehement Writing, Even If It Is Charged With Truth, Is No Answer To Violent Action.

The Purification Required Is Not Of Untouchables But Of The So-called Superior Castes.

My Varnashram Dharma Teaches Me That There Must Be Some Significance In The Fact Of My Being Born In India Instead Of In Europe.

A Nation That Is Capable Of Limitless Sacrifice Is Capable Of Rising To Limitless Heights. The Purer The Sacrifice The Quicker The Progress.

Purity Of Mind And Idleness Are Incompatible.

I Believe All War To Be Wholly Wrong.

President Means Chief Servant

The Spinning Wheel Is Not Meant To Oust A Single Man Or Woman From His Or Her Occupation.

A Resolute And Wise Refusal To Take Part In Festivities Will Be An Incentive For Introspection And Self-purification.

If We Had Attained The Full Vision Of Truth, We Would No Longer Be Seekers, But Become One With God, For Truth Is God.

A Worker's Capital Is Inexhaustible, Incapable Of Being Stolen, And Bound To Pay Him A Generous Dividend All The Time.

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.

God Is Not A Person. God Is An Eternal Principle.

We Must Be Ever Courteous And Patient With Those Who Do Not See Eye To Eye With Us. We Must Resolutely Refuse To Consider Our Opponents As Enemies.

[he] Alone Is Truly Nonviolent Who Remains Nonviolent Even Though He Has The Ability To Strike.

The Cow Is The Purest Type Of Sub-human Life.

Complete Non-violence Is Complete Absence Of Ill-will Against All That Lives. It Therefore Embraces Even Sub-human Life, Not Excluding Noxious Insects And Beasts. They Have Not Been Created To Feed Our Destructive Propensities. If We Only Knew The Mind Of The Creator, We Should Find Their Proper Place In His Creation.

The Spirit Of Democracy Cannot Be Established In The Midst Of Terrorism, Whether Governmental Or Popular.

Democracies Have

The Snakes Have Their Place In The Agricultural Economy Of The Village, But Our Villagers Do Not Seem Realize It.

My Ahimsa Is My Own. I Am Not Able To Accept In Its Entirety The Doctrine Of Non-killing Of Animals.

If I Know Hinduism At All, It Is Essentially Inclusive And Ever-growing, Ever-responsive. It Gives The Freest Scope For Imagination, Speculation And Reason.

It Is Swaraj When We Learn To Rule Ourselves.

Self Assessment

Untouchability Is A Many-headed Monster And Forms, Some Of Them So Subtle As Not To Be Easily Detected.

Do Not Believe In Telling People Of One's Faith, Especially With A View To Conversion. Faith Must Be Lived, And When It Is, It Becomes Self-propagating

I Own No Property And Yet I Feel That I Am Perhaps The Richest Man In The World.

We Shall Make Progress Towards Swaraj Only If We Do Everything Thoughtfully And With Understanding.

Justice Does Not Help Those Who Slumber But Helps Only Those Who Are Vigilant.

If We Are To Create Peace In Our World, We Must Begin With Our Children.

The Ideally Non-violent State Will Be An Ordered Anarchy.

No Man Could Be Actively Nonviolent And Not Rise Against Social Injustice, No Matter Where It Occurred.

For Me Every Ruler Is Alien That Defies Public Opinion.

Woman Is The Companion Of Man, Gifted With Equal Mental Capacity.

Gender Equality

Every Truth Is Self-acting And Possesses Inherent Strength.

What Is Wanted Is A Deliberate Giving Up Of Violence Out Of Strength.

The Greater The Realization Of Truth And Ahimsa, The Greater The Illumination.

To Give Pleasure To A Single Heart By A Single Act Is Better Than A Thousand Heads Bowing In Prayer.

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