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To Believe In Something, And Not To Live It, Is Dishonest.

-Mahatma Gandhi

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To Believe In Something,

Mahatma Gandhi

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To Believe In Something, And Not To Live It, Is Dishonest.

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My Greatest Weapon Is Mute Prayer.

I Hold No Man To Be Indispensable For The Welfare Of The Country.

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.

God Is, Even Though The Whole World Deny Him. Truth Stands, Even If There Be No Public Support. It Is Self-sustained.

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

A Friendly Study Of The World's Religions Is A Sacred Duty.

The Sum Of All That Lives Is God.

I Want India To Come Into Her Own And That State Cannot Be Better Defined By Any Single Word Than Swaraj.

For Winning Swaraj One Requires Iron Discipline.

I Do Not Regard Capital To Be The Enemy Of Labour.

My Trust Is Solely In God. And I Trust Men Only Because I Trust God. If I Had No God To Rely Upon, I Should Be Like Timon, A Hater Of My Species.

It Is Poor Faith That Needs Fair Weather For Standing Firm. That Alone Is True Faith That Stands The Foulest Weather.

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

As Soon As We Lose The Moral Basis, We Cease To Be Religious. There Is No Such Thing As Religion Over-riding Morality.

Hinduism Dies If Untouchability Lives, And Untouchability Has To Die If Hinduism Is To Live.

The Religion Of Nonviolence Is Not Meant Merely For Therishis And Saints.

As Long As You Derive Inner Help And Comfort From Anything, Keep It.

Restraint Never Ruins One's Health.

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

In The Secret Of My Heart I Am In Perpetual Quarrel With God That He Should Allow Such Things [as The War] To Go On. My Non-violence Seems Almost Impotent. But The Answer Comes At The End Of The Daily Quarrel That Neither God Nor Non-violence Is Impotent. Impotence Is In Men. I Must Try On Without Losing Faith Even Though I May Break In The Attempt.

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

I Had Learnt At The Onset Not To Carry On Public Work With Borrowed Money.

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.

A Nonviolent Warrior Knows No Leaving The Battle. He Rushes Into The Mouth Of Himsa, Never Even Once Harbouring An Evil Thought.

I Retain The Opinion That Council Entry Is Inconsistent With Non-co-operation As I Conceive It.

God Demands Nothing Less Than Self - Surrender As The Price For The Only Real Freedom That Is Worth Having.

Nothing Once Begun Should Be Abandoned, Unless It Is Proved To Be Morally Wrong.

Voluntary Service Of Others Demands The Best Of Which One Is Capable, And Must Take Precedence Over Service Of Self.

No Government On Earth Can Make Men, Who Have Realized Freedom In Their Hearts, Salute Against Their Will.

One Can Measure The Greatness And The Moral Progress Of A Nation By Looking At How It Treats Its Animals.

If India Adopted The Doctrine Of Love As An Active Part Of Her Religion And Introduced It In Her Politics. Swaraj Would Descend Upon India From Heaven. But I Am Painfully Aware That That Event Is Far Off As Yet.

There Can Be No Friendship Between Cowards, Or Cowards And Brave Men.

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

The Study Of Indian Economics Is The Study Of The Spinning Wheel.

Meditation Is Waiting On God.

The Word 'defeat' Is Not To Be Found In My Dictionary, And Everyone Who Is Selected As A Recruit In My Army May Be Certain That There Is No Defeat For A Satyagrahi.

My Plea Is For Banishing The English Language As A Cultural Usurper, As We Successfully Banished The Political Rule Of The English Usurper.

The Britisher Is The Top Dog And The Indian The Underdog In His Own Country.

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 Only Real And Reliable Guarantee For Khadi Would Be Honesty, Truthfulness And Sincerity Of Khadi Workers.

Live Like Jesus Did, And The World Will Listen.

Men To Be Men Must Be Able To Trust Their Womenfolk, Even As The Latter Are Compelled To Trust Them.

India's Freedom Must Revolutionize The World's Outlook Upon Peace And War.

If A Man Were So Placed Or Could So Place Himself As To Be Absolutely Above All Dependence On His Fellow-beings He Would Become So Proud And Arrogant As To Be A Veritable Burden And Nuisance To The World.

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

A Thousand Candles Can Be Lighted From The Flame Of One Candle, And The Life Of The Candle Will Not Be Shortened. Happiness Can Be Spread Without Diminishing That Of Yourself.

The Real Test Of Nonviolence Lies In Its Being Brought In Contact With Those Who Have Contempt For It.

Hindu Dharma Is Like A Boundless Ocean Teeming With Priceless Gems. The Deeper You Dive The More Treasures You Find.

Non-co-operation Is The Quickest Method Of Creating Public Opinion.

Is A Civilization Worth The Name, Which Requires, For Its Existence The Very Doubtful Prop Of A Racial Legislation And A Lynch Law?

If The People Resolve And Carry Out This Programme Of Boycott And Swadeshi, They Would Not Have To Wait For Swaraj Even For A Year.

I Am Prepared To Die, But There Is No Cause For Which I Am Prepared To Kill.

Domestic Matters Are Trifles For Us. But They Occupy The Principal Part Of My Life. They Teach Me To Know My Limitations.

The Strength Of The Soul Can Defy A Whole World In Arms Against It.

Half-a-dozen Or Twenty Cities Of India Alone Working Together Cannot Bring Swaraj.

Working Together

I Must Not Refrain From Saying That India Can Gain More By Waiving The Right Of Punishment.

To Prevent The Workers From Going To Their Work By Standing In Front Of Them Is Pure Violence And Must Be Given Up.

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

Both Heaven And Hell Are Within Us.

Heaven And Hell

Victory Attained By Violence Is Tantamount To A Defeat, For It Is Momentary.it Is Better To Be Violent, If There Is Violence In Our Hearts, Than To Put On The Cloak Of Nonviolence To Cover Impotence. Violence Is Any Day Preferable To Impotence. There Is Hope For A Violent Man To Become Non-violent. There Is No Such Hope For The Impotent.

My Nonviolence Does Recognize Different Species Of Violence, Defensive And Offensive.

Any Imposition From Without Means Compulsion. Such Compulsion Is Repugnant To Religion.

It's Not Just Words. Action Expresses Priorities.

The Spinning Wheel Is Itself An Exquisite Piece Of Machinery. My Head Daily Bows In Reverence To Its Unknown Inventor.

Civil Disobedience Is A Stimulation For The Fighters And A Challenge To The Opponent, In The Present Instance, Authority.

Whatever One Does Cheerfully Is Good For Health.

Intolerance Betrays Want Of Faith In One's Cause.

The Mantram Becomes One's Staff Of Life And Carries One Through Every Ordeal. Each Repetition Has A New Meaning, Carrying You Nearer And Nearer To God.

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.

Civil Disobedience Becomes A Sacred Duty When The State Becomes Lawless Or Corrupt.

Libertarian Party

I Would Rather Have India Without Education, If That Is The Price To Be Paid For Making It Dry.

Non-violence Is Not A Quality To Be Evolved Or Expressed To Order. It Is An Inward Growth Depending For Sustenance Upon Intense Individual Effort.

Individual Effort

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

Positive Thinking

Positive Attitude

The Khadi Spirit Means Fellow-feeling With Every Human Being On Earth.

Every Worthy Act Is Difficult. Ascent Is Always Difficult. Descent Is Easy And Often Slippery.

Legal Imposition Avoids The Necessity Of Honour Or Good Faith.

A Mother Would Never By Choice Sleep In A Wet Bed But She Would Gladly Do So In Order To Spare The Dry Bed For Her Child.

The Pilgrimage To Swaraj Is A Painful Climb.

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

A Man Can Give Up A Right, But He May Not Give Up A Duty Without Being Guilty Of A Grave Dereliction.

No Agreement Between The British And Muslims Can Affect Me. An Agreement Between Hindus And Muslims Alone Will Affect Me.

We Do Not Know The Laws Of God, Nor Their Working.

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

Urbanization In India Is A Slow But Sure Death For Her Villages And Villagers.

My Religion Is A Matter Solely Between My Maker And Myself.

Bullies Are Always To Be Found Where There Are Cowards.

The Woman Who Knows And Fulfils Her Duty Realizes Her Dignified Status.

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

Untouchability Is A Hydra-headed Monster.

Never Make A Promise In Haste.

The World Is Big Enough To Satisfy Everyones Needs, But Will Always Be Too Small To Satisfy Everyones Greed

All Society Is Held Together By Nonviolence Even As The Earth Is Held In Her Position By Gravitation.

He Who Runs To The Doctor, Vaidya, Or Hakim For Every Little Ailment, And Swallows All Kinds Of Vegetable And Mineral Drugs, Not Only Curtails His Life, But By Becoming The Slave Of His Body Instead Of Remaining Its Master, Loses Self-control, And Ceases To Be A Man.

The Fear Of The Judge Within Is More Terrible Than That Of The One Without.

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

Ahimsa And Truth Are My Two Lungs. I Cannot Live Without Them.

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

Violence Is The Weapon Of Weak, Non-violence That Of The Strong.

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

My Swaraj Is To Keep Intact The Genius Of Our Civilization.

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.

Those Who Think Religion Has Nothing To Do With Politics Understand Neither Religion Or Politics... The Things That Will Destroy Us Are: Politics Without Principles, Pleasures Without Conscience, Knowledge Without Character, Business Without Morality.

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

We, The English Educated Indians, Often Unconsciously Make The Terrible Mistake Of Thinking That The Microscopic Minority Of The English-speaking Indians Is The Whole Of India.

Force That The Performance Of Duty Naturally Generates Is The Non-violent And Invincible Force That Satyagraha Brings Into Being.

In Hinduism We Have Got An Admirable Foot-rule To Measure Every Shastra And Every Rule Of Conduct, And That Is Truth.

Belief In Non-violence Is Based On The Assumption That Human Nature In The Essence Is One And Therefore Unfailingly Responds To The Advances Of Love.

Unrestricted Individualism Is The Law Of The Beast Of The Jungle.

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

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

The Unlimited Capacity Of The Plant World To Sustain Man At His Highest Is A Region As Yet Unexplored By Modern Science.

Every Affliction Has Its Own Rich Lesson To Teach, If We Would Learn It.

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.

High Thinking Is Inconsistent With A Complicated Material Life Based On High Speed And Imposed On Us By Mammon Worship.

The Principle Of Majority Does Not Work When Differences On Fundamentals Are Involved.

God Is Conscience. He Is Even The Atheism Of The Atheist.

Action Expresses Priorities.

Prosecution Of The Constructive Programme Means Constructing The Structure Of Swaraj.

It Is Degrading Both For Man And Woman That Woman Should Be Called Upon Or Induced To Forsake The Hearth And Shoulder The Rifle For The Protection Of That Hearth.

I May Fight The British Ruler, But I Do Not Hate The English Or Their Language. In Fact, I Appreciate Their Literary Treasures.

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.

Human Nature Will Find Itself Only When It Fully Realizes That To Be Human It Has To Cease To Be Beastly Or Brutal.

Just As There Are Signs By Which You Can Recognize Violence With The Naked Eye, So Is The Spinning Wheel To Me A Decisive Sign Of Nonviolence.

Those Who Believe Religion And Politics Aren't Connected Don't Understand Either.

Religion And Politics

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

I Know That Buddhism Is To Hinduism What Protestantism Is To Roman Catholicism, Only In A Much Stronger Light, To A Much Greater Degree.

A Nonviolent Struggle Necessarily Involves Construction On A Small Scale. It Cannot Therefore Lead To Tamas Or Darkness Or Inertia.

My Respectful Study Of Other Religions Has Not Abated My Reverence For Or My Faith In The Hindu Scriptures.

I Hold That The World Is Sick Of Armed Rebellions.

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.

The Voice Of The People May Be Said To Be God's Voice, The Voice Of The Panchayat.

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.

To Safeguard Democracy The People Must Have A Keen Sense Of Independence, Self-respect, And Their Oneness.

Englishmen Must Learn To Be Brahmins, Not Banias.

English Language

Whenever You Have Truth It Must Be Given With Love, Or The Message And The Messenger Will Be Rejected.

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

My Faith Is Brightest In The Midst Of Impenetrable Darkness.

Service Without Humility Is Selfishness And Egotism.

Those Who Are Truthful, Nonviolent And Brave Do Not Cease To Be So Because Of The Stupidity Of Their Leader.

It Is Better To Be Violent, If There Is Violence In Our Hearts, Than To Put On The Cloak Of Nonviolence To Cover Impotence.

I Was A Co-operator Too In The Sense That I Non-co-operated For Co-operation, And Even Then I Said That If I Could Carry The Country Forward By Co-operation I Should Co-operate.

Faith... Must Be Enforced By Reason... When Faith Becomes Blind It Dies.

I Abhor Vivisection With My Whole Soul. All The Scientific Discoveries Stained With Innocent Blood I Count As Of No Consequence.

A Spirit Is Not Necessarily Purer, Because It Is Disembodied.

Nothing Has Saddened Me So Much In Life As The Hardness Of Heart Of Educated People.

Birth-control Through Self-restraint Is The Most Desirable, Sensible And Totally Harmless Method.

If We Have The Khadi Spirit In Us, Then We Should Surround Ourselves With Simplicity In Every Walk Of Life.

For A Non-violent Person The Whole World Is One Family. He Will Thus Fear None, Nor Will Others Fear Him.

None, While In Flesh, Can Be Entirely Free From Himsa, Because One Never Completely Renounces The Will To Live.

Hinduism With Its Message Of Ahimsa Is To Me The Most Glorious Religion In The World.

It Is My Firm Faith That Man Is By Nature Going Higher.

A Swaraj Government Means A Government Established By The Free Joint Will Of Hindus, Mussalmans And Others.

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

Of All The Evils For Which Man Has Made Himself Responsible, None Is So Degrading, So Shocking, Or So Brutal As His Abuse Of The Better Half Of Humanity; To Me, The Female Sex Is Not The Weaker Sex.

Ill-digested Principles Are, If Anything, Worse Than Ill-digested Food, For The Latter Harms The Body And There Is Cure For It, Whereas The Former Ruins The Soul And There Is No Cure For It.

Man And His Deed Are Two Distinct Things. Whereas A Good Deed Should Call Forth Approbation And A Wicked Deed Dis-approbation, The Doer Of The Deed, Whether Good Or Wicked Always Deserves Respect Or Pity As The Case May Be. Hate The Sin And Not The Sinner Is A Precept Which Though Easy Enough To Understand Is Rarely Practised, And That Is Why The Poison Of Hatred Spreads In The World.

Hitler Is A Scourge Sent By God To Punish Men For Their Iniquities.

We Burn The Evil Men Do With Their Mortal Remains. We Treasure The Memory Of The Good They Do, And Distance Magnifies It.

No Empire Intoxicated With The Red Wine Of Power And The Plunder Of Weaker Races Has Yet Lived Long In This World.

Strength Does Not Come From Physical Capacity. It Comes From An Indomitable Will.

Through The Deliverance Of India, I Seek To Deliver The So-called Weaker Races Of The Earth From The Crushing Heels Of Western Exploitation In Which England Is The Greatest Partner.

Capital Exploits The Labour Of A Few To Multiply Itself.

When Large Numbers Of Wholly Innocent Men Are In Jail, We May Take It That Swaraj Is At Hand.

The Untouchability Of Hinduism Is Probably Worse Than That Of The Modern Imperialists.

I Regard The Constituent Assembly As The Substitute Ofsatyagraha. It Is Constructive Satyagraha.

Economics That Hurt The Moral Well-being Of An Individual Or A Nation Are Immoral And, Therefore, Sinful.

Truth Never Damages A Cause That Is Just.

Labour Has Its Unique Place In A Cultured Human Family.

Non-co-operation Is A Nation's Determination To Improve.

The Very First Step In Nonviolence Is That We Cultivate In Our Daily Life, As Between Ourselves, Truthfulness, Humility, Tolerance, Loving Kindness.

So Far As I Can See, The Atomic Bomb Has Deadened The Finest Feeling That Has Sustained For Ages. There Used To Be So-called Laws Of War, Which Made It Tolerable. Now We Know The Truth. War Knows No Law Except That Of Might. The Atomic Bomb Brought An Empty Victory But It Resulted For The Time Being In Destroying The Soul Of Japan. What Has Happened To The Soul Of The Destroying Nation Is Yet Too Early To See.

God Forbid That India Should Ever Take To Industrialism After The Manner Of The West... Keeping The World In Chains. If [our Nation] Took To Similar Economic Exploitation, It Would Strip The World Bare Like Locusts.

To Me The Mahabharata Is A Profoundly Religious Book, Largely Allegorical, In A Way Meant To Be A Historical Record.

The Incident Deepened My Feeling For The Indian Settlers. I Discussed With Them The Advisability Of Making A Test Case, If It Were Found Necessary To Do So, After Having Seen The British Agent In The Matter Of These Regulations.

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

For The Courage Of Self-sacrifice, Woman Is Any Time Superior To Man, As I Believe Man Is To Woman For The Courage Of The Brute.

True Education Must Correspond To The Surrounding Circumstances Or It Is Not A Healthy Growth.

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

I Believe In The Capacity Of India To Offer Nonviolent Battle To The English Rulers.

I Do Regard Spinning And Weaving As A Necessary Part Of Any National System Of Education.

Hatred Is Not Essential For Nationalism. Race Hatred Will Kill The Real National Spirit.

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

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.

That I Want To Destroy British Imperialism Is Another Matter, But I Want To Do So By Converting Those Who Are Associated With It.

There Is Already Enough Superstition In Our Country. No Effort Should Be Spared To Resist Further Addition In The Shape Of Gandhi Worship.

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

The One Condition For Fighting For Peace And Liberty Is To Acquire Self-restraint.

Silence Becomes Cowardice When Occasion Demands Speaking Out The Whole Truth And Acting Accordingly.

The Use Of Soul-force For Turning Stones Into Bread Would Have Been Considered, As It Is Still Considered, As Black Magic.

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

God Is Not Outside This Earthly Case Of Ours.

I Refuse To Believe That The Tendency Of Human Nature Is Always Downward.

The World Cannot Be Successfully Fooled For All Time.

In His Boundless Love God Permits The Atheist To Live.

Compulsory Obedience To A Master Is A State Of Slavery, Willing Obedience To One's Father Is The Glory Of Son Ship.

The Idol In The Temple Is Not God. But Since God Resides In Every Atom, He Resides In That Idol Too.

Peace Will Not Come Out Of A Clash Of Arms But Out Of Justice Lived And Done By Unarmed Nations In The Face Of Odds.

Indeed, These Errors And My Prompt Confessions Have Made Me Surer, If Possible, Of My Insight Into The Implications Of Truth And Ahimsa.

Jail-going Is Only The Beginning, Not The End Of Satyagraha. The Acme Of Satyagraha For Us Would Be To Lay Down Our Lives For The Defence Of India's Just Cause.

A Nonviolent System Of Government Is Clearly An Impossibility So Long As The Wide Gulf Between The Rich And The Hungry Millions Persists.

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