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We Have To Make Truth And Non-violence Not Matters For Mere Individual Practice But For Practice By Groups And Communities And Nations. That At Any Rate Is My Dream. I Shall Live And Die In Trying To Realize It. My Faith Helps Me To Discover New Truths Every Day.

-Mahatma Gandhi

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We Have To Make

Mahatma Gandhi

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We Have To Make Truth And Non-violence Not Matters For Mere Individual Practice But For Practice By Groups And Communities And Nations. That At Any Rate Is My Dream. I Shall Live And Die In Trying To Realize It. My Faith Helps Me To Discover New Truths Every Day.

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Independence Means Voluntary Restraints And Discipline, Voluntary Acceptance Of The Rule Of Law.

You May Never Know What Results Come Of Your Actions, But If You Do Nothing, There Will Be No Results.

What Do I Think Of Western Civilization? I Think It Would Be A Very Good Idea.

Every Calamity Should Lead To A Thorough Cleansing Of Individual As Well As Social Life.

It's More Important To Put The Own Heart In The Prayer Than To Put Other's Words With Nothing Of The Own Heart.

A Fearless Woman Who Knows That Her Purity Is Her Best Shield Can Never Be Dishonoured.

Selfishness Is Blind.

I Learned From My Illiterate But Wise Mother That All Rights To Be Deserved And Preserved Came From Duty Well Done. Thus The Very Right To Live Accrues To Us Only When We Do The Duty Of Citizenship Of The World. From This One Fundamental Statement, Perhaps It Is Easy Enough To Define The Duties Of Man And Woman And Correlate Every Right To Some Corresponding Duty To Be First Performed. Every Other Right Can Be Shown To Be A Usurpation Hardly Worth Fighting For.

No Indian Who Aspires To Follow The Way Of True Religion Can Afford To Remain Aloof From Politics.

Worship Or Prayer Is Not To Be Performed With The Lips, But With The Heart.

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

It Was Through The Hindu Religion That I Learnt To Respect Christianity And Islam.

It Is For You And Me To Show That No Vice Is Inherent In Man.

I Call Myself A Sanatani Eternal Hindu, Because I Believe In The Vedas, The Upanishads, The Puranas, And All That Goes By The Name Of Hindu Scripture, And Therefore In Avataras And Rebirth.

It Is The Quality Of Our Work Which Will Please God And Not The Quantity.

Quality Not Quantity

You Can't Shake Hands With A Closed Fist.

We Must Always Seek To Ally Ourselves With That Part Of The Enemy That Knows What Is Right.

Renunciation Is Everyone's Prerogative.

The Chains Of A Slave Are Broken The Moment He Considers Himself A Free Man.

Contraceptive Methods Are Like Putting A Premium On Vice. It Makes Men And Women Reckless... As It Is, Man Has Sufficiently Degraded Woman For His Lust, And [contraception] , No Matter How Well Meaning The Advocates May Be, Will Still Further Degrade Her.

It Is Impossible To Wait And Weigh, In Golden Scales, The Sentiments Of Prejudice And Superstition That Have Gathered Round The Priests Who Are Considered To Be The Custodians Of Hinduism.

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

Truth And Nonviolence Are Both The Means And The End, And Given The Right Type Of Men, The Legislatures Can Be The Means Of Achieving The Concrete Pursuit Of Truth And Nonviolence.

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.

For Me To Dominate The Congress In Spite Of These Fundamental Differences Is Almost A Species Of Violence Which I Must Refrain From.

I Will Say That If There Is Anything Like God Or Truth On Earth, Hindu-muslim Unity Is Also Possible.

All The Great Religions Of The World Inculcate Equality And Brotherhood Of Mankind And The Virtue Of Toleration.

Every Labourer Is Worthy Of His Hire. No Country Can Produce Thousands Of Unpaid Whole-time Workers.

Let Not The 12 Million Negroes Be Ashamed Of The Fact That They Are The Grandchildren Of Slaves. There Is Dishonor In Being Slave-owners.

I Do Believe That Ideas Ripen Quickly When Nourished By The Blood Of Martyrs.

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.

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.

Violence Is A Concession To Human Weakness, Satyagraha Is An Obligation.

If It Weren't For Christians, I'd Be A Christian.

If The English Educated Neglect, As They Have Done And Even Now Continue, As Some Do, To Be Ignorant Of Their Mother Tongue, Linguistic Starvation Will Abide.

If We Want To Impart Education Best Suited To The Needs Of The Villagers, We Should Take The Vidyapith To The Villages.

If I Preach Against The Modern Artificial Life Of Sensual Enjoyment, And Ask Men And Women To Go Back To The Simple Life Epitomized In The Charkha, I Do So Because I Know That Without An Intelligent Return To Simplicity, There Is No Escape From Our D.

Love And Ahimsa Are Matchless In Their Effect.

Nations Are Born Out Of Travail And Suffering

Education Is The Basic Tool For The Development Of Consciousness And The Reconstitution Of Society.

Coal Is Not Dear For The Coal-miner Who Can Use It There And Then, Nor Is Khadi Dear For The Villager Who Manufactures His Own Khadi.

Tolstoy Was The Greatest Apostle Of Nonviolence That The Present Age Has Produced.

In Placing Civil Disobedience Before Constructive Work I Was Wrong And I Did Not Profit By The Himalayan Blunder That I Had Committed.

Relationships Are Based On Four Principles: Respect, Understanding, Acceptance And Appreciation.

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.

Do Not Crave To Know The Views Of Others, Nor Base Your Intent Thereon. To Think Independently For Yourself Is A Sign Of Fearlessness.

Faith Is A Function Of The Heart. It Must Be Enforced By Reason. The Two Are Not Antagonistic As Some Think. The More Intense One's Faith Is, The More It Whets One's Reason. When Faith Becomes Blind It Dies.

We Cannot Be Speakers Who Do Not Listen. But Neither Can We Be Listeners Who Do Not Speak.

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

Positive Thinking

Positive Attitude

My Religion Teaches Me That A Promise Once Made Or A Vow Once Taken For A Worthy Object May Not Be Broken.

Khaddar Is An Attempt To Revise And Reverse The Process And Establish A Better Relationship Between The Cities And Villages.

The Author Of The Mahabharata Has Not Established The Necessity Of Physical Warfare; On The Contrary He Has Proved Its Futility.

Live Like Jesus Did, And The World Will Listen.

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

President Means Chief Servant

We Cannot, In A Moment, Get Rid Of Habits Of A Lifetime.

The Function Of Violence Is To Obtain Reform By External Means, The Function Of Passive Resistance, That Is, Soul-force, Is To Obtain It By Growth From Within, Which, In Its Turn, Is Obtained By Self-suffering, Self-purification.

Passive Resistance

Swaraj For Me Means Freedom For The Meanest Of Countrymen.

Non-co-operation In Itself Is Unnatural, Vicious And Sinful.

A Full And Candid Admission Of One's Mistakes Should Make Proof Against Its Repetition.

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

Before The Throne Of The Almighty, Man Will Be Judged Not By His Acts But By His Intentions. For God Alone Reads Our Hearts.

A Truly Nonviolent Man Would Never Live To Tell The Tale Of Atrocities. He Would Have Laid Down His Life On The Spot In Non-violent Resistance.

All The Religions Of The World Describe God Pre-eminently As The Friend Of The Friendless, Help Of The Helpless, And Protector Of The Weak.

Be Truthful, Gentle, And Fearless.

A True Life Lived Amongst The People Is In Itself An Object-lesson That Must Produce Its Own Effect Upon Immediate Surroundings.

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

It Is Any Day Better To Stand Erect With A Broken And Bandaged Head Then To Crawl On One's Belly, In Order To Be Able To Save One's Head.

I Considered Becoming A Christian... Until I Met One.

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

If We Remain Nonviolent, Hatred Will Die As Everything Does From Disuse.

We Are Less Than Atoms, I Say, Because The Atom Obeys The Law Of Its Being, Whereas We In The Insolence Of Our Ignorance Deny The Law Of Nature. But I Have No Argument To Address To Those Who Have No Faith.

A Person Is Bound To Work In Obedience To And In Conformity To That Person's Own Nature.

The Secret Of A Happy Life Lies In Renunciation. Renunciation Is Life.

Rama Was Not Only On The Lips Of Hanuman. He Was Enthroned In His Heart. He Gave Hanuman Exhaustless Strength.

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.

A Person Who Believes In Nonviolence Believes In A Living God. He Cannot Accept Defeat.

Nothing Will Demoralize The Nation So Much As That We Should Learn To Despise Labour.

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.

Nonviolence And Cowardice Go Ill Together.

An India Free From Exploitation From Within And Without Must Prosper With Astonishing Rapidity.

My Soul Refuses To Be Satisfied So Long As It Is A Helpless Witness Of A Single Wrong Or A Single Misery.

Khadi Mentality Means Decentralization Of The Production And Distribution Of The Necessaries Of Life.

Decentralization

I Know No Diplomacy Save That Of Truth.

Ahimsa Is My God, And Truth Is My God.

Faith Alone Is The Sun Of Life.

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.

Truth Is Like A Vast Tree Which Yields More And More Fruit The More You Nurture It. The Deeper The Search In The Mind Of Truth, The Richer The Discovery Of The Gems Buried There.

Man, Through The Cow, Is Enjoined To Realize His Identity With All That Lives.

You Must Not Lose Faith In Humanity. Humanity Is An Ocean; If A Few Drops Of The Ocean Are Dirty, The Ocean Does Not Become Dirty.

The Greatest Menace To The World Today Is The Growing, Exploiting, Irresponsible Imperialism.

My Personal Religion Peremptorily Forbids Me To Hate Anybody.

My Attitude Towards The British Is One Of Utter Friendliness And Respect.

We Don't Use Guns Because We Don't Have Guns

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

Non-cooperation Is An Attempt To Awaken The Masses, To A Sense Of Their Dignity And Power. This Can Only Be Done By Enabling Them To Realise That They Need Not Fear Brute Force, If They But Know The Soul Within.

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

My Life Is Dedicated To The Service Of Indians Through The Religion Of Nonviolence Which I Believe To Be The Root Of Hinduism.

Any Act Of Injury Done From Self-interest, Whether Amounting To Killing Or Not, Is Doubtless Himsa.

Truth Is The First Thing To Be Sought For, And Beauty And Goodness Will Then Be Added Unto You.

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

Seek Not Greater Wealth, But Simpler Pleasure; Not Higher Fortune, But Deeper Felicity.

Civil Disobedience Is The Inherent Right Of A Citizen.

Democracy And Dependence On The Military And Police Are Incompatible.

Rationalists Are Admirable Beings, Rationalism Is A Hideous Monster When It Claims For Itself Omnipotence. Attribution Of Omnipotence To Reason Is As Bad A Piece Of Idolatry As Is Worship Of Stock And Stone Believing It To Be God.

I Have Mentally Become A Woman In Order To Steal Into Her Heart.

If You Are Left With Only One Piece Of Homespun,wear It With Dignity

Hinduism Does Not Rest On The Authority Of One Book Or One Prophet, Nor Does It Posses A Common Creed Like The Kalma.

If Any Englishman Dedicated His Life To Securing The Freedom Of India, Resisting Tyranny And Serving The Land, I Should Welcome That Englishman As An Indian.

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.

Independence Of My Conception Means Nothing Less Than The Realization Of The "kingdom Of God" Within You And On This Earth.

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

Every Fight Is One Between Different Angles Of Vision Illuminating The Same Truth.

Among The Many Misdeeds Of The British Rule In India, History Will Look Upon The Act Depriving A Whole Nation Of Arms As The Blackest.

British Rule In India

Violence Always Thrived On Counter Violence.

The Common Factor Of All Religions Is Nonviolence.

My Own Opinion Is That Just As Fundamentally Man And Woman Are One, Their Problems Must Be One In Essence.

Swaraj Means, A State Such That We Can Maintain Our Separate Existence Without The Presence Of The English.

Detachment Is Not Indifference. It Is The Prerequisite For Effective Involvement. Often What We Think Is Best For Others Is Distorted By Our Attachments To Our Opinions. We Want Others To Be Happy In The Way We Think They Should Be Happy. It Is Only When We Want Nothing For Ourselves That We Are Able To See Clearly Into Others Needs And Understand How To Serve Them.

Buddhism In One Long Prayer.

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

Violent Nationalism, Otherwise Known As Imperialism, Is A Curse.

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

To Me God Is Truth And Love, God Is Ethics And Morality, God Is Fearlessness.

The Lower Animals Are Our Brethren. I Include Among Them The Lion And The Tiger. We Do Not Know How To Live With These Carnivorous Beasts And Poisonous Reptiles Because Of Our Ignorance.

So Long As We Fear The Outside World, We Must Cease To Think Of Swaraj.

We Have To Be The Change We Want In The World.

A Nation That Is Unfit To Fight Cannot, From Experience, Prove The Virtue Of Not Fighting.

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

The Strength To Kill Is Not Essential For Self-defence; One Ought To Have The Strength To Die.

I Still Believe That Man, Not Having Been Given The Power Of Creation, Does Not Posses The Right Of Destroying The Meanest Creature That Lives. The Perogative Of Destruction Belongs Solely To The Creator Of All That Lives.

True Religion Being The Greatest Thing In Life And In The World, Has Been Exploited The Most.

Cent Percent Swadeshi Gives Sufficient Scope For The Most Insatiable Ambition For Service And A Satisfaction Of Every Kind Of Talent.

Good Travels At A Snail's Pace. Those Who Want To Do Good Are Not Selfish, They Are Not In A Hurry, They Know That To Impregnate People With Good Requires A Long Time.

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.

The Law Of Love, Call It Attraction, Affinity, Cohesion If You Like, Governs The World.

There Is No One Without Faults, Not Even Men Of God. They Are Men Of God Not Because They Are Faultless, But Because They Know Their Faults, They Strive Against Them, They Do Not Hide Them, And Are Ever Ready To Correct Themselves.

There Goes My People. I Must Follow Them, For I Am Their Leader.

I Can No More Preach Nonviolence To A Cowardly Man Than I Can Tempt A Blind Man To Enjoy Healthy Scenes.

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

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

Nature Can Provide For The Needs Of People; [she] Can't Provide For The Greed Of People.

An Error Does Not Become Truth By Reason Of Multiplied Propagation, Nor Does Truth Become Error Because Nobody Sees It.

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

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.

Prayer Is Not An Old Woman's Idle Amusement. Properly Understood And Applied, It Is The Most Potent Instrument Of Action. . . . . . . Prayer Is The First And The Last Lesson In Learning The Noble And Brave Art Of Sacrificing Self In The Various Walks Of Life Culminating In The Defence Of One's Nation's Liberty And Honour.

If Britain Wins Wholly, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy And Perhaps Even Bolshevik Russia Will Disappear.

Breach Of Promise Is A Base Surrender Of Truth.

Keeping Promises

To Have A Happy Ending, Choose A Happy Moment And Call It 'the Ending'. Honesty Is Incompatible With The Amassing Of A Large Fortune.

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

To A Man With An Empty Stomach Food Is God

Non-violent Resistance Implies The Very Opposite Of Weakness. Defiance Combined With Non-retaliatory Acceptance Of Repression From One's Opponents Is Active, Not Passive. It Requires Strength, And There Is Nothing Automatic Or Intuitive About The Resoluteness Required For Using Non-violent Methods In Political Struggle And The Quest For Truth.

Seeming Failure Is Not Of The Law Of Satyagrahabut Of Incompetence Of The Satyagrahi By Whatever Cause Induced.

Who Is There In The World Who Can Insult The God In The Image?

Ahimsa Is An Attribute Of The Brave. Cowardice And Ahimsa Don't Go Together Any More That Water And Fire.

The Scriptures Of Christians, Mussalmans And Hindus Are All Replete With The Teaching Of Ahimsa.

A Satyagrahi Is Dead To His Body Even Before The Enemy Attempts To Kill Him.

The Mentality Which Made One Section Of The Indians Look Upon Another As Enemies Was Suicidal; It Could Only Serve To Perpetuate Their Slavery.

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

Truth And Nonviolence Are Perhaps The Activest Forces You Have In The World.

A Satyagrahi Turns The Searchlight Inward Relentlessly To Weed Out All The Defects That May Be Lying Hidden There Still.

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.

I Find That We Are All Such Sinners That It Is Better To Leave The Judging To God.

Will Great Britain Have An Unwilling India Dragged Into War Or A Willing Ally Co-operating With Her In The Prosecution Of A Defence Of True Democracy?

There Is More To Life Than Increasing Its Speed.

No Swaraj Government With Any Pretension To Being A Popular Government Can Possibly Be Organised And Maintained On A War-footing.

Gentleness, Self-sacrifice And Generosity Are The Exclusive Possession Of No One Race Or Religion.

Morality Is Contraband In War.

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

The External Freedom Won't Be Given To Us But In The Exact Measure As We've Known At A Given Moment, To Developing Our Internal Freedom.

However Much I May Sympathise With And Admire Worthy Motives, I Am An Uncompromising Opponent Of Violent Methods Even To Serve The Noblest Of Causes.

Begin With Duties Of A Man And Rights Will Follow As Spring Follows Winter

Ahimsa Must Express Itself Through Acts Of Selfless Service Of The Masses.

Selfless Service

Nonviolence Is The Law Of Our Species As Violence Is The Law Of The Brute. The Spirit Lies Dormant In The Brute, And He Knows No Law But That Of Physical Might. The Dignity Of Man Requires Obedience To A Higher Laws - To The Strength Of The Spirit.

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

Its Unadulterated Belief In The Oneness Of God And A Practical Application Of The Truth Of The Brotherhood Of Man For Those Who Are Nominally Within Its Fold Are Two Distinctive Contributions Of Islam.

Brotherhood 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 Things As Crawl Upon Earth.

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

The Sole Aim Of Journalism Should Be Service.

Where My Own Mission Is Concerned, My Thought Is Active, And I Try To Wish Everyone Well In Spite Of Doubts And Mistrust.

Change Yourself - You Are In Control.

Change Yourself

If What Passed As Nonviolence Does Not Enable People To Protect The Honour Of Women, Or If It Does Not Enable Women To Protect Their Own Honour, It Is Not Nonviolence.

Whenever You Are Confronted With An Opponent. Conquer Him With Love.

No Police Officer Could Compel A Satyagrahi To Give Evidence Against A Person Who Has Confessed To Him. A Satyagrahi Would Never Be Guilty Of A Betrayal Of Trust.

My Creed Of Nonviolence Does Not Favour The Punishment Of Thieves And Dacoits And Even Murderers.

Nothing In The Shastras, Which Is Capable Of Being Reasoned, Can Stand If It Is In Conflict With Reason.

What The Sermon Describes In A Graphic Manner, The Bhagavadgita Reduces To A Scientific Formula.

Englishmen Must Learn To Be Brahmins, Not Banias.

English Language

It Dawned Upon Me That Fasting Could Be Made As Powerful A Weapon Of Indulgence As Of Restraint

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

Peace Is Not The Absence Of Conflict, But The Ability To Cope With It

Passive Aggressive

Nonviolence And Cowardice Go Ill Together. True Nonviolence Is An Impossibility Without The Possession Of Unadulterated Fearlessness.

A Man Of Character Will Make Himself Worthy Of Any Position He Is Given.

Peace Is The Most Powerful Weapon Of Mankind.

According To The Letter Of The Gita, It Is Possible To Say That Warfare Is Consistent With Renunciation Of Fruit.

Religion Should Be Dearer Than Life Itself.

Through Khadi We Teach The People The Art Of Civil Obedience To An Institution Which They Have Built Up For Themselves.

God Has Blessed Man With Seed That Has The Highest Potency And Woman With A Field Richer Than The Richest Earth To Be Found Anywhere On His Globe.

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

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

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