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What, However, Left A Deep Impression On Me Was The Reading Of The Ramayana Before My Father. During Part Of His Illness My Father Was In Porbandar. There Every Evening He Used To Listen To The Ramayana.

-Mahatma Gandhi

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What, However, Left A

Mahatma Gandhi

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What, However, Left A Deep Impression On Me Was The Reading Of The Ramayana Before My Father. During Part Of His Illness My Father Was In Porbandar. There Every Evening He Used To Listen To The Ramayana.

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

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

My Hinduism Must Be A Very Poor Thing If It Cannot Flourish Even Under The Most Adverse Influence.

Yes I Am, I Am Also A Muslim, A Christian, A Buddhist, And A Jew.

God Alone Is The Judge Of True Greatness Because He Knows Men's Hearts.

Strictly Speaking, No Activity And No Industry Is Possible Without A Certain Amount Of Violence, No Matter How Little. Even The Very Process Of Living Is Impossible Without A Certain Amount Of Violence. What We Have To Do Is To Minimize It To The Greatest Extent Possible.

Newspapers Today Have Almost Replaced The Bible, The Koran, The Gita And Other Religious Scriptures.

It Is Beyond My Power To Induce In You A Belief In God. There Are Certain Things Which Are Self Proved And Certain Which Are Not Proved At All.

A Vow Is Fixed And Unalterable Determination To Do A Thing, When Such A Determination Is Related To Something Noble Which Can Only Uplift The Man Who Makes The Resolve.

Man Does Not Live By Bread Alone. Many Prefer Self-respect To Food.

Man Can Only Describe God In His Own Poor Language.

If India Becomes The Slave Of The Machine, Then, I Say, Heaven Save The World.

Knowledge And Devotion, To Be True, Have To Stand The Test Of Renunciation Of The Fruits Of Action.

My Attempt And Prayer Are And Will Be For An Honorable Peace Between Belligerent Nations In The Least Possible Time.

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.

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

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

Desirelessness Or Renunciation Does Not Come For The Mere Talking About It.

I Consider Writing As A Fine Art. We Kill It By Imposing The Alphabet On Little Children And Making It The Beginning Of Learning.

To A True Artist Only That Face Is Beautiful Which, Quite Apart From Its Exterior, Shines With The Truth Within The Soul.

I Know Nothing Of The Science Of Astrology And I Consider It To Be A Science, If It Is A Science, Of Doubtful Value, To Be Severely Left Alone By Those Who Have Any Faith In Providence.

It Is Simple Impertinence For Any Man, Or Any Body Of Men, To Begin, Or To Contemplate, Reform Of The Whole World.

However Virile The English Language May Be, It Can Never Become The Language Of The Masses Of India.

Far More Indispensable Then Food For The Physical Body Is Spiritual Nourishment For The Soul. One Can Do Without Food For A Considerable Time, But A Man Of The Spirit Cannot Exist For A Single Second Without Spiritual Nourishment.

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.

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

The Spinning Wheel And The Spinning Wheel Alone Will Solve, If Anything Will Solve, The Problem Of The Deepening Poverty Of India.

Education In The Understanding Of Citizenship Is A Short-term Affair If We Are Honest And Earnest.

God Chooses As His Instrument The Humblest And Weakest Of His Creatures To Fulfill Himself.

The Sanyasa Of The Gita Will Not Tolerate Complete Cessation Of Activity.

My Conception Of Dominion Status Implies Present Ability To Severe The British Connection If I Wish To.

If Untouchability Lives, Hinduism Perishes And Even India Perishes, But If Untouchability Is Eradicated From The Hindu Heart, Root And Branch, Then Hinduism Has A Definite Message For The World.

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

True Nonviolence Is Mightier Than The Mightiest Violence.

The Music Of The Spinning Wheel Will Be As Balm To Your Soul.

A Satyagrahi Loves His So-called Enemy Even As He Loves His Friend. He Has No Enemy.

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.

Final Satyagraha Is Inconceivable Without An Honorable Peace Between The Several Communities Composing The Indian Nation.

Truth Is By Nature Self-evident. As Soon As You Remove The Cobwebs Of Ignorance That Surround It, It Shines Clear.

Healthy, Well-informed, Balanced Criticism Is The Ozone Of Public Life.

Mankind Is One, Seeing That All Are Equally Subject To The Moral Law. All Men Are Equal In God's Eyes.

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

Truth Alone Will Endure, All The Rest Will Be Swept Away Before The Tide Of Time. I Must Continue To Bear Testimony To Truth Even If I Am Forsaken By All. Mine May Today Be A Voice In The Wilderness, But It Will Be Heard When All Other Voices Are Silenced, If It Is The Voice Of Truth.

Moral Authority Is Never Retained By Any Attempt To Hold On To It. It Comes Without Seeking And Is Retained Without Effort.

Exercise Of Faith Will Be The Safest Where There Is A Clear Determination Summarily To Reject All That Is Contrary To Truth And Love.

We May Not Go About Parroting Truth And Nonviolence And Steering Clear Of Them In Our Daily Life.

I Believe In Conversion Of Mankind, Not Its Destruction.

Since The Propagation Of Nonviolence Is The Mission Of My Life, I Must Pursue It In All Weathers.

Reasoned And Willing Obedience To The Laws Of The State Is The First Lesson In Non-co-operation.

If You Have No Character To Lose, People Will Have No Faith In You.

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

In The Gita Continuous Concentration On God Is The King Of Sacrifices.

Woman Is More Fitted Than Man To Make Explorations And Take Bolder Action In Ahimsa.

... Man Was Not Born A Carnivorous Animal, But Born To Live On The Fruits And Herbs That The Earth Grows. I Know We Must All Err. I Would Give Up Milk If I Could, But I Cannot. I Have Made That Experiment Times Without Number. I Could Not, After A Serious Illness, Regain My Strength, Unless I Went Back To Milk. That Has Been The Tragedy Of My Life. But The Basis Of My Vegetarianism Is Not Physical, But Moral. If Anybody Said That I Should Die If I Did Not Take Beef Tea Or Mutton, Even On Medical Advice, I Would Prefer Death. That Is The Basis Of My Vegetarianism.

I Do Not Want To Live At The Cost Of The Life Even Of A Snake. I Should Let Him Bite Me To Death Rather Than Kill Him.

Khaddar Brings A Ray Of Hope To The Widow's Broken-up Home.

Cowardice Is Incompatible With Divine Wisdom.

Events That Have Happened During The Past Month Have Confirmed Me In The Opinion That The Imperial Government Have Acted In The Khilafat Matter In An Unscrupulous, Immoral And Unjust Manner And Have Been Moving From Wrong To Wrong In Order To Defend Their Immorality. I Can Retain Neither Respect Nor Affection For Such A Government. The Attitude Of The Imperial And Your Excellency's Governments On The Punjab Question Has Given Me Additional Cause For Grave Dissatisfaction.

There Can Be No Swaraj Where There Is No Harmony, No Music.

It Is As Much Our Obligation Not To Cooperate With Evil As It Is To Cooperate With Good

I Would Like To Assure Those Who Would Serve Daridranarayana That There Is Music, Art, Economy And Joy In The Spinning Wheel.

The Satyagrahi Should Not Have Any Hatred In His Heart Against The Opponent.

Cowards Can Never Be Moral.

The Only Difference Between Man And Man All The World Over Is One Of Degree, And Not Of Kind, Even As There Is Between Trees Of The Same Species. Where In Is The Cause For Anger, Envy Or Discrimination?

Love Is The Basis Of Our Friendship As It Is Of Religion.

It Was Our Love Of Foreign Cloth That Ousted The Wheel From Its Position Of Dignity.

What Kind Of Victory Is It When Someone Is Left Defeated?

Non-co-operation And Civil Disobedience Are But Different Branches Of The Same Tree Called Satyagraha.

God Alone Is Truth, Everything Else Is Transitory And Illusory.

No Reform Is Possible Unless Some Of The Educated And The Rich Voluntarily Accept The Status Of The Poor, Travel Third, Refuse To Enjoy The Amenities Denied To The Poor And, Instead Of Taking Avoidable Hardships, Discourtesies And Injustice As A Matter Of Course, Fight For Their Removal.

We Cry For Cow Protection In The Name Of Religion, But We Refuse Protection To The Human Cow In The Shape Of The Girl-widow.

My Commitment Is To Truth Not Consistency.

Today The Cities Dominate And Drain The Villages So That They Are Crumbling To Ruin.

If I Arrogate To Myself The Exclusive Title Of Being In The Right, I Usurp The Function Of The Deity.

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.

If One Does Not Practice Nonviolence In One's Own Personal Relations With Others And Hopes To Use It In Bigger Affairs, One Is Vastly Mistaken.

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 Then The One Derived From Fear Of Punishment.

My Effort Should Never Be To Undermine Another's Faith But To Make Him A Better Follower Of His Own Faith.

The Nonviolence I Teach Is Active Nonviolence Of The Strongest. But The Weakest Can Partake In It Without Becoming Weaker.

I Worship God As Truth Only. I Have Not Yet Found Him, But I Am Seeking After Him. I Am Prepared To Sacrifice The Things Dearest To Me In Pursuit Of This Quest. Even If The Sacrifice Demanded My Very Life, I Hope I May Be Prepared To Give It.

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

A Satyagrahi Must Ceaselessly Strive To Realize And Live Truth. And He Must Never Contemplate Hurting Anyone By Thought, Word Or Deed.

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

A Popular Government Wields A Moral Force, Which Is Infinitely Superior To The Physical Force That The Foreign Government Could Summon To Its Assistance.

Learn As If You Will Live Forever.

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.

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

My Heart Rebels Against Any Foreigner Imposing On My Country The Peace Which Is Here Called Pax-britannica.

Sacrifice That Causes Pain Is No Sacrifice At All. True Sacrifice Is Joy-giving And Uplifting.

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

It Is A First Class Human Tragedy That People Of The Earth Who Claim To Believe In The Message Of Jesus, Whom They Describe As The Prince Of Peace, Show Little Of That Belief In Actual Practice.

Nonviolence Does Not Admit Of Running Away From Danger... . Between Violence And Cowardly Flight I Can Only Prefer Violence To Cowardice.

God, As Truth, Has Been For Me A Treasure Beyond Price. May He Be So To Every One Of Us.

The Central Fact Of Hinduism Is Cow Protection.

We Hindus And Mohamedans Would Have To Blame Our Folly Rather Than The English, If We Allowed Them To Put Us Asunder.

As The Means, So The End.

If Untouchability Is An Integral Part Of Hinduism, The Latter Is A Spent Bullet.

I Understand Democracy As Something That Gives The Weak The Same Chance As The Strong.

Democracies Have

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

War With All Its Glorification Of Brute Force Is Essentially A Degrading Thing.

There Would Be Nothing To Frighten You If You Refused To Be Afraid.

A Religion Cannot Be Sustained By The Number Of Its Lip-followers Denying In Their Lives Its Tenets.

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

Love Based Upon Indulgence Of Animal Passion, Is At Best A Selfish Affair, And Likely To Snap Under The Slightest Strain.

Nothing Depends Upon The Death Of An Individual, Be He Ever So Great, But Much Depends Upon The Freedom Of India.

A Civilization Based On Nonviolence Must Be Different From That Organized For Violence.

Nonviolence, Applied To Very Large Masses Of Mankind, Is A New Experiment In The History Of The World.

Civil Disobedience Becomes A Sacred Duty When The State Has Become Lawless Or Corrupt. And A Citizen Who Barters With Such A State Shares In Its Corruption And Lawlessness.

All The Other Industries Will Receive Warmth And Sustenance From Khadi Industry.

Non-co-operators Will Make A Serious Mistake If They Seek To Convert People To Their Creed By Violence.

The True Battlefield Is Within.

I Can Combine The Greatest Love With The Greatest Opposition To Wrong.

Labour Has Its Unique Place In A Cultured Human Family.

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.

For Me The Only Certain Means Of Knowing God Is Nonviolence, Ahimsa, Love.

Khadi Has Been Conceived As The Foundation And The Image Of Ahimsa. A Real Khadi-wearer Will Not Utter An Untruth. A Real Khadi-wearer Will Harbour No Violence, No Deceit, No Impurity.

I Offer You Peace. I Offer You Love. I Offer You Friendship. I See Your Beauty. I Hear Your Need. I Feel Your Feelings.

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.

I Swear By Swadeshi As It Affords Occasion For Ample Exercise Of All Our Faculties And It Tests Every One Of The Millions Of Men And Women, Young And Old.

It Is Wrong And Immoral To Seek To Escape The Consequences Of One's Acts.

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

I Have Felt That The Gita Teaches Us That What Cannot Be Followed In Day-to-day Practice Cannot Be Called Religion.

The Fragrance Of Religious And Spiritual Life Is Much Finer And Subtler Than That Of The Rose.

I See A Clear Breach Of Ahimsa Even In Driving Away Monkeys; The Breach Would Be Proportionately Greater If They Have To Be Killed.

I Believe That Religious Education Must Be The Sole Concern Of Religious Associations.

Islam Appeals To People Because It Appeals Also To Reason.

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.

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.

There Is No Beauty In The Finest Cloth If It Makes Hunger And Unhappiness.

Poverty Is The Greatest Violence.

I Have Worshipped Woman As The Living Embodiment Of The Spirit Of Service And Sacrifice.

There Are Innumerable Definitions Of God Because His Manifestations Are Innumerable.

Service Which Is Rendered Without Joy Helps Neither The Servant Nor The Served.

I Realized The True Function Of A Lawyer Was To Unite Parties Riven Asunder. The Lesson Was So Indelibly Burnt Into Me That A Large Part Of My Time During The Twenty Years Of My Practice As A Lawyer Was Occupied In Bringing About Private Compromises Of Hundreds Of Cases. I Lost Nothing Thereby -- Not Even Money, Certainly Not My Soul.

Truth Is One, Paths Are Many.

Ram Mohan Roy Would Have Been A Greater Reformer And Lokmanya Tilak A Greater Scholar If They Had Not To Start With The Handicap Of Having To Think In English And Transmit Their Thoughts Chiefly In English.

"all Men Are Born Equal And Free" Is Not Nature's Law In The Literal Sense.

Hinduism Is A Living Organism. One And Indivisible At The Root, It Has Grown Into A Vast Tree With Innumerable Branches. Knowledge Is Limitless And So Also The Application Of Truth. Everyday We Add To Our Knowledge Of The Power Of Atman (soul) And We Shall Keep On Doing So.

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.

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

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

Homeopathy Cures A Larger Percentage Of Cases Than Any Other Form Of Treatment And Is Beyond Doubt Safer And More Economical.

'physician, Heal Thyself' Is More True In Matters Religious Than Mundane.

Whilst Power, Superimposed, Always Needs The Help Of The Police And The Military, Power Generated From Within Should Have Little Or No Use Of Them.

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

Personally I Crave Not For 'independence', Which I Do Not Understand, But I Long For Freedom From The English Yoke.

Spiritual Force Is Like Any Other Force At The Service Of Man.

Man Is Neither Mere Intellect Not The Gross Animal Body, Nor The Heart Or Soul Alone.

Swaraj As Conceived By Me Does Not Mean The End Of Kingship.

By Using Violence To Subjugate One Another We Are Using Violence Against Our Own Souls.

Is It Not Possible For Us All To Realize That The Masses Will Never Mount To Freedom Through Murder?

If Co-operation Is A Duty, I Hold That Non-co-operation Also Under Certain Conditions Is Equally A Duty.

It Is Weakness Which Breeds Fear, And Fear Breeds Distrust.

I Do Not Like The Word Tolerance, But Could Not Think Of A Better One. Tolerance Implies A Gratuitous Assumption Of The Inferiority Of Other Faiths To One

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

Many Could Forgo Heavy Meals, A Full Wardrobe, A Fine House, Etcetera. It Is The Ego They Cannot Forgo.

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.

I Shall Content Myself With Merely Declaring My Firm Conviction That, For The Seeker Who Would Live In Fear Of God And Who Would See Him Face To Face, Restraint In Diet Both As To Quantity And Quality Is As Essential As Restraint In Thought And Speech.

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.

Carefully Watch Your Thoughts, For They Become Your Words. Manage And Watch Your Words, For They Will Become Your Actions. Consider And Judge Your Actions, For They Have Become Your Habits. Acknowledge And Watch Your Habits, For They Shall Become Your Values. Understand And Embrace Your Values, For They Become Your Destiny.

Indeed, A Civil Resister Offers Resistance Only When Peace Becomes Impossible.

A Labourer Cannot Sit At The Table And Write, But A Man Who Has Worked At The Table All His Life Can Certainly Take To Physical Labour.

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

Hinduism Is Not A Codified Religion.

Non-violence Should Never Be Used As A Shield For Cowardice. It Is A Weapon For The Brave.

I Trust Men Only Because I Trust God.

Without Action, You Aren't Going Anywhere.

There Are No Good-byes, Where Ever You'll Be, You'll Be In My Heart.

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

War Knows No Law Except That Of Might.

Peace Is Its Own Reward.

Infinite Love Is A Weapon Of Matchless Potency. It Is The 'summum Bonum' Of Life. It Is An Attribute Of The Brave, In Fact It Is Their All. It Does Not Come Within The Each Of The Coward. It Is No Wooden Of Lifeless Dogma But A Living And Life-giving.

True Education Is That Which Proves Useful In Life And Makes You Industrious.

My Anekantavada Is The Result Of The Twin Doctrines Of Satya And Ahimsa.

Under Democracy, Individual Liberty Of Opinion And Action Is Jealously Guarded.

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

Be Truthful, Gentle, And Fearless.

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

I Am Not Built For Academic Writings. Action Is My Domain.

Seven Deadly Sins Wealth Without Work Pleasure Without Conscience Science Without Humanity Knowledge Without Character Politics Without Principle Commerce Without Morality Worship Without Sacrifice.

My Hinduism Teaches Me To Respect All Religions. In This Lies The Secret Of Ramarajya.

If God Holds Me To Be A Pure Instrument For The Spread Of Nonviolence In Place Of The Awful Violence Now Ruling The Earth, He Will Give Me The Strength And Show Me The Way.

A Poet Is One Who Can Call Forth The Good Latent In The Human Beast.

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

I Honor The Place Within You Where, When You Are In That Place In You And I Am In That Place In Me, There Is Only One Of Us.

Indeed One's Faith In One's Plans And Methods Is Truly Tested When The Horizon Before One Is The Blackest.

The Truth Is That Cowardice Itself Is Violence Of A Subtle Type And Therefore Dangerous And Far More Difficult To Eradicate Than The Habit Of Physical Violence.

Contraceptives Are An Insult To Womanhood.

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

Nationalism, Like Virtue, Has Its Own Reward.

I Would Ask You To Come In Khadi, For Khadi Links You With The Fallen And The Down-trodden.

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

A Clear Victory Of Satyagraha Is Impossible So Long As There Is Ill Will.

A Soldier Fights With An Irresistible Strength When He Has Blown Up His Bridges And Burnt His Boats. Even So, It Is With A Soldier Of Ahimsa.

For Satyagraha And Its Offshoots, Non-co-operation And Civil Resistance, Are Nothing But New Names For The Law Of Suffering.

The Only Force At The Disposal Of Democracy Is That Of Public Opinion.

There Is Nothing That Wastes The Body Like Worry.

Nonviolence Of The Strong Is Infinitely Braver Than Their Violence.

Nonviolence, In Its Dynamic Condition Means Conscious Suffering.

What Distinguishes Man From The Brute Is His Conscious Striving To Realise The Spirit Within.

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