Indian author quotes Quotes

“An economically peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka is the dream of youth of the nation. My message for the youth is to collectively work for an inclusively developed Sri Lanka.”

“I believe all war to be wholly wrong.”

“We must set limits to our wishes, curb our desires, moderate our anger, always remembering that an individual can attain only an infinitesimal share in anything that is worth having; and that on the other hand, everyone must incur many of the ills of life”

“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.”

“Mankind will endure when the world appreciates the logic of diversity.”

“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.”

“He only has freedom who ideally loves freedom himself and is glad to extend it to others. He who cares to have slaves must chain himself to them. He who builds walls to create exclusion for others builds walls across his own freedom. He who distrusts freedom in others loses his moral right to it.”

“Deliverance is not for me in renunciation. I feel the embrace of freedom in a thousand bonds of delight.”

“It is our own mental attitude which makes the world what it is for us. Our thought make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light.”

“I have no secret methods. I know no diplomacy save that of truth. I have no weapon but non-violence.”

“I would beseech you not only to be pure beyond suspicion but I would ask you to combine with stainless purity, great wisdom and great ability.”

“Everyone's life is a page in the human history irrespective of the position he or she holds or the work he or she performs.”

“Every wave of passion restrained is a balance in your favor. It is therefore good policy not to return anger for anger, as with all true morality.”

“Dependence is misery. Independence is happiness.”

“when you came you cried and everybody smiled with joy; when you go smile and let the world cry for you.”

“Think day and night, I am of the essence of that Supreme Existence, Knowledge, Bliss-what fear and anxiety have I? This body, mind, and intellect are all transient, and That which is beyond these is myself.”

“A woman's intuition has often proved truer than a man's arrogant assumption of knowledge.”

“I have known only one way of carrying on missionary work, viz., by personal example and discussion with searchers for knowledge.”

“Pure motives can never justify impure or violent action.”

“What is it but my ahimsa that draws thousands of women to me in fearless confidence?”

“Change can only be in the limited.”

“Cow-slaughter and man-slaughter are in my opinion two sides of the same coin.”

“Those who have their hands dyed deep in blood cannot build a nonviolent order for the world.”

“Not even the deepest sleep will give you such a rest as meditation can. The mind goes on jumping even in deepest sleep. Just those few moments in meditation your brain has almost stopped. ... You forget the body. ... You feel such pleasure in it. You become so light. This perfect rest we will get in meditation.”

“What we call powers, secrets of nature, and force, are all within. In the external world are only a series of changes.”

“Hold on to your own ideal. . . . Above all, never attempt to guide or rule others, or, as the Yankees say, "boss" others. Be the servant of all.”

“It means, people who are in high and responsible positions, if they go against righteousness, righteousness itself will get transformed into a destroyer.”

“The movement of life has its rest in its own music.”

“Every generation, no matter how paltry its character, thinks itself much wiser than the one immediately preceding it, let alone those that are more remote.”

“Something cannot be made out of nothing. Nor can something be made to go back to nothing.”

“By doing well the duty which is nearest to us, the duty which is in our hands now, we make ourselves stronger; and improving our strength in this manner step by step, we may reach a state in which it shall be our privilege to do the most coveted and honored duties in life and in society.”

“I said, I'll put on weight. And I started having massages, taking cod-liver oil, and eating twice as much. But I didn't even gain an ounce. I'd made up my mind that on the day the engagement was announced I'd be fatter, and I didn't gain an ounce. Then I went to Mussoorie, which is a health resort, and I ignored the doctors' instructions; I invented my own regime and gained weight. Just the opposite of what I'd like now. Now I have the problem of keeping slim. Still I manage. I don't know if you realize I'm a determined woman.”

“The meek may one day inherit the earth, but not the headlines.”

“[Perfection] is only possible if the mind of man is changed, if he, of his own sweet will, changes his mind; and the great difficulty is, neither can he force his own mind.”

“Merely to exist is not enough.”

“A satyagrahi is nothing if not instinctively law-abiding.”

“That which looks for mercy from an opponent is not non-violence.”

“As the biggest library if it is in disorder is not as useful as a small but well-arranged one, so you may accumulate a vast amount of knowledge but it will be of far less value to you than a much smaller amount if you have not thought it over for yourself; because only through ordering what you know by comparing every truth with every other truth can you take complete possession of your knowledge and get it into your power. You can think about only what you know, so you ought to learn something; on the other hand, you can know only what you have thought about.”

“The poet presents the imagination with images from life and human characters and situations, sets them all in motion and leaves itto the beholder to let these images take his thoughts as far as his mental powers will permit. This is why he is able to engage men of the most differing capabilities, indeed fools and sages together. The philosopher, on the other hand, presents not life itself but the finished thoughts which he has abstracted from it and then demands that the reader should think precisely as, and precisely as far as, he himself thinks. That is why his public is so small.”

“Wait with patience and love and strength. If helpers are not ready now, they will come in time. Why should we be in a hurry? The real working force of all great work is in its almost unperceived beginnings.”

“Lovers of Swaraj cannot rest till a solution is found which would allay Mussalman apprehensions and yet not endanger Swaraj.”

“The hard discipline, with the exception of one great good point, is fraught with evil. The good point is that men can do one or two things well with very little effort, having practiced them every day through generations.”

“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.”

“Not hammer-strokes, but dance of the water, sings the pebbles into perfection.”

“Blame neither man, nor God, nor anyone in the world. When you find yourselves suffering, blame yourselves, and try to do better.”

“Stand up, be bold, and take the blame on your own shoulders. Do not go about throwing mud at others; for all the faults you suffer from, you are the sole and only cause.”

“Power said to the world, "You are mine." The world kept it prisoner on her throne. Love said to the world, "I am thine." The world gave it the freedom of her house.”

“...oneness is the secret to everything.”

“Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action-Into that heaven of freedom, my father, let my country awake.”

“Your character must be above suspicion and you must be truthful and self-controlled.”