Many an individual has turned from the mean, personal, acquisitive point of view to one that sees society as a whole and works for its benefit. If there has been such a change in one person, there can be the same change in many.
A nation that is unfit to fight cannot, from experience, prove the virtue of not fighting.
The past is a rich resource on which we can draw in order to make decisions for the future, but it does not dictate our choices. We should look back at the past and select what is good, and leave behind what is bad.
True art takes note not merely of form but also of what lies behind.
The British are weak in numbers, we are weak in spite of our numbers.
This earthly existence of ours is more brittle that the glass bangles that ladies wear.
The English peace is the peace of the grave.
A satyagrahi is dead to his body even before the enemy attempts to kill him.
Our society needs to re-establish a culture of caring.
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.
I cannot say for certain if there is such a thing as love at first sight, but I do know that the moment I first glimpsed Winnie Nomzamo, I knew that I wanted to have her as my wife.
To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is man's injustice to woman. If by strength is meant brute strength, then, indeed, is woman less brute than man. If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man's superior.
The unlimited capacity of the plant world to sustain man at his highest is a region as yet unexplored by modern science.
Voluntary service of others demands the best of which one is capable, and must take precedence over service of self.
If India won her freedom through truth and non-violence, India would not only point the way to all the exploited Asiatic nations, she would become a torch-bearer for the Negro races.
Morality is contraband in war.
Let us remember that we are all Indians eating Indian grain and salt, and living on the dumb Indian masses.
I watched, along with all of you, as the tens of thousands of our people stood patiently in long queues for many hours. Some sleeping on the open ground overnight waiting to cast this momentous vote.
An opponent is entitled to the same regard for his principles as we would expect others to have for ours. Non-violence demands that we should see every opportunity to win over opponents.
I have not know a worthy son to whom his mother appeared ugly.
The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.
By ahimsa we will be able to save the cow and also win the friendship of the English.
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.
This campaign of non-cooperation has no reference to diplomacy, secret or open. The only diplomacy it admits of is the statement and pursuance of truth at any cost.
The reaction that a ruthless dictator sets up in us either that of awe or pity according respectively as we react to him violently on nonviolently.
We must look within ourselves, become responsible and provide fresh solutions if we ever want to do more than complain,or make excuses.
Solitude is a catalyst for innovation
I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and Non-violence are as old as the hills. All I have done is to try experiments in both on as vast a scale as I could.
i love playing and chatting with children...feeding and putting them to bed with a little story, and being away from the family has troubled me throughout my...life. i like relaxing at the house, reading quietly, taking in the sweet smell that comes from the pots, sitting around a table with the family and taking out my wife and children. when you can no longer enjoy these simple pleasures something valuable is taken away from your life and you feel it in your daily work.
The test of friendship is assistance in adversity, and that, too, unconditional assistance.
Schools and colleges are really a factory for turning out clerks for the Government.
There is no road to freedom, freedom is the road.
Journalism should never be prostituted for selfish ends or for the sake of merely earning a livelihood or, worse still, for amassing money.
Nonviolence is the rock on which the whole structure of non-co-operation is built.
Truth without humility would be an arrogant caricature.
I have worshipped woman as the living embodiment of the spirit of service and sacrifice.
To know music is to transfer it to life.
I must not serve a distant neighbour at the expense of the nearest.
Nonviolence of the strong is infinitely braver than their violence.
A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.
I would like to be remembered not as anyone unique or special, but as part of a great team in this country that has struggled for many years, for decades and even centuries. The greatest glory of living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time you fall.
Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first skill of self-giving love.
True happiness brings more richness than all the money in the world.
The march to freedom is irreversible.
Truth is what the voice within tells you.
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.
Man falls from the pursuit of the ideal of plan living and high thinking the moment he wants to multiply his daily wants. Man's happiness really lies in contentment.
My nonviolence does not admit of running away from danger and leaving the dear ones unprotected.
If the United States of America or Britain is having elections, they don't ask for observers from Africa or from Asia. But when we have elections, they want observers.
An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so. Now the law of nonviolence says that violence should be resisted not by counter-violence but by nonviolence. This I do by breaking the law and by peacefully submitting to arrest and imprisonment.
The khadi spirit means fellow-feeling with every human being on earth.
I would like it to be said: here lies a man who has done his duty on earth
Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?
An educated, enlightened & informed population is one of the surest ways of promoting the health of a democracy
Men flocked to see it and ascended it as it was a novelty and of unique dimensions. It was the toy of the exhibition. So long as we are children we are attracted by toys, and the tower was a good demonstration of the fact that we are all children attracted by trinkets. That may be claimed to be the purpose served by the Eiffel Tower.
The consumption of vegetables involves himsa, but I cannot give them up.
The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within.
Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life . . .
Strength of numbers is the delight of the timid. The Valiant in spirit glory in fighting alone.
Ahimsa is one of the world's great principles, which no power on earth can wipe out.
