#Satyagraha Quotes

“Such expression is impossible in a cramped atmosphere. As I have no desire to offer civil disobedience I cannot write freely. As the author of satyagraha I cannot, consistently with my profession, suppress the vital part of myself for the sake of being able to write on permissible subjects. ... It would be like dealing with the trunk without the head.”

“I have even seen the writings suggesting that I am playing a deep game, that I am using the present turmoil to foist my fads on India, and am making religious experiments at India's expense. I can only answer that Satyagraha is made of sterner stuff. There is nothing reserved and nothing secret in it.”

“A satyagrahi turns the searchlight inward relentlessly to weed out all the defects that may be lying hidden there still.”

“A satyagrahi would neither retaliate nor would he submit to the criminal, but seek to cure him by curing himself.”

“Since satyagraha is a method of conversion and conviction, it seeks never to use the slightest coercion.”

“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 satyagrahi lays down his life, but never gives up. That is the meaning of the 'do or die' slogan.”

“For a satyagrahi brigade only those are eligible who believe in ahimsa and satya.”

“Satyagraha as conceived by me is a science in the making.”

“There is no time limit for a satyagrahi nor is there a limit to his capacity for suffering.”

“A satyagrahi, whilst he is ever ready to fight, must be equally eager for peace.”

“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.”

“In the code of the satyagrahi, there is no such thing as surrender to brute force.”

“Satyagraha does not begin and end with civil disobedience.”

“Force that the performance of duty naturally generates is the non-violent and invincible force that satyagraha brings into being.”

“Non-co-operation and civil disobedience are but different branches of the same tree called satyagraha.”

“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.”

“A satyagrahi loves his so-called enemy even as he loves his friend. He has no enemy.”

“A satyagrahi is sometimes bound to use language which is capable of two meanings, provided both the meanings are obvious and necessary and there is no intention to deceive anyone.”

“Satyagraha and civil disobedience and fasts have nothing in common with the use of force, veiled or open.”

“Not those who shout 'satyagraha', 'satyagraha' will do satyagraha, but those who will work for it.”

“Even as satyagraha is a weapon unique of its kind and not one of the ordinary weapons used by people, so is Khadi, a unique article of commerce which will not, cannot, succeed on terms common to other articles.”

“In the dictionary of satyagraha, there is no enemy.”

“A clear victory of satyagraha is impossible so long as there is ill will.”

“You are no Satyagrahi if you remain silent or passive spectators while your enemy is being done to death.”

“My purpose is to describe experiments in the science ofsatyagraha and not at all to describe how good I am.”

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

“Seeming failure is not of the law of satyagrahabut of incompetence of the satyagrahi by whatever cause induced.”

“Real suffering bravely borne, melts even a heart of stone. Such is the potency of suffering. And there lies the key to Satyagraha.”

“Satyagraha has been designed as an effective substitute for violence.”

“Satyagraha is a relentless search for truth and a determination to search truth.”

“A satyagrahi is dead to his body even before the enemy attempts to kill him.”

“A genuine satyagraha should never excite contempt in the opponent even when it fails to command regard or respect.”

“The method of satyagraha requires that the satyagrahi should never lose hope, so long as there is the slightest ground left for it.”

“A satyagrahi exhausts all other means before he resorts to satyagraha.”

“The satyagrahi strives to reach reason through the heart. The method of reaching the heart is to awaken public opinion.”

“There is no "playing with truth" in the Charkha programme, for satyagraha is not predominantly civil disobedience but a quiet and irresistible pursuit of Truth.”

“Satyagraha, of which civil resistance is but a part, is to me the universal law of life.”

“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.”

“What I call the law of satyagraha is to be deduced from an appreciation of duties and rights flowing therefrom.”

“In satyagraha, a courted imprisonment carries its own praise.”

“Violence is a concession to human weakness, satyagraha is an obligation.”

“There must be power in the word of a satyagraha general, not the power that the possession of limitless arms gives, but the power that purifies life which strict vigilance and a ceaseless application produce.”

“Satyagraha does not depend on outside help, it derives all its strength from within.”

“A satyagrahi must ceaselessly strive to realize and live truth. And he must never contemplate hurting anyone by thought, word or deed.”

“A satyagrahi may not ride two horses, truth and untruth, at the same time, nor, to change the metaphor, trim his sail to catch every breeze as you do in the name of communism.”

“To die without killing is the badge of a satyagrahi.”

“Satyagraha is a force that has come to stay. No force in the world can kill it.”

“It is claimed for satyagraha that it is a complete substitute for violence or war.”

“Satyagraha thrives on repression till at last the repressor is tired of it and the object of satyagraha is gained.”