“When there is no desire for fruit, there is no temptation for untruth or himsa (violence). Take any instance of untruth or violence, and it will be found that at its back was the desire to attain the cherished end. But it may be freely admitted that the Gita was not written to establish ahimsa. It was an accepted and primary duty even before the Gita age. The Gita had to deliver the message of renunciation of fruit. This is clearly brought out as early as the second chapter. 26. But if the Gita believed in ahimsa or it was included in desirelessness, why did the author take a warlike illustration? When the Gita was written, although people believed in ahimsa, wars were not only not taboo, but nobody observed the contradiction between them and ahimsa.”
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Mahatma Gandhi
“The mere fact that this thought has sprung up among different nations and at different times indicates that it is inherent in human nature and contains the truth.”
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Mahatma Gandhi
“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.”
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Mahatma Gandhi
“A policy is a temporary creed liable to be changed, but while it holds good it has got to be pursued with apostolic zeal.”
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Mahatma Gandhi
“soulless soul-force and that its severe discipline has made it merely mechanical. I suppose both—the critics and I—are wrong. It is, at best, a humble attempt to place at the disposal of the nation a home where men and women may have scope for free and unfettered development of character, in keeping with the national genius, and, if its controllers do not take care, the discipline that is the foundation of character may frustrate the very end in view. I would venture, therefore, to warn enthusiasts in co-operation against entertaining false hopes. With Sir Daniel Hamilton it has become a religion. On the 13th January last, he addressed the students of the Scottish Churches College and, in order to point a moral, he instanced Scotland's poverty”
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Mahatma Gandhi
“The first principal of non-violent action is that of non-cooperation with everything humiliating.”
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Mahatma Gandhi
“Hence, we should not be attached even to a good cause. Only then will our means remain pure and our actions too.”
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Mahatma Gandhi
“How it is that Bengal with all its knowledge, intelligence, sacrifice, and emotion tolerates this slaughter?”
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Mahatma Gandhi
“Je n'ai jamais pu comprendre comment on pouvait se sentir honoré de voir ses semblables humiliés.”
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Mahatma Gandhi
“But here the physical battle is only an occasion for describing the battlefield that is the human body.”
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Mahatma Gandhi
“You yourself as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve love and affection.”
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Mahatma Gandhi
“Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.”
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Mahatma Gandhi
“The history of the world is full of men who rose to leadership, by sheer force of self-confidence, bravery and tenacity.”
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Mahatma Gandhi