“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.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the culture of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“True morality consists not in following the beaten track, but in finding the true path for ourselves, and fearlessly following it.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“Your right is to work, and not to expect the fruit. The slave-owner tells the slave: ‘Mind your work, but beware lest you pluck a fruit from the garden. Yours is to take what I give.’ God has put us under restriction in the same manner. He tells us that we may work if we wish, but that the reward of work is entirely for Him to give. Our duty is to pray to Him, and the best way in which we can do this is to work with the pick-axe, to remove scum from the river and to sweep and clean our yards. This, certainly, is a difficult lesson to learn.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“Why, then, grieve — tatra ka paridevana — asks Shri Krishna. This is the great mystery of God. As a magician creates the illusion of a tree and destroys it, so God sports in endless ways and does not let us know the beginning and the end of his play. Why grieve over it?”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“Je dois dire qu'en dehors des cas où elle m'exposa au ridicule, cette timidité insurmontable n'a jamais tourné à mon désavantage. Bien au contraire, j'ai mis ce handicap à profit en apprenant à devenir concis.
Jadis je cherchais mes mots. Aujourd'hui je prends plaisir à en réduire le nombre.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“I may be a despicable person, but when Truth speaks through me I am
invincible.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“Disease increases in proportion to the increase in the number of doctors in a place.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“Facts mean truth, and once we adhere to truth, the law comes to our aid naturally.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“I appeal for cessation of hostilities, not because you are too exhausted to fight, but because war is bad in essence. You want to kill Nazism. You will never kill it by its indifferent adoption.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“It is easy enough to be friendly to one's friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
