“I realised that in refusing to take a vow man was drawn into temptation, and that to be bound by a vow was like a passage from libertinism to a real monogamous marriage. “I believe in effort, I do not want to bind myself with vows,” is the mentality of weakness and betrays a subtle desire for the thing to be avoided. Or where can be the difficulty in making a final decision? I vow to flee from the serpent which I know will bite me, I do not simply make an effort to flee from him. I know that mere effort may mean certain death. Mere effort means ignorance of the certain fact that the serpent is bound to kill me. The fact, therefore, that I could rest content with an effort only, means that I have not yet clearly realised the necessity of definite action. “But supposing my views are changed in the future, how can I bind myself by a vow?” Such a doubt often deters us. But that doubt also betrays a lack of clear perception that a particular thing must be renounced.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“I have not conceived my mission to be that of a knight-errant wandering everywhere to deliver people from difficult situations.
My humble occupation has been to show people how they can solve their own difficulties.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“A man of character will make himself worthy of any position he is given.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“I might be ready to embrace a snake, but, if one comes to bite you, I should kill it and protect you.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“There is force in the universe, which, if we permit it, will flow through us and produce miraculous results.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“How few there are who gather the gifts which lie in profusion at their feet: how many there are, who, in wilful waywardness, turn their eyes away from them and complain with a wail that they have not that which I have given them; many of them defiantly repudiate not only My gifts, but Me also, Me, the Source of all blessings and the Author of their being.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown of my feet by any.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“The more efficient a force is, the more silent and the more subtle it is.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“The Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher's knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs. As it is, they succumbed anyway in their millions.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“This may all sound nonsensical. Well, India is a country of nonsense. It is nonsensical to parch one's throat with thirst when a kindly Mahomedan is ready to offer pure water to drink. And yet thousands of Hindus would rather die of thirst than drink water from a Mahomedan household. These nonsensical men can also, once they are convinced that their religion demands that they should wear garments manufactured in India only and eat food only grown in India, decline to wear any other clothing or eat any other food.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
