“What lies ahead of you & what lies behind you is nothing compared to what lies within you.”

“True beauty lies in purity of the heart.”

“Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with innocent blood.”

“no scheme of self-government, however benevolently or generously it may be bestowed upon us, will ever make us a self-governing nation, if we have no respect for the languages our mothers speak.

“Let the first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day: - I shall not fear anyone on Earth.  - I shall fear only God.  - I shall not bear ill will toward anyone.  - I shall not submit to injustice from anyone.  - I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.”

“It was only in South Africa that I got over this shyness, though I never completely overcame it. It was impossible for me to speak impromptu. I hesitated whenever I had to face strange audiences and avoided making a speech whenever I could. Even today I do not think I could or would even be inclined to keep a meeting of friends engaged in idle talk. I must say that, beyond occasionally exposing me to laughter, my constitutional shyness has been no disadvantage whatever. In fact I can see that, on the contrary, it has been all to my advantage. My hesitancy in speech, which was once an annoyance, is now a pleasure. Its greatest benefit has been that it has taught me the economy of words. I have naturally formed the habit of restraining my thoughts. And I can now give myself the certificate that a thoughtless word hardly ever escapes my tongue or pen. I do not recollect ever having had to regret anything in my speech or writing. I have thus been spared many a mishap and waste of time. Experience has taught me that silence is part of the spiritual discipline of a votary of truth. Proneness to exaggerate, to suppress or modify the truth, wittingly or unwittingly, is a natural weakness of man, and silence is necessary in order to surmount it. A man of few words will rarely be thoughtless in his speech; he will measure every word. We find so many people impatient to talk. There is no chairman of a meeting who is not pestered with notes for permission to speak. And whenever the permission is given the speaker generally exceeds the time-limit, asks for more time, and keeps on talking without permission. All this talking can hardly be said to be of any benefit to the world. It is so much waste of time. My shyness has been in reality my shield and buckler. It has allowed me to grow. It has helped me in my discernment of truth.”

“I have no doubt that the ideal is for public institutions to live, like nature, from day to day. The institution that fails to win public support has no right to exist as such.”

“The Mahabharata was not composed with the aim of describing a battle. The description of the battle serves only as a pretext.”

“It was not easy to commit suicide as to contemplate it.”

“You yourself as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve love and affection.”

“But here the physical battle is only an occasion for describing the battlefield that is the human body.”

“Du und ich: Wir sind eins. Ich kann dir nicht wehtun, ohne mich zu verletzen.”

“Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.”

“It does not require money, to live neat, clean and dignified..”

“Violence begins with the fork.