“Let it be granted, that according to the letter of the Gita it is possible to say that warfare is consistent with renunciation of fruit. But after forty years’ unremitting endeavour fully to enforce the teaching of the Gita in my own life, I have in all humility felt that perfect renunciation is impossible without perfect observance of ahimsa in every shape and form.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“A man of character will make himself worthy of any position he is given.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“Love never claims, it ever gives. Love ever suffers, never resents never revenges itself.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“But the fact that I had learnt to be tolerant to other religions did not mean that I had any living faith in God.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“If there is any substance in what I have said, will not the great missionary bodies of India, to whom she owes a deep debt of gratitude for what they have done and are doing, do still better and serve the spirit of Christianity better by dropping the goal of proselytising while continuing their philanthropic work?”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“I came in contact with every known Indian anarchist in London. Their bravery impressed me, but I felt that their zeal was misguided. I felt that violence was no remedy for India's ills, and that her civilisation required the use of a different and higher weapon for self-protection.
- Hind Swaraj”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“Friendship that insists upon agreement on all things isn't worth the name.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“[T]he devotion required by the Gita is no soft-hearted effusiveness. It certainly is not blind faith. The devotion of the Gita has the least to do with the externals. A devotee may use, if he likes, rosaries, forehead marks, make offerings, but these things are no test of his devotion. He is the devotee who is jealous of none, who is a fount of mercy, who is without egotism, who is selfless, who treats alike cold and heat, happiness and misery, who is ever forgiving, who is always contented, whose resolutions are firm, who has dedicated mind and soul to God, who causes no dread, who is not afraid of others, who is free from exultation, sorrow and fear, who is pure, who is versed in action and yet remains unaffected by it, who renounces all fruit, good or bad, who treats friend and foe alike, who is untouched by respect or disrespect, who is not puffed up by praise, who does not go under when people speak ill of him who loves silence and solitude, who has a disciplined reason. Such devotion is inconsistent with the existence at the same time of strong attachments.
We thus see that to be a real devotee is to realize oneself.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“One needs to be slow to form convictions, but once formed they must be defended against the heaviest odds.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with innocent blood.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
“To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.”
―
Mahatma Gandhi
