Peaceful words, powerful actions. This is how Mahatma Gandhi was able to unite millions of people and lead India toward freedom. He’s undoubtedly recognized as the father of the nonviolence movement and one of the most influential people in history, but also as a soft-spoken man with a great sense of humor, loved for his composure and humble simplicity. Gandhi’s courage was unshakable, even in the face of some of the most brutal forms of oppression ever documented. His commitment to nonviolence as a means of achieving justice is as relevant today as it was in his time.
So many of Gandhi’s quotes are still widely used to inspire people worldwide to live their lives with selfless service, empathy, and genuine love. We could write a book with all the powerful yet quirky words Gandhi has shared with the world, but for now, we’ve collected them here! If you’re in need of some wise words, these most famous quotes by Gandhi will bring you some deserved peace of mind.
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“Relationships are based on four principles: respect, understanding, acceptance and appreciation.”
“Nothing is impossible for pure love.”
“Those who know how to think need no teachers.”
“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”
“Carefully watch your thoughts, for they become your words. Manage and watch your words, for they will become your actions. Consider and judge your actions, for they have become your habits. Acknowledge and watch your habits, for they shall become your values. Understand and embrace your values, for they become your destiny.”
“I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles, but today it means getting along with people.”
"If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. We need not wait to see what others do."
“It’s easy to stand with the crowd. It takes courage to stand alone.”
“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.”
“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.”
“You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.”
“The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.”
“I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.”
“To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is man's injustice to woman. If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man’s superior”
“For one man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole.”
“Jealousy does not wait for reasons.”
“A convert's enthusiasm for his new religion is greater than that of a person who is born in it.”
“A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.”
“Our greatest ability as humans is not to change the world, but to change ourselves.”
“Do not judge others. Be your own judge and you will be truly happy. If you try to judge others, you are likely to burn your fingers.”
“A person who is worried about the outcome of his work does not see his goal; he sees only his opposition and the obstacles before him.”
“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.”
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
“We may never be strong enough to be entirely nonviolent in thought, word and deed. But we must keep nonviolence as our goal and make strong progress towards it.”
“When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it-always.”
“It is difficult but not impossible to conduct strictly honest business... What is true is that honesty is incompatible with the amassing of a large fortune.”
“There is no such thing as slow freedom. Freedom is like a birth. Till we are fully free we are slaves.”
“A non-violent soldier of freedom will covet nothing for himself, he fights only for the freedom of his country.”
“Tolerance gives us spiritual insight, which is as far from fanaticism as the north pole is from the south. True knowledge of religion breaks down the barriers between faith and faith and gives rise to tolerance. Cultivation of tolerance for other faiths will impart to us a truer understanding of our own.”
“A good person will resist an evil system with his whole soul. Disobedience of the laws of an evil state is therefore a duty.”
“Gentleness, self-sacrifice, and generosity are the exclusive possession of no one race or religion.”
“There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever.”
“Many people, especially ignorant people, want to punish you for speaking the truth, for being correct, for being you. Never apologize for being correct, or for being years ahead of your time. If you’re right and you know it, speak your mind. Speak your mind. Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth.”
“Knowledge gained through experience is far superior and many times more useful than bookish knowledge.”
“It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your actions. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.”
“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”
“For me, the different religions are beautiful flowers from the same garden, or they are branches of the same majestic tree. Therefore, they are equally true, though being received and interpreted through human instruments are equally imperfect.”
“Even if the paradise of material satisfaction, which they envisage as their final goal, were realized on earth, it would not bring mankind either contentment or peace.”
“When there is war, the poet lays down the lyre, the lawyer his law reports, the schoolboy his books.”
“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”
“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”
“To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.”
“Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.”
“When you are right, you have no need to be angry. When you are wrong, you have no right to be angry.”
“Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.”
“Whenever you have truth it must be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected.”
“You may never know what results come of your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no results.”
“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
“My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realising Him.”
“Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.”
“Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.”
“Experience has taught me that silence is part of the spiritual discipline of a votary of truth.”
“I'm a lover of my own liberty, and so I would do nothing to restrict yours. I simply want to please my own conscience, which is God.”
“I simply want to tell the story of my experiments with truth...as my life consists of nothing but those experiments.”
“To see the universal and all-pervading Spirit of Truth face to face one must be able to love the meanest of creation as oneself. And a man who aspires after that cannot afford to keep out of any field of life.”
“We are less than atoms, I say, because the atom obeys the law of its being, whereas we in the insolence of our ignorance deny the law of nature. But I have no argument to address to those who have no faith.”
“It is impossible for me to reconcile myself to the idea of conversion after the style that goes on in India and elsewhere today.”
“The human body is meant solely for service, never for indulgence. The secret of happy life lies in renunciation. Renunciation is life. Indulgence spells death.”
“Impure means result in an impure end... One cannot reach truth by untruthfulness. Truthful conduct alone can reach Truth.”
“Strength does not come from winning. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”
“Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.”
“Look at the sparrows; they do not know what they will do in the next moment. Let us literally live from moment to moment.”
“The real love is to love those that hate you, to love your neighbor even though you distrust him.”
“Truth is by nature self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear.”
“There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever.”
“A man who was completely innocent offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act.”
“Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.”
“If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.”
“If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.”
“An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self sustained.”
“There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts.”
“The cry for peace will be a cry in the wilderness, so long as the spirit of nonviolence does not dominate millions of men and women.”
“I do believe that where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence I would advise violence.”
“It is beyond my power to induce in you a belief in God. There are certain things which are self proved and certain which are not proved at all.”
“Nor, do I believe in inequalities between human beings. We are all absolutely equal. But equality is of the souls and not the bodies. Hence, it is a mental state.”
“Little man had tried in his humble way to describe mighty God by giving Him attributes, though He is above all attributes, Indescribable, Inconceivable, Immeasurable. Living faith in this God means acceptance of the brotherhood of mankind. It also means equal respect for all religions.”
“All humanity is one undivided and indivisible family, and each one of us is responsible for the misdeeds of all the others. I cannot detach myself from the wickedest soul.”
“A ‘No’ uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble.”
“I do believe that, where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence. I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honor than that she should, in a cowardly manner, become or remain a helpless witness to her own dishonor. But I believe that nonviolence is infinitely superior to violence, forgiveness is more manly than punishment.”
“It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.”
I lost a lot of respect for Gandhi after I learned what a racist misogynist he was. It's a mistake to put people on pedestals. I'm not advocating 'canceling' him, but we should acknowledge the complexity of the man, and not reduce him to a bunch of yearbook quotes.
Came here to make a similar comment. He might have done great things, but for me, I can't excuse or look past the racism and misogyny.
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We don’t worship him. We just don’t talk about what horrible things he did, which is equally bad.
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I lost a lot of respect for Gandhi after I learned what a racist misogynist he was. It's a mistake to put people on pedestals. I'm not advocating 'canceling' him, but we should acknowledge the complexity of the man, and not reduce him to a bunch of yearbook quotes.
Came here to make a similar comment. He might have done great things, but for me, I can't excuse or look past the racism and misogyny.
Load More Replies... We don’t worship him. We just don’t talk about what horrible things he did, which is equally bad.
Load More Replies... 