Top 3198 Quotes & Sayings by Mahatma Gandhi - Page 52

The force of nonviolence is infinitely more wonderful and subtle than the material forces of nature, like electricity.

I can no more preach nonviolence to a cowardly man than I can tempt a blind man to enjoy healthy scenes.

I will not have the power of nonviolence to be underestimated in order to cover my limitations or weaknesses.

Nonviolence is a plant of slow growth, it grows imperceptibly but surely.

Nonviolence is the law of our species as violence is the law of the brute.

In the dictionary of the seeker of truth there is no such thing as being "not successful." He is or should be an irrepressible optimist because of his immovable faith in the ultimate victory of Truth, which is God.

Himsa does not need to be taught, Man as animal is violent, but as spirit is nonviolent.

Since the propagation of nonviolence is the mission of my life, I must pursue it in all weathers.

The only virtue I want to claim is truth and nonviolence.

What the eyes are for the outer world, fasts are for the inner.

Truth stands for the fact, nonviolence negates the fact.

Prayer needs no speech. It is in itself independent of any sensuous effort. But it must be combined with the utmost humility.

It is much more difficult to live for nonviolence than to die for it.

More caution and perhaps more restraint are necessary in breaking a fast than in keeping it.

If my nonviolence is to be contagious and infectious, I must acquire greater control over my thoughts.

Few men are wantonly wicked.

Nonviolence, in its dynamic condition means conscious suffering.

Nonviolence of the strong cannot be a mere policy. It must be a creed, or a passion, if 'creed' is objected to.

... there are chords in every human heart. If we only knew how to strike the right chord, we would bring out the music.

Nonviolence to be worth anything has to work in the face of hostile forces.

I believe in what Max Muller said years ago, namely, that truth needed to be repeated as long as there were men who disbelieved it.

A perfect mind comes from a perfect heart, not the heart known by a doctor's stethoscope but the heart which is the seat of God.

I have an implicit faith ... that mankind can only be saved through non-violence, which is the central teaching of the Bible, as I have understood the Bible.

Every moment of my existence is dedicated to the winning of Swaraj by means of truth and nonviolence.

A jailer is as much a prisoner as his prisoner.

The music of life is in danger of being lost in the music of the voice.

Nonviolence, when it becomes active, travels with extraordinary velocity, and then it becomes a miracle.

I must try to live in society and yet remain untouched by its pitfalls.

Truth is superior to man s wisdom.

The Congress fights not with violent but with nonviolent means, however imperfect, however crude the nonviolence may be.

Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth and the soul requires inward restfulness to attain its full height.

Ahimsa is one of the world's great principles, which no power on earth can wipe out.

Fear is not a disease of the body; fear kills the soul.

Freedom is like birth. Till we are fully free, we are slaves.

He who trusts has never yet lost in the world. A suspicious man is lost to himself and the eworld.... Suspicion is of the brood of violence. Non-violence cannot but trust.

There are subjects where reason cannot take us far and we have to accept things on faith. Faith then does not contradict reason but transcends it. Faith is a kind of sixth sense which works in cases which are without the purview of reason.

If you want something done, ask. If you want something done quickly, ask, and then begin counting down from ten with no explanation.

Rama Nama should come from the heart. In that event, Rama Nama could become an effective remedy against all ailments. A man who believes in Rama Nama would not make a fetish of the body but would regard it as a means of serving God. And for making it into a fit instrument for that purpose, Rama Nama is the sovereign means. To install Rama Nama in the heart requires infinite patience. It might even take ages. But the effort is worthwhile. Rama Nama cannot come from the heart unless one has cultivated the virtues of truth, honesty and purity within and without.

If you approached people with trust and affection you would have ten-fold trust and thousand-fold.

To forgive and accept injustice is cowardice.

To say that God permits evil in the world may not be pleasing to the ear. But if He is held responsible for the good, it follows that He has to be responsible for the evil too.

Surely conversion is a matter between man and his Maker who alone knows his creatures' hearts. A conversion without a clean heart is, in my opinion, a denial of God and Religion. Conversion without cleanliness of heart can only be a matter of sorrow, not joy, to a godly person.

A dissolute character is more dissolute in thought than in deed. And the same is true of violence. Our violence in word and deed is but a feeble echo of the surging violence of thought in us.

Nonviolence is the law of the human race and is infinitely greater than, and superior to, brute force.

The only true resistance to this Government... [is] to cease to co-operate with it.

All my actions have their rise in my inalienable love of mankind.

A person who has truly realized the principle of nonviolence has the God given strength for his weapon, and the world has not yet known anything that can match it.

What does it matter that we take different roads so long as we reach the same goal?

So far as I can see, the atomic bomb has deadened the finest feeling that has sustained for ages. There used to be so-called laws of war, which made it tolerable. Now we know the truth. War knows no law except that of might. The atomic bomb brought an empty victory but it resulted for the time being in destroying the soul of Japan. What has happened to the soul of the destroying nation is yet too early to see.

The real test of nonviolence lies in its being brought in contact with those who have contempt for it.

We must always seek to ally ourselves with that part of the enemy that knows what is right.

Faith is not imparted like secular subjects. It is given through the language of the heart.

Ill-digested principles are, if anything, worse than ill-digested food, for the latter harms the body and there is cure for it, whereas the former ruins the soul and there is no cure for it.

Fear has its use, but cowardice has none. I may not put my finger into the jaws of a snake, but the very sight of the snake need not strike terror into me.

I believe in the doctrine of non-violence as a weapon of the weak. I believe in the doctrine of non-violence as a weapon of the strongest. I believe that a man is the strongest soldier for daring to die unarmed.

My commitment is to truth not consistency.

Even as a tree has a single trunk, but many branches and leaves, there is one religion but any number of faiths.

A heart-felt prayer is not recitation with the lips. It is a yearning from within which expresses itself in every word, every act, nay every thought of people.

Faith is a function of the heart.

When nonviolence is accepted as the law of life, it must pervade the whole being and not be applied to isolated acts.