351 Mahatma Gandhi Quotes To Inspire The Youth of The World
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Last Updated on June 3, 2024 by Team Lifelords
Mahatma Gandhi Quotes on Freedom, Love, Non-violence, Peace, Religion And Truth
“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 up 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.”
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan: 1940)
Famous Mahatma Gandhi Quotes To Inspire You: Everyone knows about the famous Indian freedom fighter Mohandas Karmchand Gandhi aka Mahatma Gandhi. He was an Indian lawyer and anti-colonial nationalist who employed non-violent resistance in the campaign for India’s independence from British rule.
Mahatma Gandhi was born on the 2nd of October in 1869 in Porbandar, Gujarat (Bharat). After his primary education in Bharat, he went to England to become a barrister. He also worked for several years as a lawyer in South Africa. There too, he fought bravely against the atrocities of the biased British Empire.
It was in South Africa where he developed his political views, ethics, and politics. Mahatma Gandhi returned to India from South Africa in 1915. After arriving in India, he successfully organized Satyagraha Movements in various places.
While leading nationwide campaigns to ease poverty, expand women’s rights, build religious and ethnic harmony, and eliminate the injustices of the caste system, Gandhi supremely applied the principles of nonviolent civil disobedience, playing a key role in freeing India from foreign domination.
Gandhi’s most significant achievement was his life-long struggle for India’s freedom. On August 15th, 1947, his goal of freedom for his country became a reality. Today the name of Mahatma Gandhi transcends the bounds of race, religion, and nation-states, and has emerged as the prophetic voice of the twenty-first century.
Today, Gandhi is remembered for his passionate adherence to the practice of non-violence and his supreme humanism, in every corner of the world. These inspiring Mahatma Gandhi quotes will encourage you to fight for justice, equality, and peace in a non-violent way.
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It is beyond my power to induce in you a belief in God. There are certain things that are self-proved and certain which are not proven at all. The existence of God is like a geometrical axiom. It may be beyond our heart’s grasp. I shall not talk of an intellectual grasp. Intellectual attempts are more or less failures, as a rational explanation cannot give you faith in a living God. For it is a thing beyond the grasp of reason. It transcends reason.
There are numerous phenomena from which you can reason out the existence of God, but I shall not insult your intelligence by offering you a rational explanation of that type. I would have you brush aside all rational explanations and begin with a simple childlike faith in God. If I exist, God exists. For me, it is a necessity of my being.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1931)
Life is an aspiration. Its mission is to strive after perfection, which is self-realization. The ideal must not be lowered because of our weaknesses or imperfections. The silent cry daily goes out to Truth to help me remove these weaknesses and imperfections of mine.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1935)
Everything that has a beginning must end. The sun, the moon, and the earth must all perish one day, even though it might be after an incalculable number of years. God alone is immortal, imperishable. How can anyone find words to describe Him?
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1946)
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.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1937)
I am of the opinion that all exclusive intimacies are to be avoided; for man takes in vice far more readily than virtue. And he who would be friends with God must remain alone, or make the whole world his friend.
– Mahatma Gandhi (My Experiments With Truth, 1948)
There are innumerable definitions of God because His manifestations are innumerable. They overwhelm me with wonder and awe and for a moment stun me. But I worship God as Truth only.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Introduction to An Autobiography, 1966)
A fearless woman who knows that her purity is her best shield, can never be dishonoured. However beastly the man, he will bow in shame before the flame of her dazzling purity.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
Religion is a thing to be lived. It is not merely sophistry. Religion is one tree with many branches. As branches, you may say, religions are many, but as a tree, religion is only one.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma by D.G. Tendulkar, 1960)
Man falls from the pursuit of the ideal of plan living and high thinking the moment he wants to multiply his daily wants. Man’s happiness really lies in contentment.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1942)
Religion is the tie that binds one to one’s Creator, and whilst the body perishes, as it has to, religion persists even after death.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma by D.G. Tendulkar, 1960)
Human life is a series of compromises, and it is not always easy to achieve in practice what one has found to be true in theory.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1936)
Defeat cannot dishearten me. It can only chasten me. I know that God will guide me. Truth is superior to man’s wisdom.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1924)
Man lives freely only by his readiness to die, if need be, at the hands of his brother, never by killing him.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
Man is the maker of his own destiny, and I therefore ask you to become makers of your own destiny.
– Mahatma Gandhi (The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi)
The world easily finds an honorable place for the magician who produces new and dazzling things.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma-2 by D.G. Tendulkar, 1960)
Infinite striving to be the best is man’s duty; it is its own reward. Everything else is in God’s hands.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma & the Monkeys by Anuradha Kumar, 2012)
Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1925)
Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1920)
Joy lies in the fight, in the attempt, in the suffering involved, not in the victory itself.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1939)
Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need but not for every man’s greed.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase, 1958)
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Attributed, Not Found)
A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma by D.G. Tendulkar, 1960)
Man’s beauty is in his character, that of a beast in its bodily form.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Bapu’s Letters to Ashram Sisters, 1952)
The heart’s earnest and pure desire is always fulfilled.
– Mahatma Gandhi (My Experiments with Truth)
In a gentle way, you can shake the world.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Attributed, Not Found)
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Mahatma Gandhi Quotes About Equality, Justice, And Peace
To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is man’s injustice to woman. If by strength is meant brute strength, then, indeed, is woman less brute than man. If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man’s superior. Has she not greater intuition, is she not more self-sacrificing, has she not greater powers of endurance, has she not greater courage? Without her, man could not be. If nonviolence is the law of our being, the future is with woman. Who can make a more effective appeal to the heart than woman?
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1930)
I cannot think of permanent enmity between man and man, and believing as I do in the theory of reincarnation, I live in the hope that if not in this birth, in some other birth I shall be able to hug all of humanity in friendly embrace.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1931)
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1940)
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.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1946)
Cleanliness is next to godliness. We can no more gain God’s blessings with an unclean body than with an unclean mind. A clean body cannot reside in an unclean city.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1925)
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.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi: The Last Phase, 1958)
I will far rather see the race of man extinct than that we should become less than beasts by making the noblest of God’s creation, woman, the object of our lust.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Glorious Thoughts of Gandhi, 1965)
There are eternal principles, which admit of no compromise, and one must be prepared to lay down one’s life in the practice of them.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1936)
To conquer the subtle passions seems to me to be harder by far than the physical conquest of the world by the force of arms.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Truth is God by R. K. Prabhu, 1955)
Peace will not come out of a clash of arms but out of justice lived and done by unarmed nations in the face of odds.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma-5 by D.G. Tendulkar, 1960)
There is a higher court than the Courts of Justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1921)
It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honored by the humiliation of their fellow beings.
– Mahatma Gandhi (My Experiments With Truth, 1948)
Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Attributed, Not Found)
Man can never be a woman’s equal in the spirit of selfless service with which nature has endowed her.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Woman, The Comrade)
Man becomes great exactly in the degree to which he works for the welfare of his fellow men.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Selections from Gandhi, 1972)
Man will ever remain imperfect and it will always be his part to try to be perfect.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma-4 by D.G. Tendulkar, 1960)
An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Non-Violence in Peace and War 1962)
Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.
– Mahatma Gandhi (His Statement during Trial, 1922)
A civil resister offers resistance only when peace becomes impossible.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma-3 by D.G. Tendulkar, 1960)
I regard myself as a soldier, though a soldier of peace.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Speech at Victoria Hall, Geneva, 1931)
Differences of opinion should never mean hostility.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1927)
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Top Mahatma Gandhi Quotes Forgiveness And Non-violence
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.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1920)
Nonviolence is the law of our species as violence is the law of the brute. The spirit lies dormant in the brute and he knows no law but that of physical might. The dignity of man requires obedience to a higher law — to the strength of the spirit.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1920)
Whatever the ultimate fate of my country, my love for you remains, and will remain, undiminished. My non-violence demands universal love, and you are not a small part of it. It is that love which has prompted my appeal to you.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1940)
Non-violence is a perfect state. It is a goal towards which all mankind moves naturally though unconsciously. Man does not become divine when he personifies innocence in himself. Only then does he become truly man.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1922)
Nonviolence in its dynamic condition means conscious suffering. It does not mean meek submission to the will of the evil-doer, but it means the putting of one’s whole soul against the will of the tyrant.
– Mahatma Gandhi (The Doctrine Of The Sword, 1920)
If one has no affection for a person or a system, one should feel free to give the fullest expression to his disaffection so long as he does not contemplate, promote, or incite violence.
– Mahatma Gandhi (A Statement during his Trial, 1922)
I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and Non-violence are as old as Hill. All I have done is to try experiments in both on as vast a scale as I could.
– Mahatma Gandhi (In Search of the Supreme, Vol II, 1961)
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.
– Mahatma Gandhi (The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
Nonviolence being the mightiest force in the world and also the most elusive in its working, it demands the greatest exercise of faith.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma-5 by D.G. Tendulkar, 1960)
Non-violence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our being.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1926)
I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1925)
Nonviolence is an active force of the highest order. It is the soul force or the power of Godhead within us.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
Nonviolence is the law of the human race and is infinitely greater than and superior to brute force.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
Violent means will give violent freedom. That would be a menace to the world and to India herself.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1924)
Nonviolence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1922)
Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Satyagraha Leaflet No. 13, 1919)
The path of true nonviolence requires much more courage than violence.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1931)
A living faith in nonviolence is impossible without a living faith in God.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1939)
In the dictionary of Satyagraha, there is no enemy.
– Mahatma Gandhi, (Non-Violence in Peace and War)
Nonviolence is impossible without humility.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong.
– Mahatma Gandhi (The Power of Nonviolence Writings
By Advocates of Peace)
Non-violence is the summit of bravery.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 192)
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Famous Quotes From Mahatma Gandhi on Love And Truth
If we are to reach real peace in this world and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with children; and if they grow up in their natural innocence, we won’t have to struggle, we won’t have to pass fruitless idle resolutions. But we shall go from love to love and peace to peace, until at last all the corners of the world are covered with that peace and love for which, consciously or unconsciously, the whole world is hungering.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1931)
The seeker after truth should be humbler than the dust. The world crushes the dust under its feet, but the seeker after Truth should so humble himself that even the dust could crush him. Only then, and not till then, will he have a glimpse of Truth.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
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 than the one derived from fear of punishment.
– Mahatma Gandhi (The Indian States’ Problem)
I do not remember having ever told a lie during this short period either to my teachers or to my schoolmates. I used to be very shy and avoided all company. My books and my lessons were my sole companions.
– Mahatma Gandhi (My Experiments With Truth, 1948)
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 is no public support. It is self-sustained.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi)
Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there and be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
Man was supposed to be the maker of his destiny. It is only partly true. He can make his destiny, only in so far as he is allowed by the Great Power.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1947)
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.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Political and National Life and Affairs, Vol II, 1967)
What is true of the individual will be tomorrow true of the whole nation if individuals will but refuse to lose heart and hope.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Glorious Thoughts of Gandhi, 1965)
Truth is by nature self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1926)
The real love is to love those who hate you, to love your neighbor even though you distrust him.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
Nothing has saddened me so much in life as the hardness of the heart of educated people.
– Mahatma Gandhi (In a meeting with Reverend Mott, Mysore, 1934)
Love never claims, it ever gives. Love ever suffers, never resents never revenges itself.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1925)
My uniform experience has convinced me that there is no other God than Truth.
– Mahatma Gandhi (My Experiments With Truth, 1948)
Truth alone will endure, all the rest will be swept away before the tide of time.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1946)
Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
With Truth and Non-violence you can bring the world to your feet.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
I am a humble but very earnest seeker after truth.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1927)
A man of truth must also be a man of care.
– Mahatma Gandhi (My Experiments With Truth, 1948)
Truth never damages a cause that is just.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1946)
Love is the subtlest force in the world.
– Mahatma Gandhi (The Collected Works of Gandhi)
Truth is superior to man’s wisdom.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma by
D.G. Tendulkar, Vol:2 1960)
Truth is one, paths are many.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
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Inspiring Mahatma Gandhi Quotes About Truth And Falsehood
Devotion to Truth is the sole reason for our existence. All our activities should be centered on Truth. Truth should be the very breath of our life. When once this stage in the pilgrim’s progress is reached, all other rules of correct living will come without effort, and obedience to them will be instinctive. But without Truth, it would be impossible to observe any principles or rules in life.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1931)
Only Truth quenches untruth, Love quenches anger, and self-suffering quenches violence. This eternal rule is a rule not for saints only but for all. Those who observe it may be few but they are the salt of the earth, it is they who keep the society together, not those who sin against light and truth.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1942)
Truth is like a vast tree, which yields more and more fruit the more you nurture it. The deeper the search in the mine of truth the richer the discovery of the gems buried there, in the shape of openings for an ever greater variety of service.
– Mahatma Gandhi (My Experiments with Truth, 1948)
Nobody in this world possesses absolute truth. This is God’s attribute alone. Relative truth is all we know. Therefore, we can only follow the truth as we see it. Such pursuit of truth cannot lead anyone astray.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1946)
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.
– Mahatma Gandhi (My Experiments with Truth, 1948)
If observance of Truth was a bed of roses, if truth cost one nothing and was all happiness and ease, there would be no beauty about it. We must adhere to Truth even if the heavens should fall.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1928)
Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there, and to be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1933)
Truth is not to be found by anybody who does not have an abundant sense of humility. If you would swim on the bosom of the ocean of Truth, you must reduce yourself to a zero.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1931)
Truth and Love – ahimsa-is the only thing that counts. Where this is present, everything rights itself in the end. This is a law to which there is no exception.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1927)
Let hundreds like me perish, but let Truth prevail. Let us not reduce the standards of Truth even by a hair’s breadth for judging erring mortals like myself.
– Mahatma Gandhi (My Experiments with Truth, 1948)
A man of faith will remain steadfast to truth, even though the whole world might appear to be enveloped in falsehood.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1946)
It is indeed a million times better to appear untrue before the world than to be untrue to ourselves.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma-2 by D.G. Tendulkar, 1960)
A man of Truth must ever be confident. His devotion to truth demands the fullest confidence.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1926)
Finite human beings shall never know in its fullness Truth and Love which is in itself infinite.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1927)
I may be a despicable person, but when Truth speaks through me, I am invincible.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
God alone knows the absolute truth. A man cannot know the absolute truth.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1946)
When it is relevant, truth has to be uttered, however unpleasant it may be.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1947)
Show the people Truth first and they will see Beauty afterwards…
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
What I have done will endure, not what I have said or written.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1947)
There is no religion higher than the Truth and Righteousness.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Selections From Gandhi, 1957)
Nonviolence is my God, and Truth is my God.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1925)
I have no God to serve but Truth.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1939)
Truth gives perennial joy.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Conversations of Gandhiji, 1949)
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Mahatma Gandhi Quotes About Freedom And Government
I contemplate a mental and therefore a moral opposition to immoralities. I seek entirely to blunt the edge of the tyrant’s sword not by putting up against it a sharper-edged weapon, but by disappointing his expectation that I would be offering physical resistance. The resistance of the soul that I should offer instead would elude him.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1925)
We are our own slaves, not of the British. This should be engraved on our minds. The whites cannot remain if we do not want them. If the idea is to drive them out with firearms, let every Indian consider what precious little profit Europe has found in these.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Indian Opinion, 1909)
To deprive a man of his natural liberty and to deny him the ordinary amenities of life is worse than starving the body; it is starvation of the soul, the dweller in the body.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, 1947)
Just as a man would not cherish living in a body other than his own, so do nations not like to live under other nations, however noble and great the latter may be.
– Mahatma Gandhi (The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi)
Terrorism set up by reformers may be just as bad as Government terrorism, and it is often worse because it draws a certain amount of false sympathy.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1924)
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.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1927)
The cause of liberty becomes a mockery if the price to be paid is the wholesale destruction of those who are to enjoy liberty.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1940)
A good person will resist an evil system with his whole soul. Disobedience of the laws of an evil state is therefore a duty.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1930)
Moral authority is never retained by any attempt to hold on to it. It comes without seeking and is retained without effort.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
The ideally non-violent state will be an ordered anarchy. That State is the best governed which is governed the least.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1940)
Disobedience is a right that belongs to every human being, and it becomes a sacred duty when it springs from civility.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1926)
A non-violent soldier of freedom will covet nothing for himself, he fights only for the freedom of his country.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Quit India Speech, 1942)
There is no such thing as slow freedom. Freedom is like a birth. Till we are fully free we are slaves.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1921)
Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living?
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1938)
Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1931)
In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1920)
Good government is no substitute for self-government.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India 1910)
My ambition is much higher than independence.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1928)
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Great Mahatma Gandhi Quotes About Humanity And Life
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.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Selected Writings of Mahatma Gandhi)
The only tyrant I accept in this world is the “still small voice” within me. And even though I have to face the prospect of being a minority of one, I humbly believe I have the courage to be in such a hopeless minority.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1922)
There is an orderliness in the universe, there is an unalterable law governing everything and every being that exists or lives. It is no blind law; for no blind law can govern the conduct of living beings.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1928)
All compromise is based on give and take, but there can be no give and take on fundamentals. Any compromise on mere fundamentals is a surrender. For it is all give and no take.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Teachings of Mahatma Gandhi)
A vow is a purely religious act that cannot be taken in a fit of passion. It can be taken only with a mind purified and composed and with God as a witness.
– Mahatma Gandhi (The Vow of Unity)
Constant development is the law of life and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi, The Last Phase, 1958)
Measures must always in a progressive society be held superior to men, who are after all imperfect instruments, working for their fulfillment.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1921)
The main purpose of life is to live rightly, think rightly, and act rightly. The soul must languish when we give all our thoughts to the body.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Gandhi’s Plea for The Soul)
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Gandhi: His Life and Message for the World, 1954)
Look at the sparrows; they do not know what they will do in the next moment. Let us literally live from moment to moment.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Bapu’s Letter to Mira, 29-05-1947)
Millions like me may fail to prove the truth in their own lives that would be their failure, never of the eternal law.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1947)
Capital as such is not evil; it is its wrong use that is evil. Capital in some form or other will always be needed.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1940)
There are moments in your life when you must act, even though you cannot carry your best friends with you.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1920)
If cooperation is a duty, I hold that non-co-operation also under certain conditions is equally a duty.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, 1969)
To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Attributed, Not Found)
Law then which governs all life is God. Law and the Law-giver are one.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1928)
It is against my creed to punish even a murderer, a thief, or a decoit.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1931)
There is a divine purpose behind every physical calamity.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Truth is God, 1955)
Life is but an endless series of experiments.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1924)
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Mahatma Gandhi Quotes on Character, Patience, And Service
Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well. There is nothing more powerful than thought. Deed follows word and word follows thought. The word is the result of a mighty thought and where the thought is mighty and pure the result is always mighty and pure.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1937)
Ours is one continual struggle against a degradation sought to be inflicted upon us by the Europeans, who desire to degrade us to the level of the raw Kaffir, whose occupation is hunting and whose sole ambition is to collect a certain number of cattle to buy a wife with, and then pass his life in indolence and nakedness.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol-I)
Seven social sins: politics without principles, wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, and worship without sacrifice.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1925)
Confession of errors is like a broom that sweeps away dirt and leaves the surface brighter than before. It is millions of times better to appear untrue before the world than to be untrue to ourselves.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1922)
Service that is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy.
– Mahatma Gandhi (My Experiments With Truth, 1948)
It is easy enough to be friendly to one’s friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1947)
The human body is meant solely for service, never for indulgence. The secret of a happy life lies in renunciation. Renunciation is life. Indulgence spells death.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1946)
I must reduce myself to zero. So long as a man does not of his own free will put himself last among his fellow creatures, there is no salvation for him.
– Mahatma Gandhi (My Experiments With Truth, 1948)
Knowledge without character is a power for evil only, as seen in the instances of so many ‘talented thieves’ and ‘gentleman rascals’ in the world.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1929)
Man’s nature is not essentially evil. Brute nature has been known to yield to the influence of love. You must never despair of human nature.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1938)
Service of the poor has been my heart’s desire and it has always thrown me amongst the poor and enabled me to identify myself with them.
– Mahatma Gandhi (My Experiments with Truth)
The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.
– Mahatma Gandhi, (Attributed, Not Found)
If patience is worth anything, it must endure to the end of time. And a living faith will last in the midst of the blackest storm.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1926)
See God through service of humanity, for I know that God is neither in heaven, nor down below, but in everyone.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1927)
An unwearied ceaseless effort is the price that must be paid for turning faith into a rich infallible experience.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1936)
The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Satyagraha Leaflet No. 9, 1919)
Chastity is one of the greatest disciplines without which the mind cannot attain requisite firmness.
– Mahatma Gandhi (The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi)
I spare neither friend nor foe when it is a question of departing from the code of honor.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1922)
Patience and perseverance, if we have them, overcome mountains of difficulties.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
A language is an exact reflection of the character and growth of its speakers.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Evil Wrought by the English Medium, 1955)
Civilization is that mode of conduct that points out to man the path of duty.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Hind Swaraj, 1909)
It is wrong and immoral to seek to escape the consequences of one’s acts.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1925)
If you have no character to lose, people will have no faith in you.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma-3 by D.G. Tendulkar, 1960)
That service is the noblest which is rendered for its own sake.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, 1967)
My countrymen are my nearest neighbors.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1936)
Jealousy does not wait for reasons.
– Mahatma Gandhi (My Experiments With Truth, 1948)
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Mahatma Gandhi Quotes on Art, Culture, Music, And Mission
Music has given me peace. I can remember occasions when music instantly tranquilized occasions my mind when I was greatly agitated over something. Music has helped me to overcome anger. I can recall occasions when a hymn sank deep into me, though the same thing expressed in prose had failed to touch me. I also found that the meaning of hymns discordantly sung has failed to come home to me and that it burns itself on my mind when they have been properly sung.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1929)
Man is undoubtedly an artist and creator. Undoubtedly, he must have beauty and, therefore, color. His artistic and creative nature at its best taught him to discriminate and to know that any conglomeration of colors was no mark of beauty, not every sense of enjoyment gook in itself. His eye for art taught man to seek enjoyment in usefulness.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1936)
To a true artist, only that face is beautiful which, quite apart from its exterior, shines with the Truth within the soul. There is… no Beauty apart from Truth. On the other hand, Truth may manifest itself in forms, which may not be outwardly beautiful at all.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1924)
True art takes note not merely of form but also of what lies behind. There is an art that kills and an art that gives life… True art must be the evidence of the happiness, contentment, and purity of its authors.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1921)
People generally fail to see Beauty in Truth; the ordinary man runs away from it and becomes blind to the beauty in it. Whenever men begin to see Beauty in Truth, then true Art will arise.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1924)
Truth is the first thing to be sought for and Beauty and Goodness will then be added unto you. Jesus was, to my mind, a supreme artist because he saw and expressed Truth.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1924)
Truly beautiful creations come when the right perception is at work. If these monuments are rare in life, they are also rare in Art.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Selections from Gandhi, 1948)
Intellectual will serves no useful purpose, as it does not persist after death If the will is heart-felt, it must manifest itself in effort.
– Mahatma Gandhi (The Diary of Mahadev Desai, Vol. I)
Life must immensely exceed all the arts put together. For me, the greatest artist is surely he who lives the finest life.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Among the Great, 1950)
I have no desire for the perishable kingdom of earth. I am striving for the Kingdom of Heaven.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change toward him.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Gandhi’s thoughts on Snakebites, 1913)
Progress in life is possible only if one regulates one’s life according to rules.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi)
When a man is fully ready to die, he will not even desire to offer violence.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Selections from Gandhi, N.K Bose)
A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma-5 by D.G. Tendulkar, 1960)
Harmonious music has the power to soothe the anguish of the soul.
– Mahatma Gandhi (True Education, 1962)
I am not afraid to die in my mission if that is to be my fate.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1947)
Mutual courtesy and respect are the foundation of culture.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma-3 by D.G. Tendulkar, 1960)
I want art and literature that can speak to the millions.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1936)
All true Art must help the soul to realize its inner self.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
No culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Evil Wrought by the English Medium, 1955)
Purity of life is the highest and truest art.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1938)
Read More Quotes: 501 Positive And Encouraging Spiritual Quotes About Life
Popular Mahatma Gandhi Quotes on Morality And Religion
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.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Attributed, Not found)
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.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India 1930)
Hinduism is a relentless pursuit of truth and if today it has become moribund, inactive, and irresponsive to growth, it is because we are fatigued. As soon as the fatigue is over, Hinduism will burst forth upon the world with a brilliance perhaps never known before.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1924)
What the divine author of the Mahabharata said of his great creation is equally true of Hinduism. Whatever substance is contained in any other religion is always to be found in Hinduism, and what is not contained in it is insubstantial or unnecessary.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1925)
In reality, there are as many religions as there are individuals. Religions are different roads converging to the same point. What does it matter that we take different roads, so long as we reach the same goal. Wherein is the cause for quarreling?
– Mahatma Gandhi (Hind Swaraj, 1909)
There are some things which are known only to oneself and one’s Maker. These are clearly incommunicable… But they are spiritual, or rather moral; for the essence of religion is morality.
– Mahatma Gandhi (My Experiments With Truth, 1948)
I love to see the bright side of things and not the seamy side, and so I can derive comfort and inspiration from any great book of any great religion.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
Morality which depends upon the helplessness of a man or woman has not much to recommend it. Morality is rooted in the purity of our hearts.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Selections From Gandhi, 1948)
I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1924)
All religions are branches of the same mighty tree, but I must not change over from one branch to another for the sake of expediency.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma by D.G. Tendulkar, 1960)
Spiritual relationship is far more precious than physical. Physical relationship divorced from spiritual is body without soul.
– Mahatma Gandhi (My Experiments With Truth, 1948)
Woman must cease to consider herself the object of man’s lust. The remedy is more in her hands than the man’s.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
Religion is a matter of the heart. No physical inconvenience can warrant the abandonment of one’s own religion.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1920)
My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realizing Him.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1925)
My religion teaches me that whenever there is distress which one cannot remove, one must fast and pray.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1924)
A religion that takes no account of practical affairs and does not help to solve them is no religion.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1925)
If a man reaches the heart of his own religion, he has reached the heart of the others, too.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Selections from Gandhi, 1948)
Any action that is dictated by fear or by coercion of any kind ceases to be moral.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Ethical Religion, 1922)
The essence of all religions is one. Only their approaches are different.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Gandhiji’s View of Life, 1954)
Since there is one God, there can be only one religion.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1934)
No action which is not voluntary can be called moral.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Ethical Religion, 1922)
Where there is fear there is no religion.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1926)
Read More Quotes: 205 Quotes About Power of Prayer For Greater Strength
Mahatma Gandhi Quotes That Help You To Have Faith In God
A sunset or a crescent moon that shines amid the stars at night are truthful, inasmuch as they make me think of the Creator at the back of them. How else could these be beautiful, but for the Truth that is in the center of creation? When I admire the wonder of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in worship of the Creator. I try to see Him and His mercies in all these creations.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1924)
Even in the darkest despair, where there seems to be no helper and no comfort in the wide, wide world, His Name inspires us with strength and puts all doubts and despair to flight. The sky may be overcast today with clouds, but a fervent prayer to Him is enough to dispel them. It is because of prayer that I have known no disappointment.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
Sense perceptions can be and often are, false and deceptive, however real they may appear to us. Where there is realization outside the senses, it is infallible. It is proved not by extraneous evidence but in the transformed conduct and character of those who have felt the real presence of God within.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1928)
Faith is not a delicate flower, which would wither under the slightest stormy weather. Faith is like the Himalayan mountains which cannot possibly change. No storm can possibly remove the Himalayan mountains from their foundations.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1934)
I believe in the essential unity of man and for that matter of all that lives. Therefore I believe that if one man gains spiritually, the whole world gains with him and if one man falls, the whole world falls to that extent.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1924)
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.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India,1931)
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.
– Mahatma Gandhi (My Experiments With Truth, 1948)
Supplication, worship, and prayer are no superstitions; they are acts more real than the acts of eating, drinking, sitting, or walking. It is no exaggeration to say that they alone are real, all else is unreal.
– Mahatma Gandhi (My Experiments With Truth, 1948)
Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is a daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1930)
God cannot be realized through the intellect. Intellect can lead one to a certain extent and no further. It is a matter of faith and experience derived from that faith.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1946)
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.
– Mahatma Gandhi (The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings, 2012)
Let everyone try and find that as a result of daily prayer, he adds something new to his life, something with which nothing can be compared.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1924)
All the power I may have comes from God. But He does not work directly. He works through His numberless agencies.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1924)
Worshiping God is singing the praise of God. Prayer is a confession of one’s own unworthiness and weakness.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1925)
But my faith in God and His strength and love is unshakable. I am like clay in the Potter’s hand.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1922)
Before the throne of the Almighty, man will be judged not by his acts but by his intentions.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1922)
Satan’s successes are the greatest when he appears with the name of God on his lips.
– Mahatma Gandhi (The Inwardness of Non-Co-operation, 1922)
If we develop the force of will, we shall find that we do not need the force of arms.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Communal Unity, 1949)
Our inspiration can come only from our faith that right must ultimately prevail.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1938)
Work without faith is like an attempt to reach the bottom of a bottomless pit.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1936)
A prayerful heart is the vehicle and service makes the heart prayerful.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1925)
God speaks to us every day only we don’t know how to listen.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Attributed, Not Found)
My faith is brightest in the midst of impenetrable darkness.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1939)
God to be God must rule the heart and transform it.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1928)
One who realizes God is freed from sin forever….
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1933)
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Mahatma Gandhi Quotes About God, Prayer, And Spirituality
To me God is Truth and Love; God is ethics and morality; God is fearlessness. God is the source of Light and Life and yet He is above and beyond all these. God is conscience. He is even the atheism of the atheist. For in His boundless love, God permits the atheist to live. He is the searcher of hearts. He transcends speech and reason. He knows us and our hearts better than we do ourselves. He does not take us at our word, for He knows that we often do not mean it, some knowingly and others unknowingly.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1925)
God is the greatest democrat the world knows, for He leaves us ‘unfettered’ to make our own choice between evil and good. He is the greatest tyrant ever known, for He often dashes the cup from our lips and under cover of free will leaves us a margin so wholly inadequate as to provide only mirth for Himself at our expense.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1925)
God answers prayer in His own way, not ours. His ways are different from the ways of mortals. Hence they are inscrutable. Prayer presupposes faith. No prayer goes in vain. Prayer is like any other action. It bears fruit whether we see it or not, and the fruit of heart prayer is far more potent than action so-called.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
The sun in the heavens fills the whole universe with its life-giving warmth. But if one went too near it, it would consume him to ashes. Even so, it is with God-head. We become Godlike to the extent we realize nonviolence but we can never become wholly God.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
There is no one without faults, not even men of God. They are men of God not because they are faultless but because they know their own faults, they strive against them, they do not hide them, and are ever ready to correct themselves.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1939)
God alone is my protector. How can a puny man, who is not sure even of his own tomorrow, presume to protect another? I am content to be under God’s care. He may protect or destroy. I know He sometimes even destroys to protect.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1946)
The Lord of Creation created everything in this world as an admixture of good and evil. But a good man selects the good and rejects the evil, even as the fabled swan is said to help himself to cream, leaving the water in the milk.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1929)
Do not seek to protect me. The Most High is always there to protect us all. You may be sure that when my time is up, no one, not even the most renowned in the world, can stand between Him and me.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1931)
I shall never know God if I do not wrestle with and against evil even at the cost of life itself. The purer I try to become the nearer to God I feel myself to be.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1928)
God Himself is both the Law and the Law-giver. Because God is an Idea, Law Himself. Therefore, it is impossible to conceive God as breaking the Law.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
I would say with those who say God is Love, God is Love. But deep down in me, I used to say that though God may be Love, God is Truth, above all.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1931)
If I did not feel the presence of God within me, I see so much misery and disappointment every day that I would be a raving maniac.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1925)
God saves me so long as He wants me in this body. The moment His wants are satisfied, no precautions on my part will save me.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Bapu’s Letters to Mira, 1949)
Prayer is not an old woman’s idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1946)
It is not possible to scan the universe as it is to scan the self. Know the self and you know the universe.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1926)
I can do nothing. God can do everything. O God, make me Thy fit instrument and use me as thou wilt!
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1924)
God is not a person. He transcends description. He is the Law-maker, the Law, and the Executor.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1946)
I can easily put up with the denial of the world, but any denial by me of my God is unthinkable.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1922)
The Almighty is not a person like us. He or She is the greatest living Force or Law in the world.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1946)
God’s laws are eternal and unalterable and not separable from God Himself.
– Mahatma Gandhi (The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
Worship or prayer should not be performed with the lips but with the heart.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1925)
A complete fast is a complete and literal denial of self. It is the truest prayer.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1933)
There is no prayer without fasting, and there is no real fast without prayer.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1933)
The strength of the soul grows in proportion as you subdue the flesh.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1924)
Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1930)
What is impossible with man is child’s play with God.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1931)
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Mahatma Gandhi Quotes on Ability, Fearlessness, And Health
The Rishis, who discovered the law of non-violence in the midst of violence, were greater geniuses than Newton. They were themselves greater warriors than Wellington. Having themselves known the use of arms, they realized their uselessness and taught a weary world that its salvation lay not through violence but through non-violence.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1920)
Perfect fearlessness can be attained only by him who has realized the Supreme, as it implies the height of freedom from delusions. But one can always progress towards this goal by determined and constant endeavour and by increasing confidence in oneself…
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
There is no bravery greater than a resolute refusal to bend the knee to an earthly power, no matter how great, and that, without bitterness of spirit and in the fullness of faith that the spirit alone lives, nothing else does.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1938)
Fearlessness connotes freedom from all external fear – fear of disease, bodily injury or death, of dispossession, of losing one’s nearest and dearest, of losing reputation or giving offense, and so on.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
When the soul is sinless, the body which she inhabits is healthy too. As the soul progresses towards freedom from sin, the body also tends to become immune from disease.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Navajivan, 1924)
Who can deny that much that passes for science and art today destroys the soul instead of uplifting it, and instead of evoking the best in us panders to our basest passions?
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1927)
Everyone should learn the art of self-defense. It is more a mental state that has to be inculcated than that our bodies should be trained for retaliation.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1921)
Fearlessness does not mean arrogance or aggressiveness. That in itself is a sign of fear. Fearlessness presupposes calmness and peace of mind.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1946)
A healthy body does not mean a strong body. A powerful soul lives only in a weak body. As the soul advances in strength, the body languishes.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Navajivan, 1924)
The body will cease to be only when we give up all attachment to it. This freedom from all attachment is the realization of God as Truth.
– Mahatma Gandhi (From Yeravda Mandir, Chapter II)
Fearlessness is a sine qua non for the growth of the other noble qualities. How can one seek truth or cherish Love without fearlessness?
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1930)
If I was perfect, if I had acquired full control over all my passions even in thought, I should be perfect in body.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1924)
The Golden Rule to Go Forward in Life – Act fearlessly upon what you believe is right.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1946)
Fearlessness is the first requisite of spirituality. Cowards can never be moral.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1921)
Man should stand in fear of God alone, and then he can shed all other fears.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1947)
There can be no friendship between cowards, or cowards and brave men.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Collected Works of M. Gandhi)
I claim to be no more than an average man with less-than-average ability.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1936)
If I had no sense of humor, I should long ago have committed suicide.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1921)
It was the cowards who died many times before their death.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mahatma-7 by D.G. Tendulkar, 1960)
Without faith, this world would be destroyed in a moment.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1927)
If you are good, the whole world will be good to you.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
A wrong is a wrong, no matter who the wrongdoer is.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Selected Letters-I)
True beauty, after all, consists in purity of heart.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1927)
Where there is fear there is no religion.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1926)
Mahatma Gandhi Quotes on Confidence, Courage & Knowledge
You have to stand against the whole world although you may have to stand alone. You have to stare the world in the face although the world may look at you with blood-shot eyes. Do not fear. Trust that little thing in you which resides in the heart and says: Forsake friends, wife, all; but testify to that for which you have lived and for which you have to die.
– Mahatma Gandhi (The Bombay Chronicle, August 1942)
The greatest men of the world have always stood alone. Take the great prophets, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed – they all stood alone like many others whom I can name. But they had living faith in themselves and their God, and believing as they did that God was on their side, they never felt lonely.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1929)
When your country and mine shall get together on the teachings laid down by Christ in this Sermon on the Mount, we shall have solved the problems not only of our countries but those of the whole world.
– Mahatma Gandhi (A Statement made in a Meeting with Lord Irwin, 1931)
Nonviolence has no room for cowardice or even weakness. Violence is any day preferable to impotence. There is hope for a violent man to be someday non-violent, but there is none for a coward.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1939)
To run away from danger, instead of facing it, is to deny one’s faith in man and God, even one’s own self. It was better for one to drown oneself than live to declare such bankruptcy of faith.
– Mahatma Gandhi (The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
Nonviolence is not a cover for cowardice, but it is the supreme virtue of the brave. Exercise of nonviolence requires far greater bravery than that of swordsmanship.
– Mahatma Gandhi (The Mind Of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
Men may be good in some respects, but not necessarily, therefore, in all. A man who is an authority on one matter is not therefore an authority on all matters.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1925)
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.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1940)
A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Harijan, 1938)
No matter how weak a person is in body, if it is a shame to flee, he will stand his ground and die at his post.
– Mahatma Gandhi (The Mind of Mahatma Gandhi)
We may stumble and fall but shall rise again; it should be enough if we did not run away from the battle.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Collected Works, 1958)
Fear of death makes us devoid both of valour and religion. For want of valour is want of religious faith.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Soul Force: Gandhi’s Writings on Peace, 2004)
Strength of numbers is the delight of the timid. The valiant in spirit glory in fighting alone.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1926)
Between violence and cowardly flight, I can only prefer violence to cowardice.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)
A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Attributed, Not Found)
Always believe in your dreams, because if you don’t, you’ll still have hope.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1924)
A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Ethical Religion, 1922)
The poor thing trembles at the sight of the terrier and runs for very life.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1924)
It’s easy to stand with the crowd. It takes courage to stand alone.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Quote is a truncated version of the top quote of this section)
The path of the Lord is meant for the brave, not the coward.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1929)
Bravery is not a quality of the body, it is of the soul.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Young India, 1921)
Let us fear God and we shall cease to fear man.
– Mahatma Gandhi (Speeches & Writings of Mahatma Gandhi by
G. A. Natesan, Madras, 1933)
Fake, Misattributed Mahatma Gandhi Quotes You Must Be Aware of
A customer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.
– Kenneth B. Elliott (An Interview in 1941), Misattributed to Gandhi
When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has 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… When you are in doubt that that is God’s way, the way the world is meant to be… think of that.
– John Briley (Gandhi, 1982), Misattributed to Mahatma Gandhi
Carefully watch your thoughts, for they become your words. Watch your words, for they become your actions. Watch your actions, for they become your habits. Watch your habits, for they become your character. Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.
– Frank Outlaw (San Antonio Light, May 1977), Misattributed to Gandhi & Others
As human begins, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world- that is the myth of the atomic age- as in being able to remake ourselves.
– Prof. Michael N. Nagler (In his foreword to ‘Gandhi the Man’, 1978 by Eknath Easwaran), Misattributed to Gandhi
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
– Anonymous, Misattributed to Gandhi
The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.
– Anonymous, Misattributed to Gandhi
First, they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, and then you win.
– Nicholas Klein (A US Trade Union Address, 1918), Misattributed to Gandhi
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
– Anonymous, Attributed to Isidore of Seville (FPA Book of Quotations,1952),
Edmund Rich, (American Journal of Education, 1877),
Alain de Lille (Samuel Smiles’s ‘Duty’, 1881),
Misattributed to Mahatma Gandhi
It’s not too late at all. You just don’t yet know what you are capable of.
– Anonymous, Misattributed to Mahatma Gandhi
There is enough wealth in the world to satisfy everyone’s needs.
– Frank Buchman, Misattributed to Gandhi
Truth is God and truth overrides all our plans. Truth be told!
– Anonymous, Misattributed to Gandhi
An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.
– George Perry Graham (During A Debate in 1914),
Misattributed to M.K. Gandhi, Louis Fischer,
Henry Powell Spring & Martin Luther King
You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
– Arleen Lorrance (The Love Project, 1974),
Misattributed to Mahatma Gandhi
Compassion is a muscle that gets stronger with use.
– Anonymous, Misattributed to Gandhi
The good man is the friend of all living things.
– Anonymous, Misattributed to Gandhi
Action expresses priorities.
– Peak Performers (1987) by Charles A. Garfield,
Misattributed to Gandhi
Peace is its own reward.
– Anonymous, Misattributed to Gandhi
Truth is its own reward.
– Plato, Misattributed to Gandhi, Charles Bradlaugh
We hope you have surely liked these authentic Mahatma Gandhi quotes. Today he is universally accepted as an exemplary model of ethical and moral life, with a rare blending of personal and public life, the principles and practices, the immediate and the eternal.
Gandhi considered life to be an integrated whole, growing from ‘truth to truth’ every day in moral and spiritual status. You will also get a lot of inspiration from these 15 Inspiring Stories about Mahatma Gandhi.
Which of these quotes inspired you most? Please let us know in the comment section below. We would love to hear all about it.
“Life is greater than all art. I would go even further and declare that the man whose life comes nearest to perfection is the greatest artist; for what is art without the sure foundation and framework of a noble life?”
– Mahatma Gandhi (Mind of Mahatma Gandhi, 1968)