Explore Quotes by Mahatma Gandhi

A non-violent revolution is not a program of seizure of power. It is a program of transformation of relationships, ending in a peaceful transfer of power.

Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat for it is momentary.

Non-violent resistance implies the very opposite of weakness. Defiance combined with non-retaliatory acceptance of repression from one's opponents is active, not passive. It requires strength, and there is nothing automatic or intuitive about the resoluteness required for using non-violent methods in political struggle and the quest for Truth.

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.

In the secret of my heart I am in perpetual quarrel with God that He should allow such things [as the war] to go on. My non-violence seems almost impotent. But the answer comes at the end of the daily quarrel that neither God nor non-violence is impotent. Impotence is in men. I must try on without losing faith even though I may break in the attempt.

The ideally non-violent state will be an ordered anarchy.

If love or non-violence be not the law of our being, the whole of my argument falls to pieces.

Hinduism is a living organism liable to growth and decay subject to the laws of Nature. One and indivisible at the root, it has grown into a vast tree with innumerable branches. The changes in the season affect it. It has its autumn and its summer, its winter and its spring. It is, and is not, based on scriptures. It does not derive its authority from one book. Non violence has found the highest expression and application in Hinduism.

That which looks for mercy from an opponent is not non-violence.

If we were to drive out the English with the weapons with which they enslaved us, our slavery would still be with us even when they have gone.

Use truth as your anvil, nonviolence as your hammer and anything that does not stand the test when it is brought to the anvil of truth and hammered with nonviolence, reject it.

I think it would be a good idea.

You assist an administration most effectively by obeying its orders and decrees. An evil administration never deserves such allegiance. Allegiance to it means partaking of the evil. A good man will therefore resist an evil system or administration with his whole soul.

Where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence.

It amazes me to find an intelligent person who fights against something which he does not at all believe exists.

Adversity is the mother of progress.

Everyone wants to be strong and self sufficient, but few are willing to put in the work necessary to achieve worthy goals.

My life is an indivisible whole, and all my attitudes run into one another; and they all have their rise in my insatiable love for mankind.

Nonviolence means an ocean of compassion. It means shedding from us every trace of ill will for others. It does not mean abjectness or timidity, or fleeing in fear. It means, on the contrary, firmness of mind and courage, a resolute spirit.

The golden way is to be friends with the world and to regard the whole human family as one.

We cannot, in a moment, get rid of habits of a lifetime.