To forgive is not to forget. The merit lies in loving in spite of the vivid knowledge that one that must be loved is not a friend. There is not merit in loving an enemy when you forget him for a friend.
Mahatma GandhiRead
Many could forgo heavy meals, a full wardrobe, a fine house, etcetera. It is the ego they cannot forgo.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the challenge of letting go of one's ego, despite material possessions being less important.
Mahatma Gandhi emphasizes that while people may be able to live without excessive material wealth and comforts, the struggle often lies in relinquishing the ego, which is tied to one's identity and self-importance. This observation reflects the complexity of human nature, where the ego can often become a primary attachment, overshadowing the simplicity and joy found in humility and selflessness.
Themes
EgoMaterialismSelflessnessHumilityIdentity
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about personal development, I might say, 'As Gandhi wisely pointed out, many can let go of material wealth, but the true challenge remains in letting go of oneβs ego.'
More from Mahatma Gandhi
All quotes βLove never claims, it ever gives. Love ever suffers, never resents never revenges itself.
Mahatma GandhiRead
Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
Mahatma GandhiRead
The real test of nonviolence lies in its being brought in contact with those who have contempt for it.
Mahatma GandhiRead
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
Mahatma GandhiRead
The devotion of such titans of spirit as Lenin to an Ideal must bear fruit. The nobility of his selflessness will be an example through centuries to come, and his Ideal will reach perfection.
Mahatma GandhiRead
Similar quotes
There are many sham diamonds in this life which pass for real, and vice versa.
William Makepeace ThackerayRead
There's a kind of optimism specifically within Christianity about the world - about whose side God is on. Well, I didn't have any of that in my background. I had physicality and chaos.
Ta-Nehisi CoatesRead
We think we receive all that we perceive, but in fact, we actually give the sky its colour.
James TurrellRead
Money is the seed of money, and the first guinea is sometimes more difficult to acquire than the second million.
Jean-Jacques RousseauRead
The older I get the more I'm convinced that it's the purpose of politicians and journalists to say the world is very simple, whereas it's the purpose of historians to say, 'No! It's very complicated.' _x000D_ _x000D_ The job of the historian is to help give people a sense of existence in time, without which we are really not fully human.
David CannadineRead
The early morning belongs to the Church of the risen Christ. At the break of light it remembers the morning on which death and sin lay prostrate in defeat and new life and salvation were given to mankind
Dietrich BonhoefferRead