The Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi is credited with inspiring the world with his peaceful and nonviolent techniques in dealing with conflict.
Mahatma Gandhi’s strategy for peace was to convince people to change their hearts, minds, and behavior by changing their attitudes. This was the core of his philosophy of satyagraha, which means “truth force.”
Gandhi wanted people to think more deeply about what they were doing and about what they felt in their hearts. He taught that true power lay within each person. He called for all humans to take responsibility for resolving conflicts on earth peacefully through love rather than through violence.
Gandhi believed that every individual had the inherent right of freedom and the responsibility to use this freedom as a means to better one’s self, society, and humanity.
The revolutionary leadership of Gandhi has inspired many leaders around the world and is still studied today by political scientists, historians, business executives, military personnel, educators, and citizens alike.
Here are 120 most famous and inspiring Mahatma Gandhi quotes you must read
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
“A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.”
“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
“Self-respect knows no considerations.”
“The essence of all religions is one. Only their approaches are different.”
“It is better to allow our lives to speak for us than our words.”
“Speak only if it improves upon the silence.”
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
“There are two days in the year that we can not do anything – yesterday and tomorrow.”
“Do not judge others. Be your own judge and you will be truly happy. If you will try to judge others, you are likely to burn your fingers.”
“Continue to grow and evolve.”
“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”
“Silence is the best answer to anger.”
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
“It’s easy to stand in the crowd but it takes courage to stand alone.”
“A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks he becomes.”
“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.”
“Change yourself – you are in control.”
“A weak man is just by accident. A strong but nonviolent man is unjust by accident.”
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
“Fearlessness is the first requisite of spirituality. Cowards can never be moral.”
“It does not require money, to live neat, clean and dignified.”
“We need not wait to see what others do.”
“You can’t change how people treat you or what they say about you. All you can do is change how you react to it.”
“Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”
“Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding.”
“Our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world as being able to remake ourselves..”
“In a gentle way, you can shake the world. ”
“Man should forget his anger before he lies down to sleep.”
“In doing something, do it with love or never do it at all.”
“Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.”
“I refuse to believe that the tendency of human nature is always downward.”
“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.”
“The greatness of humanity is not in being human, but in being humane.”
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
“Infinite striving to be the best is man’s duty; it is its own reward. Everything else is in God’s hands.”
“My faith is brightest in the midst of impenetrable darkness.”
“Let your life be your message.”
“When you are right, you have no need to be angry. When you are wrong, you have no right to be angry.”
“To believe in something, and not live it, is dishonest.”
“They cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give it to them.”
“There is no principle worth the name if it is not wholly good.”
“Those who know how to think need no teachers.”
“Be the change you are trying to create.”
“Relationships are based on four principles: respect, understanding, acceptance and appreciation.”
“Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow men.”
“A man is but the product of his thoughts; what he thinks, he becomes.”
“A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.”
“Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn. ”
“The future depends on what you do today.”
“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.”
“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.”
“Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into.”
”Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.”
“Seek not greater wealth, but simpler pleasure; not higher fortune, but deeper felicity.”
“You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.”
“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.”
“Real education consists in drawing the best out of yourself.”
“Increase of material comforts, it may be generally laid down, does not in any way whatsoever conduce to moral growth.”
“To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.”
“Our greatest ability as humans is not to change the world; but to change ourselves.”
“If you want to change the world, start with yourself.”
“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”
“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.”
“Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment.”
“Hate the sin, love the sinner.”
“A ‘No’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.”
“Love is the strongest force the world possesses.”
“Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity are the exclusive possession of no one race or religion.”
“Live simply so that others may simply live.”
“The law of love could be best understood and learned through little children.”
“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.”
“Without action, you aren’t going anywhere.”
“The real ornament of woman is her character, her purity.”
“What is true of the individual will be tomorrow true of the whole nation if individuals will but refuse to lose heart and hope.”
“People cannot hurt you without your permission.”
“Nothing has saddened me so much in life as the hardness of heart of educated people.”
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”
“Love never claims, it ever gives.”
“Where there is love there is life.”
“Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.”
“A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks he becomes.”
“I remain an optimist because of my unflinching faith that right must prosper in the end.”
“To call woman the weaker sex is a libel; it is man’s injustice to woman.”
“Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”
“There is force in the universe, which, if we permit it, will flow through us and produce miraculous results.”
“To lose patience is to lose the battle.”
“If you’re going to be a bear, be a grizzly.”
“Fear of disease killed more men than disease itself.”
“Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong.”
“Namaste. I honour the place in you where the entire universe resides… a place of light, of love, of truth, of peace, of wisdom. I honour the place in you where when you are in that place and I am in that place there is only one of us.”
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.”
“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.”
“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.”
“I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.”
“Relationships are based on four principles: respect, understanding, acceptance, and appreciation.”
“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.”
“There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed.”
“What barrier is there that love cannot break?”
“Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening.”
“A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people.”
“I am a humble but very earnest seeker after truth.”
“No one can hurt me without my permission.”
“If we want to reach real peace in this world, we should start educating children.”
“The good man is the friend of all living things.”
“A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.”
“Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.”
“It’s my conviction that nothing enduring can be built on violence.”
“It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.”
“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”
“All compromise is based on give and take, but there can be no give and take on fundamentaks, Any compromise on mere fundamentals is a surrender. For it is all give and no take.”
“My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realising Him.”
“You yourself as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.”
“The best way is to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
“Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, but it is most important that you do it.”
“The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but, it is fear.”
“My life is my message.”
