When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have 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.

Where there is love there is life.

Hate the sin, love the sinner.

The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.

Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love.

Love is the strongest force the world possesses and yet it is the humblest imaginable.

What barrier is there that love cannot break?

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.

Action expresses priorities.

There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.

Be the change that you wish to see in the world.

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

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.

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed.

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?", Oct. 4, 1930)]

I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings.

I came to the conclusion long ago that all religions were true and that also that all had some error in them, and while I hold by my own religion, I should hold other religions as dear as Hinduism. So we can only pray, if we were Hindus, not that a Christian should become a Hindu; but our innermost prayer should be that a Hindu should become a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim, and a Christian a better Christian.

Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.

There is force in the universe, which, if we permit it, will flow through us and produce miraculous results.

True beauty lies in purity of the heart.

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.

Champions are made from something they have deep inside of them-a desire, a dream, a vison.

True love is boundless like the ocean and, swelling within one, spreads itself out and, crossing all boundaries and frontiers, envelops the whole world.

I have learnt through bitter experience the one supreme lesson to conserve my anger, and as heat conserved is transmuted into energy, even so our anger controlled can be transmuted into a power which can move the world.

Violence begins with the fork.

Truth never damages a cause that is just.

I believe in the fundamental truth of all great religions of the world.

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 othersto act according to his own view of truth.

Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.

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.

In fact, it is more correct to say that Truth is God, than to say that God is Truth.

An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does the truth become error because nobody will see it. 1924-1926)

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.

There's no God higher than truth.

Truth should be the very breath of our life. When once this state in the pilgrim's progress is reached, all other rules of correct living will come without any effort, and obedience to them will be instinctive.

God has no religion.

Let the first act of every morning be to make the following resolve for the day:- I shall not fear anyone on Earth. - I shall fear only God. - I shall not bear ill will toward anyone. - I shall not submit to injustice from anyone. - I shall conquer untruth by truth. And in resisting untruth, I shall put up with all suffering.

There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.

When every hope is gone, 'when helpers fail and comforts flee,' I find that help arrives somehow, from I know not where. Supplication, worship, prayer are no superstition; 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.

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.

My Life is My Message

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

Even a single lamp dispels the deepest darkness.

Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.

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.

Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into.

To believe that what has not occurred in history will not occur at all, is to argue disbelief in the dignity of man.

Intellect takes us along in the battle of life to a certain limit, but at the crucial moment it fails us. Faith transcends reason. It is when the horizon is the darkest and human reason is beaten down to the ground that faith shines brightest and comes to our rescue.

To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. I hold that the more helpless a creature the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of humankind.

All humanity is one undivided and indivisible family. I cannot detach myself from the wickedest soul.

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.

I call him religious who understands the suffering of others.

Yes I am, I am also a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist, and a Jew.

Do not worry in the least about yourself, leave all worry to God,' - this appears to be the commandment in all religions. This need not frighten anyone. He who devotes himself to service with a clear conscience, will day by day grasp the necessity for it in greater measure, and will continually grow richer in faith. The path of service can hardly be trodden by one who is not prepared to renounce self-interest, and to recognize the conditions of his birth. Consciously or unconsciously, every one of us does render some service or other. If we cultivate the habit of doing this service deliberately, our desire for service will steadily grow stronger, and will make not only for our own happiness but that of the world at large.

A religion that takes no account of practical affairs and does not help to solve them is no religion.

If I were a dictator, religion and state would be separate. I swear by my religion. I will die for it. But it is my personal affair. The state has nothing to do with it. The state would look after your secular welfare, health, communications, foreign relations, currency and so on, but not your or my religion. That is everybody's personal concern!

Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is.

There is no school equal to a decent home and no teacher equal to a virtuous parent.

A man, whilst he is dreaming, believes in his dream; he is undeceived only when he is awakened from his slumber.

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

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 in the holy name of liberty or democracy?

Among the many misdeeds of British rule in India, history will look upon the Act which deprived a whole nation of arms as the blackest.

An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so. Now the law of nonviolence says that violence should be resisted not by counter-violence but by nonviolence. This I do by breaking the law and by peacefully submitting to arrest and imprisonment.

Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.

I want freedom for the full expression of my personality.

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 w

Of all the evils for which man has made himself responsible, none is so degrading, so shocking or so brutal as his abuse of the better half of humanity; the female sex.

I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.

You Christians look after a document containing enough dynamite to blow all civilisation to pieces, turn the world upside down and bring peace to a battle-torn planet. But you treat it as though it is nothing more than a piece of literature.

Remember that all through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they seem invincible. But in the end, they always fall. Always.

To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being.

If we are to make progress, we must not repeat history but make new history. We must add to inheritance left by our ancestors.

The greatness of humanity is not in being human, but in being humane.

The only difference between man and man all the world over is one of degree, and not of kind, even as there is between trees of the same species.Where in is the cause for anger, envy or discrimination?

If a single man achieves the highest kind of love, it will be sufficient to neutralize the hate of millions.

An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.

Nobody can hurt me without my permission.

There is no 'way to peace,' there is only 'peace.

You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.

Peace between countries must rest on the solid foundation of love between individuals.

Live simply so others may simply live

most Americans think of Rosa Parks as a demur, pleasant-enough seamstress who backed into history by being too tired to get out of her seat on a bus one day, in reality she had been trained in nonviolence spirit and tactics at a famous institution, Highlander Folk School. It seems to be a difficult concept for most of us that peace is a skill that can be learned. We know war can be learned, but we seem to think that one becomes a peacemaker by a mere change of heart. (23)

I first learned the concepts of non-violence in my marriage.

I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.

The law of love could be best understood and learned through little children.

(When asked what he thought of Western civilization): 'I think it would be a good idea.

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 by 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.

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

As human beings, 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.

The future depends on what you do today.

The future depends on what we do in the present.

To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.

The inner voice is something which cannot be described in words. But sometimes we have a positive feeling that something in us prompts us to do a certain thing. The time when I learnt to recognise this voice was, I may say, the time when I started praying regularly.

You don't know who is important to you until you actually lose them.

I cannot conceive of a greater loss than the loss of one's self-respect.

Stoning prophets and erecting churches to their memory afterwards has been the way of the world through the ages. Today we worship Christ, but the Christ in the flesh we crucified.

The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful then a thousand heads bowing in prayer.

Ask the poor. They'll tell you who the christians are.

Seek not greater wealth, but simpler pleasure; not higher fortune, but deeper felicity.

If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.

I realized that it was not as easy to commit suicide as to contemplate it. And since then, whenever I have heard of someone threatening to commit suicide, it has had little or no effect on me.

Poverty is the worst form of violence.

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.

Three-fourths of the miseries and misunderstandings in the world will disappear if we step into the shoes of our adversaries and understand their standpoint.

Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.

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 action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.

Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.

Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.This means the when you go to sleep you close your eyes and you are and look like you are dead but then when you wake up it looks like you are reborn because you are up and ready.

I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown of my feet by any.

I want the cultures of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown of my feet by any

Fearlessness is the first requisite of spirituality. Cowards can never be moral.

True morality consists not in following the beaten track, but in finding the true path for ourselves, and fearlessly following it.

Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress.

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.

Manliness consists not in bluff, bravado or loneliness. It consists in daring to do the right thing and facing consequences whether it is in matters social, political or other. It consists in deeds not words.

I can retain neither respect nor affection for government which has been moving from wrong to wrong in order to defend its immorality

But so long as I lived under a system of Government based on force and voluntarily partook of the many facilities and privileges it created for me, I was bound to help that Government to the extent of my ability when it was engaged in a war, unless I non-co-operated with the Government and renounced to the utmost of my capacity the privileges it offered me.

My politics is my religion, my religion is my politics.

Homeopathy cures a larger percentage of cases than any other form of treatment and is beyond doubt safer and more economical.

Good travels at a snail's pace. Those who want to do good are not selfish, they are not in a hurry, they know that to impregnate people with good requires a long time.

Truthis like a vast tree, which yields more and more fruit, the more you nurture it

A true Brahmachari will not even dream of satisfying the fleshly appetite

I become more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of Hussein, the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers and his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission. These and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle.

Solitude is a catalyst for innovation

Our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world as in being able to remake ourselves.

Your beliefs become your thoughts, Your thoughts become your words, Your words become your actions, Your actions become your habits, Your habits become your values, Your values become your destiny.

Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat for it is momen

Where choice is set between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence ... I prefer to use arms in defense of honor rather than remain the vile witness of dishonor...

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

Intolerance is a species of violence and therefore against our creed.

Service which 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.

The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.

I have always felt that the true text-book for the pupil is his teacher

To safeguard democracy the people must have a keen sense of independence, self-respect and their oneness, and should insist upon choosing as their representatives only such persons as are good and true.

It is wrong and immoral to seek to escape the consequences of one's acts.

There are only two ways to live your life: as though nothing is a miracle, or as though everything is a miracle.

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.

I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.

We should meet abuse by forbearance. Human nature is so constituted that if we take absolutely no notice of anger or abuse, the person indulging in it will soon weary of it and stop.

Nothing is impossible for pure love.

Every home is a university and the parents are the teachers.

In reality, there are as many religions as there are individuals.

In a gentle way, you can shake the world

I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. My wisdom flows from the Highest Source. I salute that Source in you. Let us work together for unity and love.

There is no such thing as ‘too insane’ unless others turn up dead due to your actions.

Nonviolence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed.

It is also a warning. It is a warning that, if nobody reads the writing on the wall, man will be reduced to the state of the beast, whom he is shaming by his manners.

Selfishness is blind.

An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.

Truth is like a vast tree which yields more and more fruit the more you nurture it. The deeper the search in the mind of truth, the richer the discovery of the gems buried there.

Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.

It is man's social nature which distinguishes him from the brute creation. If it is his privilege to be independent, it is equally his duty to be inter-dependent. Only an arrogant man will claim to be independent of everybody else and be self-contained.

There would be nothing to frighten you if you refused to be afraid.

In the very first month of Indian Opinion, I realized that the sole aim of journalism should be service. The newspaper press is a great power, but just as an unchained torrent of water submerges whole countrysides and devastates crops, even so an uncontrolled pen serves but to destroy. If the control is from without, it proves more poisonous than want of control. It can be profitable only when exercised from within. If this line of reasoning is correct, how many of the journals in the world would stand the test? But who would stop those that are useless? And who should be the judge? The useful and the useless must, like good and evil generally, go on together, and man must make his choice.

While in Bombay, I began, on one hand, my study of Indian law and, on the other, my experiments in dietetics in which Virchand Gandhi, a friend, joined me. My brother, for his part was trying his best to get me briefs. The study of India law was a tedious business. The Civil Procedure Code I could in no way get on with. Not so however, with the Evidence Act. Virchand Gandhi was reading for the Solicitor's Examination and would tell me all sorts of stories about Barristers and Vakils.

My aim is not to be consistent with my previous statements on a given question, but to be consistent with truth as it may present itself to me at a given moment. The result has been that I have grown from truth to truth.

One should not think of embracing another religion before one had fully understand his own.

Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?

I appeal for cessation of hostilities, not because you are too exhausted to fight, but because war is bad in essence. You want to kill Nazism. You will never kill it by its indifferent adoption.

Distinguish between real needs and artificial wants and control the latter.

They cannot take away our self respect if we do not give it to them.

I am & have been for years a confirmed anti-vaccinationist. Anti-vaccination has no backing from the orthodox medical opinion. A medical man who expresses himself against vaccination loses caste. Tremendous pecuniary interests too have grown around vaccination.

I hold that it is the duty of every cultured man or woman to read sympathetically the scriptures of the world. If we are to respect others'religions as we would have them to respect our own, a friendly study of theworld's religions is a sacred duty.

If I want to deprive you of your watch, I shall certainly have to fight for it; if I want to buy your watch, I shall have to pay for it; and if I want a gift, I shall have to plead for it; and, according to the means I employ, the watch is stolen property, my own property, or a donation. Thus we see three different results from three different means. Will you still say that the means do not matter?

Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilisation.

The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.

I am not built for academic writings. Action is my domain.

If I had no sense of humor I should long ago have committed suicide.

Faith is not something to grasp it is a state to grow into.

Faith is the function of the heart.

Whenever you are confronted with an opponent conquer him with love.

To a man with an empty stomach food is god.

Happiness is when what you think what you say and what you do are in harmony.

Rights that do not flow from duty well performed are not worth having.

Where there is love there is life.

Monotony is the law of nature. Look at the monotonous manner in which the sun rises. The monotony of necessary occupations is exhilarating and life-giving.

Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. Properly understood and applied it is the most potent instrument of action.

Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul.

I consider myself a Hindu Christian Moslem Jew Buddhist and Confucian.

It is possible for a single individual to defy the whole might of an unjust empire to save his honour his religion his soul and lay the foundation for that empire's fall or its regeneration.

There are limits to self-indulgence none to self-restraint.

It is better to be violent if there is violence in our hearts than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence.

Morality is contraband in war.

You may never know what results come of your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no results.

Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.