Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

Quotes

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

• I want freedom for the full expression of my personality.

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

• I wanted to know the best of the life of one who holds today an undisputed sway over the hearts of millions of mankind.... I became more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, 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. When I closed the second volume (of the Prophet's biography), I was sorry there was not more for me to read of that great life.

• When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways 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.

• There is no path to peace. Peace is the path.

• If you don't find God in the next person you meet, it is a waste of time looking for him further.

• The only devils in this world are those running around in our own hearts, and that is where all our battles should be fought.

• Live simply that others may simply live.

• Affection cannot be manufactored or regulated by law. If one has no affection for a person or a system, one should be free to give the fullest expression to his disaffection, so long as he does not contemplate, promote, or incite to violence.

• No cost is too heavy for the preservation of one's honor.

• Hate the sin, love the sinner.

• 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.

• To conceal ignorance is to increase it. An honest confession of it, however, gives ground for the hope that it will diminish some day or the other.

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

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

• We may stumble and fall, but shall rise again; it should be enough if we did not run away from the battle.

• It may be possible to gild pure gold, but who can make his mother more beautiful?

• Man is 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.

• 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.