Quotes from Mahatma Gandhi

I did once seriously think of embracing the Christian faith. The gentle figure of Christ, so full of forgiveness that he taught his followers not to retaliate when abused or struck, but to turn the other cheek - I thought it was a beautiful example of the perfect man.

The taking of vows that are not feasible or that are beyond one's capacity would betray thoughtlessness and want of balance.

A rose will smell as sweet by any other name, but it must be the rose of liberty that I want and not the artificial product.

Even the most sublime ideas sound ridiculous if heard too often. Be the change that you want to see in the world.

Education should be so revolutionized as to answer the wants of the poorest villager, instead of answering those of an imperial exploiter.

With God as witness, I want to proclaim this truth, that the way of violence cannot bring Swaraj, it can only lead to disaster.

The safest rule of conduct is to claim kinship when we want to do service and not to insist on kinship when we want to assert a right.

We have to be the change we want in the world.

My nationalism is as broad as my swadeshi, I want India's rise so that the whole world may benefit.

For my own part, I do not want the freedom of India if it means extinction of English or the disappearance of Englishmen.

To shirk taking of vows betrays indecision and want of resolution.

It is my conviction that the root of evil is the want of a living God.

Ramanama is for the pure at heart and for those who want to attain purity and remain pure.

The only virtue I want to claim is truth and nonviolence.

If you want something done, ask. If you want something done quickly, ask, and then begin counting down from ten with no explanation.

The meaning of prayer is that I want to evoke that Divinity within me.

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

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.

I am a man of peace. I believe in peace. But I do not want peace at any price.

Once one assumes an attitude of intolerance, there is no knowing where it will take one. Intolerance, someone has said, is violence to the intellect and hatred is violence to the heart.

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 the holy name of liberty or democracy?

I contend that non-violent acts exert pressure far more effective than violent acts, for the pressure comes from goodwill and gentleness.

When there is war, the poet lays down the lyre, the lawyer his law reports, the schoolboy his books.

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.