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Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi Quotes

Civil rights leader

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Famous Mahatma Gandhi Quotes

“How do you know if the next act you are about to do is the right one or the wrong one? Consider the face of the poorest and most vulnerable human being that you have ever chanced upon, and ask yourself if the act that you contemplate will be of benefit to that person; and if it will be, it's the right thing to do, and if not, rethink it.”

IfsKnowsHumansPersonsFacesNextAsksHuman BeingsBenefitsVulnerableThings To DoRight ThingDo You KnowContemplatingPoorest
Author:Mahatma Gandhi
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“It is the best thing to blame ourselves when people cannot get on well with us. Boundless charity necessarily includes all or it ceases to be boundless. We must be strict with ourselves and lenient with our neighbors. For we know not their difficulties and what they overcome.”

PeopleKnowsWellsOvercomingDifficultyBlameCharityNeighborCeaseBest ThingsStrictBoundlessLenient
Book:The Moral and Political Writings of Mahatma Gandhi: Truth and Non-Violence
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“I believe that a party wishing equality for India does exist in Britain. But it is an insignificant minority, and while I honour and like their opinion I cannot be enthused over it, for I know that those who shape policy and dominate are otherwise inclined. For me, therefore, it is only the Secretary of State who counts.”

KnowsBelieveDoeStatesI BelieveWishPartyOpinionPolicyShapesIndiaBritainMinoritiesOver ItHonourSecretaryInsignificant
Author:Mahatma Gandhi
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“I am but a poor struggling soul yearning to be wholly good, wholly truthful and wholly non-violent in thought, word and deed, but ever failing to reach the ideal which I know to be true. It is a painful climb, but each step upwards makes me feel stronger and fit for the next.”

KnowsFeelsSoulSpiritualNextPoorStepsStruggleFailingFitIdealsStrongerPainfulDeedsViolentBeing TrueClimbsYearningTruthfulNon Violent
Book:All Men Are Brothers
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“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.”

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Author:Mahatma Gandhi
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“It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us. This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good heart whatever they might have to say.”

IfsKnowsTryingHeartMayMightAbleSpiritualEvilSidesCan DoAngryCriticsGood HeartSelf PerceptionEvil Side
Book:Wit and Wisdom of Gandhi, Nehru, Tagore: Being a Treasury of Over Ten Thousand Invaluable and Inspiring Thoughts, Views, and Obervations on about Eight Hundred Subjects of Popular Interest, Collected from the Speeches and Writings of These Three Great Leaders of Modern India
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“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.”

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Book:Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth
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“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. Speak your mind. Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth.”

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Author:Mahatma Gandhi
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“Everyone has faith in God though everyone does not know it. For everyone has faith in himself and that multiplied to the nth degree is God. The sum total of all that lives is God. We may not be God, but we are of God, even as a little drop of water is of the ocean.”

KnowsMayLittlesDoeLife IsWaterSeaDegreesOceanBeachHave FaithFaith In GodDrop Of WaterHave Faith In God
Book:The Encyclopaedia of Gandhian Thoughts
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“The path of self-purification is hard and steep. One has to become absolutely passion-free in thought, speech and action to rise above the opposing currents of love and hatred, attachment and repulsion. I know that I have not in me as yet that triple purity in spite of constant ceaseless striving for it. That is why the world's praise fails to move me, indeed it very often stings me. To conquer the subtle passions seems to me to be harder far than the physical conquest of the world by the force of arms.”

KnowsWorldLoveSelfHardSeemsActionMovingPassionForcePathFailingArmsSpeechHatredHarderPraiseConstantStriveCurrentsConquerPuritySpiteSubtleAttachmentConquestRise AboveOpposingSteepPurificationRepulsionHatred And Love
Book:All Men Are Brothers
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“A true soldier does not argue as he marches, how success is going to be ultimately achieved. But he is confident that if he only plays his humble part well, somehow or other the battle will be won. In is that spirit that every one of us should act. It is not given to us to know the future. But it is given to everyone of us to know how to do our own part well.”

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Book:The Good Life
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“Man has reason, discrimination and free-will such as it is. The brute has no such thing. It is not a free agent, and knows no distinction between virtue and vice, good and evil. Man, being a free agent, knows these distinctions, and when he follows his higher nature, shows himself far superior to the brute, but when he follows his baser nature can show himself lower than the brute.”

KnowsMenReasonShowsEvilVirtueHigherVicesDiscriminationSuperiorsAgentsDistinctionGood And EvilFree WillBrutesEvil ManFree Agents
Book:The Wit and Wisdom of Gandhi
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“Of all the animal creations of God, main is the only animal who has been created in order that he may know his Maker. Man's aim is life is not therefore to add from day to day to his material prospects and to his material possessions, but his predominant calling is, from day to day to come nearer to his own Maker.”

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Book:The Penguin Gandhi Reader
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“For a bowl of water give a goodly meal; For a kindly greeting bow thou down with zeal; For a simple penny pay thou back with gold; If thy life be rescued, life do not withhold. Thus the words and actions of the wise regard; Every little service tenfold they reward. But the truly noble know all men as one, And return with gladness good for evil done.”

IfsKnowsMenGivingLittlesDoneActionLife IsEvilWaterSimplePayWiseReturnGoldRegardRewardsNobleMealsBowsBowlsPenniesZealGladnessGreetingsWords And Actions
Book:Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth
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“It is not given to man to know the whole Truth. His duty lies in living up to the truth as he sees it, and in doing so, to resort to the purest means, i.e., to non-violence. God alone knows absolute truth. Therefore, I have often said, Truth is God. It follows that man, a finite being, cannot know absolute truth. Nobody in this world possesses absolute truth. This is God's attribute alone. Relative truth is all we know. Therefore, we can only follow the truth as we see it. Such pursuit of truth cannot lead anyone astray.”

KnowsMenWorldMeanSaidWholeTruthLyingGivenViolenceThis WorldDutyTruth IsAbsolutesPursuitAttributesRelativeConsistencyFiniteResortsNon ViolenceAbsolute TruthWhole TruthRelative Truth
Author:Mahatma Gandhi
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“So far as I can see, the atomic bomb has deadened the finest feeling that has sustained for ages. There used to be so-called laws of war, which made it tolerable. Now we know the truth. War knows no law except that of might. The atomic bomb brought an empty victory but it resulted for the time being in destroying the soul of Japan. What has happened to the soul of the destroying nation is yet too early to see.”

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Author:Mahatma Gandhi
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“... man was not born a carnivorous animal, but born to live on the fruits and herbs that the earth grows. I know we must all err. I would give up milk if I could, but I cannot. I have made that experiment times without number. I could not, after a serious illness, regain my strength, unless I went back to milk. That has been the tragedy of my life. But the basis of my vegetarianism is not physical, but moral. If anybody said that I should die if I did not take beef tea or mutton, even on medical advice, I would prefer death. That is the basis of my vegetarianism.”

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Book:Collected Works
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“We do not know whether it is good to live or to die. Therefore, we should not take delight in living, nor should we tremble at the thought of death. We should be equiminded towards death. This is the ideal. It may be long before we reach it, and only a few of us can attain it. Even then, we must keep it constantly in view, and the more difficult it seems of attainment, the greater should be the effort we put forth.”

KnowsShouldMayLongSeemsDeathDiesDifficultViewsEffortGreaterIdealsDelightAttainmentThoughts Of Death
Book:Gandhi on Nehru
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