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Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi Quotes

Civil rights leader

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Famous Mahatma Gandhi Quotes

“My notion of democracy is that under it the weakest shall have the same opportunities as the strongest... no country in the world today shows any but patronizing regard for the weak... Western democracy, as it functions today, is diluted fascism... true democracy cannot be worked by twenty men sitting at the center. It has to be worked from below, by the people of every village.”

PeopleMenWorldCountryShowsTodayPoliticalOpportunityPoliticsFreedomLibertyDemocracySittingWeakFunctionTwentiesRegardWesternNotionStrongestVillageFascismWorld TodayPatronizingTrue Democracy
Author:Mahatma Gandhi
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“To me, God is Truth and Love; God is ethics and morality: God is fearlessness. God is the source of Light and Life and yet He is above and beyond all these. God is conscience... He is a personal God to those who need His personal presence. He is embodied to those who need His touch. He is the purest essence. He simply is to those who have faith. He is all things to all men.”

MenNeedsLightSourceMoralityEthicsConscienceAll ThingsEssenceAnd LoveGod LoveHave FaithGodlyFearlessnessTruth And LoveAbove And Beyond
Book:All Men Are Brothers
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“Man and his deed are two distinct things. Whereas a good deed should call forth approbation and a wicked deed dis-approbation, the doer of the deed, whether good or wicked always deserves respect or pity as the case may be. Hate the sin and not the sinner is a precept which though easy enough to understand is rarely practised, and that is why the poison of hatred spreads in the world.”

MenWorldShouldMayTwoEnoughHateEvilEasySinCasesDeserveHatredDeedsSpreadPityPoisonWickedSinnerGood DeedsDoers
Author:Mahatma Gandhi
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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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“Woman in the companion of man, gifted with equal mental capacities. She has the right to participate in the minutest details in the activities of man, and she has equal right to liberty of freedom and liberty with him.”

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Book:Gandhi on Women: Collection of Mahatma Gandhi's Writings and Speeches on Women
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“Golden fetters are no less galling to a self-respecting man that iron ones; the sting lies in the fetters, not in the metal.”

MenSelfLyingWealthGoldenIronMetalsFetters
Book:Glorious Thoughts of Gandhi: Being a Treasury of about Ten Thousand Valuable and Inspiring Thougths of Mahatma Gandhi, Classified Under Four Hundred Subjects
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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.”

KnowsMenMayHas BeensLife IsReligionOrderAnimalCreationMaterialsCallingAimAddPossessionMakersMetaphysicsDay To DayProspectsMaterial PossessionsDays To Come
Book:The Penguin Gandhi Reader
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“I learned from my illiterate but wise mother that all rights to be deserved and preserved came from duty well done. Thus the very right to live accrues to us only when we do the duty of citizenship of the world. From this one fundamental statement, perhaps it is easy enough to define the duties of Man and Woman and correlate every right to some corresponding duty to be first performed. Every other right can be shown to be a usurpation hardly worth fighting for.”

MenWorldFirstsWellsDoneEnoughMotherFightingEasyWiseRightsDutyMen And WomenFundamentalsHuman RightsStatementsCitizenshipWell DoneIlliterateCorrespondingWorth Fighting ForUsurpation
Book:The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi: Supplementary volume
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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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“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?”

IfsMenHeartSelfSpiritualLawHumanitySexMoralGreaterSacrificeInjusticeIntuitionSuperiorsAppealsEnduranceNonviolenceBrutesLibelGreater Power
Book:Young India
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“My doctrine means that I must identify myself with life, with everything that lives, that I must share the majesty of life in the presence of God. The sum-total of this life is God. .. Man is not at peace with himself until he has become like unto God. The endeavor to reach this state is the supreme, the only ambition worth having. And this is self-realisation. This self-realisation is the subject of the Gita, as it is of all scriptures... to be a real devotee is to realise oneself. Self-realisation is not something apart.”

MenMeanRealSelfStatesLife IsShareSubjectsMoralityAmbitionEthicsOneselfScriptureSupremeDoctrineThis LifeEndeavorRealisingMajestyPresence Of GodRealisationGitaSelf RealisationDevotee
Author:Mahatma Gandhi
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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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“... 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.”

IfsKnowsMenGivingShouldHas BeensMadeSaidEarthDiesGrowsBornAnimalNumbersMoralAdviceSeriousGiving UpBasesTragedyFruitIllnessMedicalExperimentsTeaIf I CouldAnimal RightsMilkVegetarianismHerbsBeefMuttonBorn To LiveSerious Illness
Book:Collected Works
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“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be.”

ThinkingMenBelieveBeliefStrengthPositive ThinkingOptimismOptimisticOptimistPower Of Positive ThinkingBeing OptimisticConfidence In YourselfThink Positive Be PositivePositive OptimisticPositive Thinking InspirationalThinking Of YourselfGood OptimisticSkills And Abilities
Book:The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas
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“We notice that the mind is a restless bird; the more it gets the more it wants, and still remains unsatisfied. The more we indulge our passions the more unbridled they become. Our ancestors, therefore, set a limit to our indulgences. They saw that happiness was largely a mental condition. A man is not necessarily happy because he is rich, or unhappy because he is poor.... Millions will always remain poor.”

MenWantMindStillsHappinessPassionPoorMillionsRichSawsConditionsLimitsBirdRemainsUnhappyAncestorRestlessIndulgeIndulgenceUnsatisfied
Book:Hind Swaraj
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