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Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi Quotes

Civil rights leader

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Famous Mahatma Gandhi Quotes

“Complete non-violence is complete absence of ill-will against all that lives. It therefore embraces even sub-human life, not excluding noxious insects and beasts. They have not been created to feed our destructive propensities. If we only knew the mind of the Creator, we should find their proper place in His creation.”

IfsShouldMindHumansAnimalViolenceCreationPhilosophicalEmbraceIllCreatorAbsenceHuman LifeBeastDestructiveHinduismInsectsNon ViolencePropensityIll Will
Book:The Wisdom of Gandhi in His Own Words
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“Truth quenches untruth, love quenches anger, self-suffering quenches violence. This eternal rule is a rule not for saints only but for all.”

SelfTruthSufferingViolenceEternalSaintUntruthTruth LoveQuench
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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“Non-violence and cowardice are contradictory terms. Non-violence is the greatest virtue, cowardice the greatest vice. Non-violence springs from love, cowardice from hate. Non-violence always suffers, cowardice would always inflict suffering. Perfect non-violence is the highest bravery. Non-violent conduct is never demoralising; cowardice always is.”

SufferingHateTermPerfectCourageVirtueViolenceHighestSpringBraveryVicesViolentCowardiceContradictoryNon ViolenceNon Violent
Book:The Encyclopaedia of Gandhian Thoughts
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“Let no one charge me with ever having abused or encouraged weakness or surrendered on matters of principle. But I have said, as I say again, that every trifle must not be dignified into a principle.”

SaidMatterPrinciplesCourageViolenceWeaknessTrifles
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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“It is through truth & non-violence that I can have some glimpse of God. Truth & non-violence are my God. They are the obverse and reverse of the same coin.”

I CanReligionViolenceReverseMetaphysicsGlimpseCoinsNon Violence
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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“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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“Let the Jews who claim to be the chosen race prove their title by choosing the way of non-violence for vindicating their position on earth. Every country is their home, including Palestine, not by aggression but by loving service”

WayCountryHomeEarthRaceViolencePositionProveClaimsIncludingJewChosenTitlesAggressionPalestineNon Violence
Book:The Gandhi Reader: A Sourcebook of His Life and Writings
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“H. G. Wells was not the only one to mention Churchill and Hitler in the same breath: "Churchill and Hitler are striving to change the nature of their respective countrymen by forcing and hammering violent methods on them. Man may be suppressed in this manner but he cannot be changed. Ahimsa [non-violence in the Hindu tradition], on the other hand, can change human nature and sooner than men like Churchill and Hitler."”

MenHumansWellsMayHandsViolenceHuman NatureChangedTraditionBreathsMethodStriveViolentNon ViolenceCountrymenAhimsa
Author:Mahatma Gandhi
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“I do believe that, where there is only a choice between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence. I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honour than that she should, in a cowardly manner, become or remain a helpless witness to her own dishonour. But I believe that nonviolence is infinitely superior to violence, forgiveness is more manly than punishment.”

ShouldBelieveOrderChoicesI BelieveViolenceArmsIndiaPunishmentSuperiorsWitnessRevolutionaryHonourCowardiceNonviolenceHelplessResortsAdviseCowardlyManlyViolence And PeaceDishonour
Book:Soul Force: Gandhi's Writings on Peace
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“Though violence is not lawful, when it is offered in self-defense or for the defense of the defenseless, it is an act of bravery far better than cowardly submission. The latter befits neither man nor woman. Under violence, there are many stages and varieties of bravery. Every man must judge this for himself. No other person can or has the right.”

MenPersonsSelfViolenceStageJudgingBraveryDefenseEvery ManVarietyRevolutionaryLatterSubmissionSelf DefenseCowardlyDefenselessActs Of Bravery
Author:Mahatma Gandhi
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“Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence. Violence is any day preferable to impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent.”

IfsMenHeartViolenceVictoryDefeatViolentNonviolenceCloaksMomentaryImpotenceThere Is HopeNon ViolentViolent Man
Author:Mahatma Gandhi
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“I do believe that where there is a choice between cowardice and non-violence I would advise violence. Thus when my eldest son asked me what he should have done, had he been present when I was almost fatally assaulted in 1908, whether he should have run away and seen me killed or whether he should have used his physical force which he could and wanted to use, and defended me, I told him that it was his duty to defend me even by using violence.”

ShouldBelieveDoneUseRunningWantedUsedChoicesForceViolenceSonDutyShould HaveRunning AwayCowardiceAdviseNon ViolenceEldestPhysical ForceEldest Son
Book:All Men Are Brothers
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“In my humble opinion, non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good. But in the past, non-cooperation has been deliberately expressed in violence to the evildoer. I am endeavoring to show my countrymen that violent non-cooperation only multiplies evil and that evil can only be sustained by violence. Withdrawal of support of evil requires complete abstention from violence. Non-violence implies voluntary submission to the penalty for non-cooperation with evil.”

Has BeensShowsPastEvilOpinionSupportViolenceDutyHumbleViolentCooperationPenaltiesSubmissionNon ViolenceCountrymenWithdrawalAbstention
Author:Mahatma Gandhi
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