MAHATMA GANDHI QUOTES

Quotations from the book : EPIGRAMS FROM GANDHIJI


Epigrams from Gandhiji

GANDHI QUOTES:
Quotations from the book
Epigrams from Gandhiji


Alphabetical Listing

A B C D E F
G H I J K L
M N O P R S
T U V W Y

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GLOSSARY OF INDIAN WORDS

Sources/References

Numerals after each epigram refer to the pages of volumes indicated by the following abbreviations. Where publisher is not mentioned, it is Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad.

  • I to XXVI: The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Publications Division
  • A : An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with Truth: M. K. Gandhi; Navajivan  Publishing House, Ahmedabad
  • AA: Asia and the Americas: Monthly Magazine published from New York
  • ABP: Amrita Bazar Patrika: English Daily
  • AG: Among the Great: Dilip Kumar Roy; Nalanda Publications, Bombay, 1945
  • AOA: Ashram Observations in Action: Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad
  • BC: The Bombay Chronicle: Daily newspaper published from Bombay
  • Bunch: A Bunch of Old Letters, J. Nehru (Asia, 1958)
  • CP: Constructive Programme: Its Meaning and Place: M. K. Gandhi; Navajivan Publishing House, Ahmedabad
  • EF: The Epic Fast: Pyarelal, Ahmedabad, 1932
  • ER: Ethical Religion: Mahatma Gandhi; S. Ganesan, Madras, 1930
  • EWE : Evil Wrought by the English Medium, R. K. Prabhu(1958)
  • FYM: From Yeravda Mandir: Ashram Observations: M. K. Gandhi; NavajivanPublishing House,
  • GCG: Gandhi's Correspondence with the Government,1924-44: Navajivan Publishing House
  • GIV : Gandhiin Indian Villages: Mahadev Desai; S. Ganesan, Madras1927
  • H: Harijan: (1933-1956) English Weekly Journal founded by Gandhi,
  • HS: Hind SWARAJ OR Indian  Home Rule: ; Navjivan Publishing House,Ahmedabad
  • MM: Mind of Mahatma Gandhi (Ed. Prabhu & Rao), 3rd Edn., 1968
  • MOG: The Message of the Gita, R. K. Prabhu (1959)
  • MGCG: Mahatma Gandhi: Correspondence with the Government (1959)
  • T: (Followed by Vol. No.) Mahatma (D.G. Tendulkar) Vols. 1-8; 2nd Edn.(1960), Publications Division
  • TIG: Truth is God, Ed. R. K. Prabhu(1955)
Faith :
  • Faith becomes lame, when it ventures into matters pertaining to reason. T-7-36
  • A faith gained in strength only when people were willing to lay down their lives for it. T-7-386
  • Faith is like the Himalaya mountains which cannot possibly change. T-3-244
  • Faith is not a delicate flower which would wither away under the slightest stormy weather. T-3-244
  • Robust faith in oneself and brave trust of the opponent, so called or real, is the best safeguard. T-8-133
  • Exercise of faith will be the safest where there is a clear determination summarily to reject all that is contrary to truth and love. T-2-313
  • A living faith cannot be manufactured by the rule of majority. MM-341
  • What is faith worth if it is not translated into action? T-5-180
  • If you have faith in the cause and the means and in God, the hot sun will be cool for you. T-2-182
  • It is poor faith that needs fair weather for standing firm. That alone is true faith that stands the foulest weather. XXV-337
  • Nothing can be more hurtful to an honourable man than that he should be accused of bad faith.XX-160
  • Faith is not imparted like secular subjects. It is given through the language of the heart. TIG-70
  • Every living faith must have within itself the power of rejuvenation if it is to live. TIG-73
  • Work without faith is like an attempt to reach the bottom of a bottomless pit. MM-5
  • A man with a grain of faith in God never loses hope, because he ever believes in the ultimate triumph of Truth. XXV-188
  • A man of faith does not bargain or stipulate with God. XXV-88
  • Just as the body cannot exist without blood, so the soul needs the matchless and pure strength of faith. TIG-112
  • Nonviolence succeeds only when we have a real living faith in God. T-5-14
  • A satyagrahi should have a living faith in God. T-5-92
  • The Gita is not for those who have no faith. T-2-2
  • I am a seasoned soldier of nonviolence, and I have evidence enough to sustain my faith. T-5-222
  • I have made the world's faith in God my own and as my faith is effaceable, I regard that faith as amounting to experience. TIG-4
  • I know nothing of the science of astrology and I consider it to be a science, if it is a science, of doubtful value, to be severely left alone by those who have any faith in Providence. T-2-314
  • It is the faith and perseverance and single-mindedness with which Hitler has perfected his weapons of destruction that commands my admiration. T-5-291
  • God's word is: 'He who strives never perishes'. I have implicit faith in that promise. TIG-4
  • My effort should never be to undermine another's faith but to make him a better follower of his own faith. T-2-343
  • My faith in non-co-operation is as bright as ever. XXV-336
  • My faith is brightest in the midst of impenetrable darkness. MM-132
  • My faith runs so very much faster than my reason that I can challenge the whole world and say, 'God is, was and ever shall be'. TIG-13
  • The only tyrant I accept in this world is the 'still small voice' within. MM-14
  • My implicit faith in nonviolence does mean yielding to minorities when they are really weak. MM-343
  • Nonviolence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed. T-2-97
  • Whether one or many, I must declare my faith that it is better for India to discard violence altogether even for defending her borders.T-5-178
  • With me the connection between the cosmic phenomena and human behaviour is a living faith that draws me nearer to God, humbles me and makes me readier for facing Him. T-3-251
  • Without a belief in my programme and without an acceptance of my condition, you will ruin me, ruin yourselves and ruin the cause. T-5-265
  • All faiths constitute a revelation of Truth, but all are imperfect and liable to error. TIG-65
  • Tolerance implies a gratuitous assumption of the inferiority of other faiths to one's own. TIG-64
  • What faith can you place in a general or a soldier who lacks resolution and determination, who says, 'I shall keep guard as long as I can'? T-2-365
  • Can a general fight on the strength of soldiers, who, he knows, have no faith in him? T-5-266
  • Decency requires that when a programme is approved by the majority, all should carry it out faithfully. T-5-2244
  • Even as a tree has a single trunk, but many branches and leaves, there is one religion but any number of faiths. TIG-65
  • He who would in his own person test the fact of God's presence can do so by a living faith. T-2-213
  • If you have no character to lose, people will have no faith in you. T-3-34
  • Khaddar is an activity that can absorb all the time of all available men and women and grown-up children, if they have faith. XXV-365
  • Legal imposition avoids the necessity of honour or good faith. XXVI-162
  • The khadi spirit means an equally illimitable faith. T-2-282
  • Prayer is an impossibility without a living faith in the presence of God within. TIG-55
  • The renunciation of the Gita is the acid test of faith. T-2-310
  • Those who are lacking in bhakti (devotion), lacking in faith, are ill qualified to interpret the scriptures. TIG-96
Fast - Fasting :
  • Fasting and prayer are common injunctions in my religion. T-2-152
  • Fasting for light and penance is a hoary institution. T-3-165
  • A pure fast, like duty, is its own reward. T-8-247
  • Fasting is an institution as old as Adam. It has been resorted to for self-purification or for some ends, noble as well as ignoble. T-5-61
  • A complete fast is a complete and literal denial of self. It is the truest prayer. MM-35
  • A genuine fast cleanses the body, mind and soul. It crucifies the flesh and to that extent sets the soul free. MM-35
  • Fasts should not be undertaken out of anger. Anger is a short madness. T-8-5
  • All fasting and all penance must, as far as possible, be secret. T-2-86
  • What the eyes are for the outer world, fasts are for the inner. T-2-218
  • A fast to be true must be accompanied by a readiness to receive pure thoughts and determination to resist all Satan's temptations. TIG-52
  • When a man fasts, it is not the gallons of water he drinks that sustains him, but God. T-8-108
  • My fast is, among other things, meant to qualify me for achieving that equal and selfless love. T-2-151
  • My fast is a matter between God and myself. T-2-150
  • My religion teaches me that whenever there is distress which one can not remove, one must fast and pray.T-2-148
  • My austerities, fasting and prayers are, I know, of no value, if I rely upon them for reforming me. TIG-153
Fear - Fearless :
  • Fear is a disease worse than malaria or kalaazar; these diseases kill the body, fear kills the soul. T-2-304
  • Fear of disease kills more men than disease itself. T-7-110
  • A fear-stricken person can never know God, and one who knows God will never fear the mortal man. T-2-304
  • The fear of the judge within is more terrible than that of the one without. T-2-47
  • Where there is fear, there is no religion. T-2-230
  • There is always the fear of self-righteousness possessing us, the fear of arrogating to ourselves a superiority that we do not possess. T-5-243
  • It is weakness which breeds fear, and fear breeds distrust. T-2-133
  • There would be no one to frighten you if you refuse to be afraid. T-2-302
  • The man who fears man falls from the estate of man. Fear God alone. T-2-302
  • The greatest help you can give me is to banish fear from your hearts. T-7-260
  • External fears cease of their own accord when once we have conquered these traitors within the camp. MM-60
  • For a nonviolent person the whole world is one family. He will thus fear none, nor will others fear him. T-5-304
  • Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. XXV-563
  • Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent than the one derived from fear of punishment. XXV-563
  • A man who throws himself on God ceases to fear man. T-2-369
  • Running away for fear of death, leaving one's dear ones, temples or music to take care of themselves, is irreligion, it is cowardice. XXV-138
  • It needs more than a heart of oak to shed all fear except the fear of God. T-4-33
  • You will find that God is always by the side of the fearless. Therefore, we should fear Him alone and seek His protection. T-7-273
  • The golden rule is to act fearlessly upon what one believes to be right. MM-60
  • Fearlessness presupposes calmness and peace of mind.MM-60
Fight :
  • I am convinced that the masses do not want to fight if the leaders do not. MM-400
  • My fight against untouchability is a fight against the impure in humanity. T-3-168
Fire :
  • An incendiary uses fire for destructive and nefarious purposes, a housewife makes daily use of it in preparing nourishing food for mankind. MM-448
Flag :
  • A national spirit is necessary for national existence. A flag is a material aid to the development of such a spirit. >XXVI-544
Flattery :
  • Flattery and anger are the two sides of weakness, one the obverse, other the reverse. The reverse - anger - is worse than the obverse - flattery. XXV-574
Force :
  • Love is the subtlest force in the world. XXV-392
  • The force of nonviolence is infinitely more wonderful and subtle than the material forces of nature, like electricity. T-3-112
  • The force generated by nonviolence is infinitely greater than the force of all the arms invented by man's ingenuity. T-5-281
  • The truth is that God is the force. He is the essence of life. He is pure and undefiled consciousness. He is eternal. TIG-84
  • To conquer subtle passions, seems to me, to be harder by far than the physical conquest of the world by the force of arms. TIG-58
  • Older men should yield with grace what will be taken from them by force if they do not read the signs of the times.T-2-371
  • The more efficient a force is, the more silent and the more subtle it is. XXV-392
Foreign Cloth :
  • Love of foreign cloth has brought foreign domination, pauperism and, what is worst, shame to many a home. T-2-55
  • Untouchability of foreign cloth is as much a virtue with all of us as untouchability of the suppressed classes must be a sin with every devout Hindu. T-2-53
  • In burning my foreign cloths, I burn my shame. T-2-64
Forgiveness :
  • Forgiveness is the quality of the brave, not of the cowardly. MM-473
  • Forgiveness is a quality of the soul and therefore a positive quality. MM-420
  • The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. MM-421
  • A definite forgiveness would mean a definite recognition of our strength. T-2-5
  • Abstinence is forgiveness only when there is power to punish; it is meaningless when it pretends to proceed from a helpless creature. T-2-4
  • A mouse hardly forgives a cat when it allows itself to be torn to pieces by her. T-24
  • Forgiveness adorns a soldier. T-4-2
  • With enlightened forgiveness must come a mighty wave of strength in us, which would make it impossible for a Dyer and a Frank Johnson to heap affront on India's devoted head. T-2-4
Freedom :
  • Freedom of a nation cannot be won by solitary acts of heroism, though they may be of the true type, never by heroism so called. T-2-333
  • Freedom is like a birth. Till we are fully free, we are slaves. MM-311
  • Freedom of worship, even of public speech, would become a farce if interference became the order of the day. T-8-132
  • Freedom received though the efforts of others, however benevolent, cannot be retained when such effort is withdrawn. T-5-276
  • Freedom battles are not fought without paying heavy prices.T-5-57
  • No charter of freedom will be worth looking at which does not ensure the same measure of freedom for the minorities as for the majority. T-5-201
  • No government on earth can make men, who have realized freedom in their hearts, salute against their will. T-7-113
  • No society can possibly be built on a denial of individual freedom. MM-312
  • When freedom is in jeopardy, non-co-operation may be a duty and prison may be a palace. XXV-393
  • God demands nothing less than complete self - surrender as the price for the only real freedom that is worth having. TIG-57
  • Is it not possible for us all to realize that the masses will never mount to freedom through murder? T-5-258
  • True ahimsa should mean a complete freedom from ill-will, anger and hate and an overflowing love for all. T-2-318
  • Bomb-throwers have discredited the cause of freedom, in whose name they threw the bombs. T-2-357
  • There is nothing but nonviolence to fall back upon for retaining our freedom, even as we had to do for gaining it. T-7-95
  • Freedom from all attachment is the realization of God as Truth. TIG-37
  • Freedom of India will demonstrate to all the exploited races of the earth that their freedom is very near. TIG-7-2
  • India's freedom will not be won by violence but only by the purest suffering without retaliation. XXV-277
  • There is every reason for being cautious about founding new universities till India has digested the newly acquired freedom. EWE-29
  • We want freedom for our country, but not at the expense or exploitation of others, not so as to degrade other countries. T-2-200
  • I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. EWE-11
  • If any Englishman dedicated his life to securing the freedom of India, resisting tyranny and serving the land, I should welcome that Englishman as an Indian. X-41
  • I would far rather that India perished than that she won freedom at the sacrifice of truth. T-3-133
  • I would not sell the vital interests of the untouchables for the sake of winning freedom for India. T-3-113
  • My interest in India's freedom will cease if she adopts violent means, for their fruit will not be freedom but slavery in disguise. T-2-126
  • For my own part, I do not want the freedom of India if it means extinction of England or the disappearance of Englishmen. T-2-200
  • Through realization of freedom of India, I hope to realize and carry on the mission of brotherhood of man. T-2-353
  • It will be hard to find a parallel in history in which unarmed people have represented the urge for freedom, turning their armlessness into the central means for deliverance. T-5-193
  • Though we are politically free, we are hardly free from the subtle domination of the West. EWE-28
  • Nothing depends upon the death of an individual, be he ever so great, but much depends upon the freedom of India. T-2-314
  • A slave has not the freedom even to do the right thing. T-2-6
  • A slave-holder, who has decided to abolish slavery, does not consult his slaves whether they desire freedom or not. T-5-201
Friends - Friendship :
  • Friends to be friends are not called upon to agree even on most points. T-2-214
  • Death is no fiend, he is the truest of friends. He delivers us from agony. T-2-237
  • With me marriage is not a necessary test of friendship even between husband and wife, let alone their respective clans. XXVI-285
  • It is the acid test of nonviolence that in a nonviolent conflict there is no rancour left behind, and in the end the enemies are converted into friends. T-4-291
  • My attitude towards the English is one of utter friendliness and respect. XXVI-52