Best Inspiring Mahatma Gandhi Quotes of All Time

Mahatma Gandhi was one of the most significant and revered freedom fighters. Born in 1869 as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, he went on to become a lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist and social activist. He led the nationalist movement against the Britishers and made Indian independence possible. He worked towards uplifting poor, expanding women rights, increasing harmony between all the communities of the Indian population, ending untouchability and most importantly demanding the self-rule for India.

He was regarded all over the world for his non-violent movement. He promoted a self-reliant India and led the Dandi March and Swadeshi policy. He encouraged civil rights and non- cooperation movements. He is regarded as Father of the Nation in India, and his image appears on the currency notes of India. Here are some of the best Mahatma Gandhi quotes and sayings. 

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

There could be two meanings derived from these words. Firstly, it is about syncing your actions with your words. It's about saying what you truly believe in, with your actions being in accordance with your words. Else if your actions are in contrary to your beliefs or your preachings, you are dishonest to others as well as yourself.

The second meaning of these words could be about not being able to execute your ideas and planning. Whatever dreams and ambitions we garner, we are not able to work towards it for any reason and get stuck into living a purposeless life. This can never provide any kind of peace and happiness.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

 

You can't expect the world to change unless you do. For the world to change, they need a leader whom they can follow, whose values they can imbibe. You need to show them what it's like to bring about a revolution, be it personal or national. Walk the talk. 

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.

A person doesn't become successful unless he values his time. Always remember that you are getting closer to the end of your life every second. So, don't waste your time doing anything that is not going to make you happy or add to your cause. However, learn as you have forever. Learning shouldn't be done for short-term and should be remembered and carried over for years. 

Nobody can hurt me without my permission.

Resilience is vital for success and happiness. You have to recover quickly when a problem strikes. Not just that, you have to become tolerant of failures and criticism. Don't let the harsh judgement break your resolve or discourage you in any manner. Resolve not to let destructive criticism ruffle you. This can help you remain motivated and optimistic. 

A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.

Love, more than often warrant for sacrifices. You can not truly love someone (including your nation) if you are not brave enough to fight for its safety and upliftment. To make sacrifices for its freedom. Only a courageous person can commit to another person unconditionally, stand by him or her even when things get tough. Same applies to your work too. Love is not for weak-hearted. 

An ounce of practice is worth a thousand words.

Words don't get the things done. Even the best of plans won't lead you anywhere unless executed. Same goes for hollow preachings. Spoken words get lost into the ether; it is actions that give substantial results. 

This thought should be remembered by politicians with their ambitious manifesto that hardly sees the light of day. It is also a good lesson for everyone, including writers like us, who can alter their lives by acting on the words written by them.

Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.

As they say, to err is human and freedom to do so is necessary for any kind of growth. We all know that the formula to success to trial and error, learning through your mistakes. So, when you are liberating a person, you are telling them it's okay if you fail. 

A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history.

 

All you need to achieve your dreams is willpower, hard work and never-dying faith. It doesn't matter how you look like, or where you come from or how strong you are physically, as long as you don't abandon your faith in success, sooner or later you will achieve what you have been working for. 

There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed.

This suits best to explain the condition to which the environment has reduced today. Our insensitivity towards mother nature is apparent and criticised yet we fail to limit the damage. We are so deep into all wrong practices that we don't even know from where we need to start damage control. We mistake our luxuries for wants, and in this ignorance, nature suffers.

An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.

Recently, the methods of mainstream media and social network have been questioned and rightly so. There have been conjectures and propaganda circulated through multiple channels, which general public mistakes for truths. Public opinion is not a touchstone for truthfulness. Similarly, just because a fact cannot be backed by others doesn't make it less of a fact.

Let us continue reading some more Mahatma Gandhi quotes.

In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.

He is trying to warn us against the hollow religious practices. Rituals and heavy Vedic texts mean nothing if they are not carried out with love and faith. Similarly, prayer won't do much good if your devotion is missing from it. A prayer created out of your love for God is what truly matters.

The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.

Do you believe if each one of us realised their true potential, the world would have lesser evils? 

He did. He had faith in people and their capabilities. He thought we have the potential to change the world for better. Unfortunately, we also have the power to make the situation worse. Depends on us, if we are going to use our power for petty personal goals or something bigger and noble.

Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.

That was the whole essence of his revolution against the behemoth of the British Empire. Non-cooperation. He stuck to his non-violent methods even when he was threatened and jailed. It wasn't just an incentive towards making Britishers leave India, but non-cooperation was his value. It was unimaginable for him to cooperate with or be part of any kind of evil. The treatment of Indians by British authorities was unacceptable, and he could no longer cooperate with the law that upholds such behaviour.

Action expresses priorities.

Our actions tell us who we truly are. Irrespective of what we say or think, what we do shows the reality of our commitment to things. The things we spend time on executing are the ones we prioritise or feel are significant. So, you must set your priorities straight. 

It is the quality of our work which will please God and not the quantity.

It is not just about the quality over quantity tip. He is trying to tell us that all that makes our life 'big' like ultra wealth, fame etc. are quantity like. They won't add any value to our lives; they are not going to make us happy or contented. Try to indulge in things that touch your heart like being generous, humble and striving to make others life easier. 

You may never know what results come of your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no results.

You might fail if you try, but there is always at least a minute chance of victory. However, if you get afraid of failures and never try, you have already failed by default. So, don't let the fear of failure cripple you from starting the journey.

No culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive.

This is a great lesson right now when the world is thrown into riots and pandemonium over racist and religious differences. We know, whenever there is diversity, there will be a difference of opinions, mindset and culture. But this is what makes us better. We need to find a way to live in harmony and be compassionate even with people who don't share the same skin colour, same God or speak the same tongue. Not only harmony is necessary for world peace but also for world progress as no nation or culture or society can progress in isolation. 

The greatness of humanity is not in being human, but in being humane.

There is nothing great about being human if you have forgone its most important essence- compassion. Being able to mass a wealth, built a beautiful house, have a happy family, be revered and honoured is a great feat. Still, you have fallen short of being a human if you have never been kind towards others and held sympathy and love for a fellow human. 

There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.

A touching thought that paints a visceral view of our world. According to the last year WHO stats, at least 820 million people that is 10 per cent of the world population is starving. The disparity is so stark, where a part of the population is continuously being bombarded with technological advances while another part, do not have enough food to sustain themselves. For them, big abstract ideas of success, religion, power don't mean much. The only thing sacred to them is their body and its sustenance. The idea of God doesn't get more pure and simple than this.

Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.

There is something known as positive and negative reinforcement. Which tells us that we take actions for either of the two reasons-when we are desperate to add something positive into our life or when we badly want to remove something negative from our life. This concept can be related to motivation through love and fear. You can gain power over people if you are intimidating. But it will be short-lived. Once, you are gone, you lose your hold over them too. However, if you have inspired compassion in people, they will follow you even after you are long gone. 

Gandhiji was the epitome of this. We still remember him today as our nation's father. Thousands of people rallied behind him towards freedom because of the compassion he had for them, and they had for him. And our love for this great man still lives on as every year on his birthday we celebrate it by hoisting the flag and narrating his life lessons and contributions to our country.

Mahatma Gandhi Quotes on Leadership

1. Change yourself – You are in control.

2. Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.

3. I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people. 

4. Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes. 

5. I want freedom for the full expression of my personality. 

6. Freedom and slavery are mental states. 

7. Freedom of the press is a precious privilege that no country can forego. 

Mahatma Gandhi Quotes on Be the Change

1. Be the change you wish to see in the world. 

2. If you want to change the world, start with yourself. 

3. A small group of determined and like-minded people can change the course of history. 

4. Start changing yourself if you want to change the life around you. 

5. Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding. The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. You must be the change you wish to see in the world. 

6. Our greatest ability as humans is not to change the world; but to change ourselves. 

7. Faith is like the Himalaya mountains which cannot possibly change. 

8. Change yourself – You are in control.

Mahatma Gandhi Quotes on Education

1. Nothing has saddened me so much in life as the hardness of heart of educated people. 

2. Education is the basic tool for the development of consciousness and the reconstitution of society. 

3. By education, I mean an all-round drawing of the best in child and man in body, mind and spirit. 

4. I saw that bad handwriting should be regarded as a sign of an imperfect education. 

5. There are Seven Deadly Social Sins: Politics without principle. Wealth without work. Commerce without morality. Pleasure without conscience. Education without character. Science without humility. Worship without sacrifice. 

6. Literacy in itself is no education. 

7. Any young man, who makes dowry a condition to marriage, discredits his education and his country and dishonours womanhood. 

8. True education is that which proves useful in life and makes you industrious. 

Mahatma Gandhi Quotes on Love

1. Where there is love there is life. 

2. In doing something, do it with love or never do it at all. 

3. The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace. 

4. Hate the sin, love the sinner. 

5. When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it – always. 

6. Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love. 

7. I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings. 

8. A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave. 

9. Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent than the one derived from fear of punishment. 

10. What barrier is there that love cannot break? 

11. Nothing is impossible for pure love. 

12. I am a Hindu because it is Hinduism which makes the world worth living. I am a Hindu hence I Love not only human beings, but all living beings. 

13. The law of love knows no bounds of space or time. 

14. Let us work together for unity and love. 

15. Love is the humblest yet the most powerful force that the human being has. 

16. My religion teaches me to love all equally. 

Mahatma Gandhi Quotes on Peace

1. Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances. 

2. If we are to reach real peace in the world, we shall have to begin with the children. 

3. There is no ‘way to peace,’ there is only ’peace. 

4. Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it. 

5. The way of peace is the way of truth. Truthfulness is even more important than peacefulness. 

6. Peace is its own reward. 

7. Outward Peace is useless without inner Peace. 

Mahatma Gandhi Quotes on Life

1. My life is my message. 

2. There is more to life than simply increasing its speed. 

3. A thousand candles can be lighted from the flame of one candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness can be spread without diminishing that of yourself. 

4. Nothing has saddened me so much in life as the hardness of heart of educated people. 

5. In the midst of death life persists, in the midst of untruth, truth persists, in the midst of darkness light persists. 

6. To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being. 

7. I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life. 

8. True education is that which proves useful in life and makes you industrious. 

9. The Charkha is the symbol of nonviolence on which all life, if it is to be real life, must be based. 

10. A life without vows is like a ship without an anchor or like an edifice that is built on sand instead of a solid rock. 

Mahatma Gandhi Quotes on Humanity

1. You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty. 

2. Seven Deadly Sins Wealth without work Pleasure without conscience Science without humanity Knowledge without character Politics without principle Commerce without morality Worship without sacrifice. 

3. I do not regard flesh-food as necessary for us at any stage and under any clime in which it is possible for human beings ordinarily to live, I hold flesh-food to be unsuited to our species. 

4. The Bhagavad-Gita calls on humanity to dedicate body, mind and soul to pure duty and not to become mental voluptuaries at the mercy of random desires and undisciplined impulses. 

5. The greatness of humanity is not in being human, but in being humane. 

6. If untouchability lives, humanity must die. 

7. My fight against untouchability is a fight against the impure in humanity. 

8. The khadi spirit means fellow-feeling with every human being on earth. 

9. May the work of your hands be a sign of gratitude and reverence to the human condition. 

10. The human voice can never reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience. 

Mahatma Gandhi Quotes on God

1. God has no religion. 

2. There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread. 

3. My imperfections and failures are as much a blessing from God as my successes and my talents and I lay them both at his feet. 

4. There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed to worry about anything whatsoever. 

5. There’s no God higher than truth. 

6. God alone knows absolute Truth. 

7. Meditation is waiting on God. 

8. It is the quality of our work which will please God and not the quantity.

Famous Mahatma Gandhi Quotes 

1. Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever. 

2. The future depends on what you do today. 

3. First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win. 

4. Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. 

5. You may never know what results come of your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no results. 

6. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong. 

7. Nobody can hurt me without my permission. 

8. Your beliefs become your thoughts, your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your values, your values become your destiny. 

9. The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. 

10. Action expresses priorities. 

11. A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes. 

12. Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. 

13. An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind. 

14. Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed. 

15. In a gentle way, you can shake the world. 

16. Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it. 

17. The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful than a thousand heads bowing in prayer. 

18. You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind. 

19. Live simply so that others may simply live. 

20. Truth never damages a cause that is just. 

21. Seek not greater wealth, but simpler pleasure; not higher fortune, but deeper felicity. 

22. Speak only if it improves upon the silence. 

23. To lose patience is to lose the battle. 

24. It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver. 

25. I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet. 

26. If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning. 

27. The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. 

28. Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph: a beginning, a struggle and a victory. 

29. The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems. 

30. When the ego dies, the soul awakes. 

31. The path is the goal. 

32. Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning. 

33. Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization. 

34. Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong. 

35. To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest. 

36. The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members. 

37. There is no school equal to a decent home and no teacher equal to a virtuous parent. 

38. A customer is the most important visitor on our premises, he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. 

39. Poverty is the worst form of violence. 

40. They cannot take away our self respect if we do not give it to them. 

41. You don’t know who is important to you until you actually lose them. 

42. I call him religious who understands the suffering of others. 

43. Truth is one, paths are many. 

44. Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly. 

45. A ‘No’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble. 

46. There are many causes I would die for. There is not a single cause I would kill for. 

47. Prayer is the key of the morning and the bolt of the evening. 

48. I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. 

49. There is force in the universe, which, if we permit it, will flow through us and produce miraculous results. 

50. Fearlessness is the first requisite of spirituality. Cowards can never be moral. 

51. The future of India lies in its villages. 

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

53. Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well. 

54. I cannot conceive of a greater loss than the loss of one’s self-respect. 

55. It is easier to build a boy than to mend a man. 

56. Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart. 

57. They may torture my body, break my bones, even kill me. Then they will have my dead body, but not my obedience. 

58. If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide. 

59. It is wrong and immoral to seek to escape the consequences of one’s acts. 

60. Nothing is so aggravating as calmness. 

61. Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress. 

62. The expert knows more and more about less and less until he knows everything about nothing. 

63. Manliness consists not in bluff, bravado or loneliness. It consists in daring to do the right thing and facing consequences whether it is in matters social, political or other. It consists in deeds not words. 

64. It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err. 

65. Be truthful, gentle, and fearless. 

66. Yes I am, I am also a Muslim, a Christian, a Buddhist, and a Jew. 

67. Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with innocent blood. 

68. Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into. 

69. It is easy enough to be friendly to one’s friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business. 

70. Education is the basic tool for the development of consciousness and the reconstitution of society. 

71. The seeker after truth should be humbler than the dust. The world crushes the dust under its feet, but the seeker after truth should so humble himself that even the dust could crush him. Only then, and not till then, will he have a glimpse of truth. 

72. I believe in the fundamental truth of all great religions of the world. 

73. I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers. 

74. The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but, it is fear. 

75. The English language is so elastic that you can find another word to say the same thing. 

76. Patience means self-suffering. 

77. Continue to grow and evolve. 

78. If you don’t ask, you don’t get it. 

79. A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching. 

80. All good thoughts and ideas mean nothing without action. 

81. Wherever you are you will always be in my heart. 

82. Live every day like it is your last and learn everyday like you will live forever. 

83. Speed is irrelevant if you are going in the wrong direction. 

84. I have so much to accomplish today that I must meditate for two hours instead of one. 

85. There is no such thing as ‘too insane’ unless others turn up dead due to your actions. 

86. Find purpose. The means will follow. 

87. Tolerance is the only thing that will enable persons belonging to different religions to live as good neighbours and friends. 

88. A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members. 

89. 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 in the holy name of liberty or democracy? 

90. Prayer is not an old woman’s idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action. 

91. Without action, you aren’t going anywhere. 

92. When the panchayat raj is established, public opinion will do what violence can never do. 

93. Behaviour is the mirror in which we can display our image. 

94. A correct diagnosis is three-fourths the remedy. 

95. The day a woman can walk freely on the roads at night, that day we can say that India has achieved independence. 

96. Adversity is the mother of progress. 

97. Sanitation is more important than Independence. 

98. A burning passion coupled with absolute detachment is the key to all success. 

99. We may stumble and fall but shall rise again; it should be enough if we did not run away from the battle. 

100. Hesitating to act because the whole vision might not be achieved, or because others do not yet share it, is an attitude that only hinders progress. 

101. Be congruent, be authentic, be your true self. 

102. By education, I mean an all-round drawing of the best in child and man in body, mind and spirit. 

103. Keep my word positive. Words become my behaviors. Keep my behaviors positive. Behaviors become my habits. Keep my habits positive. Habits become my values. Keep my values positive. Values become my destiny. 

104. Relationships are based on four principles: respect, understanding, acceptance and appreciation. 

105. I saw that bad handwriting should be regarded as a sign of an imperfect education. 

106. A nation’s culture resides in the hearts and in the soul of its people. 

107. Truth is my religion and ahimsa is the only way of its realization. 

108. Mass illiteracy is India’s sin and shame and must be liquidated. 

109. True beauty lies in purity of the heart. 

110. The sole aim of journalism should be service. 

111. No culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive. 

112. If you worry about yesterday’s failures, then today’s successes will be few. The future depends on what we do in the present. 

113. The only tyrant I accept in this world is the ‘still small voice’ within me. And even though I have to face the prospect of being a minority of one, I humbly believe I have the courage to be in such a hopeless minority. 

114. In the midst of darkness, light persists. 

115. If you do what you enjoy doing you’ll never have to work hard. 

116. No two leaves were alike, and yet there is no antagonism between them or between the branches on which they grow. 

117. To a pure heart all hearts are pure. 

118. You assist an evil system most effectively by obeying its orders and decrees. An evil system never deserves such allegiance. Allegiance to it means partaking of the evil. A good person will resist an evil system with his or her whole soul. 

119. A plea for the spinning wheel is a plea for recognizing the dignity of labour. 

120. Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn. 

121. Hindu Dharma is like a boundless ocean teeming with priceless gems. The deeper you dive the more treasures you find. 

122. There is enough for the need of everyone in this world, but not for the greed of everyone. 

123. The world is big enough to satisfy everyones needs, but will always be too small to satisfy everyones greed. 

124. Morality is the basis of things and truth is the substance of all morality. 

125. What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another. 

126. Adaptability is not imitation. It means power of resistance and assimilation. 

127. Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state has become lawless or corrupt. And a citizen who barters with such a state shares in its corruption and lawlessness. 

128. It’s not too late at all. You just don’t yet know what you are capable of. 

129. Solitude is a catalyst for innovation. 

130. An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching. 

131. I am a Christian and a Hindu and a Muslim and a Jew. 

132. Fear is not a disease of the body; fear kills the soul. 

133. The best politics is right action. 

134. Knowledge gained through experience is far superior and many times more useful than bookish knowledge. 

135. Everyone who wills can hear the inner voice. It is within everyone. 

136. Ahimsa is the height of Kshatriya dharma as it represents the climax of fearlessness. 

137. Man’s happiness really lies in contentment. 

138. There are Seven Deadly Social Sins: Politics without principle. Wealth without work. Commerce without morality. Pleasure without conscience. Education without character. Science without humility. Worship without sacrifice. 

139. Champions are made from something they have deep inside of them-a desire, a dream, a vison. 

140. There are two days in the year that we can not do anything, yesterday and tomorrow. 

141. Joy lies in the fight, in the attempt, in the suffering involved, not in the victory itself. 

142. Glory lies in the attempt to reach one’s goal and not in reaching it. 

143. The earth, the air, the land and the water are not an inheritance from our fore fathers but on loan from our children. So we have to handover to them at least as it was handed over to us. 

144. Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. 

145. Literacy in itself is no education. 

146. The goal ever recedes from us. The greater the progress the greater the recognition of our unworthiness. Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory. 

147. Compassion is a muscle that gets stronger with use. 

148. I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the culture of all lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any. 

149. Even if the whole of India, ranged on one side, were to declare that Hindu-Muslim unity is impossible, I will declare that it is perfectly possible. 

150. Man is the maker of his own destiny, and I therefore ask you to become makers of your own destiny. 

151. Self-respect knows no considerations. 

152. Full effort is full victory. 

153. Think for tomorrow but act for today. 

154. Simplicity is the essence of universality. 

155. The khadi spirit means also an infinite patience. 

156. Any young man, who makes dowry a condition to marriage, discredits his education and his country and dishonours womanhood. 

157. Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today. 

158. Means are ends in the making. 

159. I am a proud staunch Sanatani Hindu. 

160. Friendship that insists upon agreement on all matters is not worth the name. Friendship to be real must ever sustain the weight of honest differences, however sharp they be. 

161. Terrorism and deception are weapons not of the strong, but of the weak. 

162. The test of friendship is assistance in adversity, and that, too, unconditional assistance. 

163. The need of the moment is not one religion, but mutual respect and tolerance of the devotees of the different religions. 

164. The greater the realization of truth and ahimsa, the greater the illumination. 

165. We often confuse spiritual knowledge with spiritual attainment. Spirituality is not a matter of knowing scriptures and engaging in philosophical discussions. It is a matter of heart culture, of unmeasurable strength. 

166. Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding. 

167. Everyone wants to be strong and self sufficient, but few are willing to put in the work necessary to achieve worthy goals. 

168. There is no beauty in the finest cloth if it makes hunger and unhappiness. 

169. Take care of this moment. 

170. In true democracy every man and woman is taught to think for himself or herself. 

171. Urbanization in India is a slow but sure death for her villages and villagers. 

172. There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supercedes all other courts. 

173. It took Britain half the resources of the planet to achieve its prosperity; how many planets will a country like India require? 

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

175. The only devils in the world are those running around in our own hearts – that is where the battle should be fought. 

176. India’s way is not Europe’s. India is not Calcutta and Bombay. India lives in her seven hundred thousand villages. 

177. Indian nationalism is not exclusive, nor aggressive, nor destructive. 

178. My idea of village SWARAJ is that is a complete republic, independent of its neighbors for its own vital wants, and yet interdependent for many others which dependence is a necessity. 

179. I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; but today it means getting along with people. 

180. Anger is the enemy of non-violence and pride is a monster that swallows it up. 

181. Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good. 

182. The music of the spinning wheel will be as balm to your soul. 

183. Homeopathy cures a larger percentage of cases than any other form of treatment and is beyond doubt safer and more economical. 

184. Nonviolence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed. 

185. Selfless action is a source of strength. 

186. Violent nationalism, otherwise known as imperialism, is a curse. 

Co-author:  Shreya Arya

---

A digital marketing enthusiast with experience in HR and hospital management, Shreya has wide interests ranging from philosophy, psychology to latest trends in automation. She is also a freelance content writer and loves lending beautiful words to ideas and feelings.