With conflicts on the rise around the world, how can we find peace? The iconic leader of the Indian independence movement and pioneer of the philosophy of non-violence, Mahatma Gandhi (real name: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, 1869-1948), can definitely inspire all of us. Check out his top 150 quotes below.
Table of Contents
Top 10 Famous Gandhi Quotes
1. “Nobody can hurt me without my permission.”
2. “I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.” (More Gandhi quotes on Happiness)
3. It’s easy to stand in the crowd but it takes courage to stand alone.
4. If you take care of your immediate surroundings, the universe will take care of itself.
5. “My faith is brightest in the midst of impenetrable darkness.” (More Gandhi quotes on Change and Revolution)
6. “Live as if you were to die tomorrow; learn as if you were to live forever.” (More Gandhi Quotes on Life)
7. “You can’t shake hands with a closed fist.” (More Gandhi quotes on Non-violence)
8. “To lose patience is to lose the battle.”
9. “The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.” (More Gandhi quotes on Humanity and Civilization)
10. “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
See also: How did Gandhi die?
On Peace
11. “Peace is the most powerful weapon of mankind.”
12. “There is no ‘way to peace’, there is only ‘peace’.”
13. “Man should forget his anger before he lies down to sleep.”
14. “The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.”
15. “The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.”
16. “The golden way is to be friends with the world and to regard the whole human family as one.”
17. “I am a man of peace. I believe in peace. But I do not want peace at any price.”
18. ‘The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.’ Mahatma Gandhi Click To Tweet
19. “The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within.”
20. “The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.”
21. “Peace is its own reward.”
22. “If we are to teach real peace in this world, & if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with children.”
23. “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.”
24. 'If you want real peace in the world, start with children.' Mahatma Gandhi Click To Tweet
25. “Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances”
26. “No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive.”
27. “Poverty is the worst form of violence.”
28. “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.”
29. “I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill.”
On Non-Violence
30. “It’s my conviction that nothing enduring can be built on violence.”
31. “I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary, the evil it does is permanent.”
32. “Nonviolence is not to be used ever as the shield of the coward. It is the weapon of the brave”
33. “We may never be strong enough to be entirely nonviolent in thought, word and deed. But we must keep nonviolence as our goal and make strong progress towards it.”
34. “It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.”
35. ’Anger is the enemy of nonviolence and pride is a monster that swallows it up.’ Mahatma Gandhi Click To Tweet
36. “Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”
37. “Nonviolence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.”
38. “The cry for peace will be a cry in the wilderness, so long as the spirit of nonviolence does not dominate millions of men and women.”
39. “Nonviolence requires a double faith, faith in God and also faith in man.”
40. “Nonviolence and truth are inseparable and presuppose one another.”
41. “Nonviolence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our being.”
42. ‘Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.’ Mahatma Gandhi Click To Tweet
43. “Nonviolence is impossible without humility.”
44. “Unless discipline is rooted in nonviolence, it might prove to be a source of infinite mischief.”
45. “I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and nonviolence are as old as the hills. All I have done is to try experiments in both on as vast a scale as I could.”
46. “If co-operation is a duty, I hold that non-co-operation also under certain conditions is equally a duty.”
47. “Nonviolence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed.”
48. “Non-cooperation is a measure of discipline and sacrifice, and it demands respect for the opposite views.”
49. “The very first step in nonviolence is that we cultivate in our daily life, as between ourselves, truthfulness, humility, tolerance, loving kindness.”
On Love
50. “Hate the sin, love the sinner.”
51. “A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.”
52. “Service without humility is selfishness and egotism.”
53. “The enemy is fear. We think it is hate; but, it is fear.”
54. “In doing something, do it with love or never do it at all.”
55. “What barrier is there that love cannot break?”
56. ‘Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first skill of self-giving love.’ Mahatma Gandhi Click To Tweet
57. “Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love”
58. “Where there is love there is life.”
59. “Relationships are based on four principles: respect, understanding, acceptance and appreciation.”
60. “Friendship that insists upon agreement on all things isn’t worth the name.”
61. “Love is the strongest force the world possesses and yet it is the humblest imaginable.”
62. ‘A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.’ Mahatma Gandhi Click To Tweet
63. “You yourself as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.”
64. “Whenever you have truth it must be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected.”
65. “Nothing is impossible for pure love.”
66. “The good man is the friend of all living things.”
67. ‘Compassion is a muscle that gets stronger with use.’ Mahatma Gandhi Click To Tweet
68. “I do feel that spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily wants.”
69. “Love never claims, it ever gives.”
70. “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.”
On Life
71. “Life is but an endless series of experiments.”
72. “Look at the sparrows; they do not know what they will do in the next moment. Let us literally live from moment to moment.”
73. “If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.
74. “Increase of material comforts, it may be generally laid down, does not in any way whatsoever conduce to moral growth.”
75. “The main purpose of life is to live rightly, think rightly, act rightly. The soul must languish when we give all our thought to the body.”
76. “There is goodness as well as greatness in simplicity, not in wealth.”
77. ‘Let your life be your message.’ Mahatma Gandhi Click To Tweet
78. “Find purpose. The means will follow.”
79. “It is better to allow our lives to speak for us than our words.”
80. “Speak only if it improves upon the silence.”
81. “Nothing has saddened me so much in life as the hardness of heart of educated people.”
82. “Carefully watch your thoughts, for they become your words. Manage and watch your words, for they will become your actions. Consider and judge your actions, for they have become your habits. Acknowledge and watch your habits, for they shall become your values. Understand and embrace your values, for they become your destiny.”
83. ‘Strength does not come from winning. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.’ Mahatma Gandhi Click To Tweet
84. “There is more to life than increasing its speed.”
85. “Those who know how to think need no teachers.”
86. “Full effort is full victory.”
87. “Knowledge gained through experience is far superior and many times more useful than bookish knowledge.”
88. “It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.”
89. ‘It does not require money, to live neat, clean and dignified.’ Mahatma Gandhi Click To Tweet
90. “There are two days in the year that we can not do anything, yesterday and tomorrow.”
91. “The enemy is fear. We think it is hate but it is fear.”
92. “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.”
93. “A person who is worried about the outcome of his work does not see his goal; he sees only his opposition and the obstacles before him.”
94. ‘Live simply so that others may simply live.’ Mahatma Gandhi Click To Tweet
95. “To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.”
96. “Every moment of your life is infinitely creative and the universe is endlessly bountiful. Just put forth a clear enough request, and everything your heart desires must come to you.”
97. “I believe that a man is the strongest soldier for daring to die unarmed.”
On Happiness
98. “Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment.”
99. “Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
100. “To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.”
101. “Seek not greater wealth, but simpler pleasure; not higher fortune, but deeper felicity.”
102. ‘He who is discontented, however much he possesses, becomes a slave to his desires.’ Mahatma Gandhi Click To Tweet
103. “Do not judge others. Be your own judge and you will be truly happy. If you will try to judge others, you are likely to burn your fingers.”
104. “To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.”
105. “Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served.”
106. “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.”
On Humanity and Civilization
107. “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.”
108. “Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.”
109. “They cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give it to them.”
110. “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.”
111. “A living faith in God means acceptance of the brotherhood of mankind.”
112. “Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.”
113. “Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into.”
114. “Nothing has saddened me so much in life as the hardness of heart of educated people.”
115. ‘The greatness of humanity is not in being human, but in being humane.’ Mahatma Gandhi Click To Tweet
116. “True humility means most strenuous and constant endeavor entirely directed towards the service of humanity.”
117. “The first condition of humaneness is a little humility and a little diffidence about the correctness of one’s conduct and a little receptiveness.”
118. “The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.”
119. “Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.”
120. “Champions are made from something they have deep inside of them – a desire, a dream, a vision.”
On Change and Revolution
120. “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.”
121. “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change.”
122. “As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him.”
123. “A small group of determined and like-minded people can change the course of history.”
124. “Change yourself – you are in control.”
125. “The future depends on what you do today.”
126. ‘Our greatest ability as humans is not to change the world; but to change ourselves.’ Mahatma Gandhi Click To Tweet
127. “It’s not too late at all. You just don’t yet know what you are capable of.”
128. “Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.”
129. “Without action, you aren’t going anywhere.”
130. “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.”
131. “Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory.”
132. “Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.”
On Freedom
133. 'You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body, but you will never imprison my mind.' Mahatma Gandhi Click To Tweet
134. “Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”
135. “A ‘No’ uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble.”
136. “A man is but the product of his thoughts; what he thinks, he becomes.”
137. “Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err and even to sin.”
138. “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.”
139. ‘One, who abandons all desires, is free from pride and selfishness and behaves as one apart, finds peace.’ Mahatma Gandhi Click To Tweet
140. “Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living?”
141. “Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there, and to be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth.”
142. “Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly.”
Fake Gandhi Quotes That Got Viral (Funny)
143. “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” (Learn more why this quote is fake/)
144. “An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” (Learn more why this quote is fake)
145. “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” (Learn more why this quote is fake))
146. “If You Are Going To Be a Bear, Be a Grizzly” (Learn more why this quote is fake)
147. “What’s Your Opinion of Civilization?” “It’s a Good Idea. Somebody Ought To Start It” (Learn more why this quote is fake )
Three Little Known Facts about Gandhi
i) Gandhi was married young when he was 13 years old to his 14-year-old wife Kasturba Makanji (1869-1944) in a marriage arranged by his parents. The couple had four sons and his wife remained married to him until her death at age 74.
ii) Gandhi started as an activist in South Africa where he studied law for a year and refused to comply with the racial segregation laws on a train.
iii) Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948 at age 78. He was shot in the chest at close range by Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse for his tolerance of the Muslims in an effort to end religious strife in India.
Suggested Reading: Mohandas K. Gandhi, Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth (1983)
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