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

Those who know how to think need no teachers.

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

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.

If patience is worth anything, it must endure to the end of time. And a living faith will last in the midst of the blackest storm.

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

Are creeds such simple things like the clothes which a man can change at will and put on at will? Creeds are such for which people live for ages and ages.

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

I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won't presume to probe into the faults of others.

Jesus is ideal and wonderful, but you Christians - you are not like him.

Unwearied ceaseless effort is the price that must be paid for turning faith into a rich infallible experience.

I know, to banish anger altogether from one's breast is a difficult task. It cannot be achieved through pure personal effort. It can be done only by God's grace.

Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding.

I have nothing new to teach the world. Truth and Non-violence are as old as the hills. All I have done is to try experiments in both on as vast a scale as I could.

Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living?

Peace is its own reward.

Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.

Violent means will give violent freedom. That would be a menace to the world and to India herself.

Let us all be brave enough to die the death of a martyr, but let no one lust for martyrdom.

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

My religion teaches me that whenever there is distress which one cannot remove, one must fast and pray.

Violent men have not been known in history to die to a man. They die up to a point.

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

In a gentle way, you can shake the world.

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

Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest.

Spiritual relationship is far more precious than physical. Physical relationship divorced from spiritual is body without soul.

I claim that human mind or human society is not divided into watertight compartments called social, political and religious. All act and react upon one another.

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

Fear has its use but cowardice has none.

I did once seriously think of embracing the Christian faith. The gentle figure of Christ, so full of forgiveness that he taught his followers not to retaliate when abused or struck, but to turn the other cheek - I thought it was a beautiful example of the perfect man.

Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.

Fear of death makes us devoid both of valour and religion. For want of valour is want of religious faith.

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.

Every formula of every religion has in this age of reason, to submit to the acid test of reason and universal assent.

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

I am a humble but very earnest seeker after truth.

Man falls from the pursuit of the ideal of plan living and high thinking the moment he wants to multiply his daily wants. Man's happiness really lies in contentment.

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

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

It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honoured by the humiliation of their fellow beings.

One's own religion is after all a matter between oneself and one's Maker and no one else's.

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

It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.

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.

Man's nature is not essentially evil. Brute nature has been known to yield to the influence of love. You must never despair of human nature.

Partition is bad. But whatever is past is past. We have only to look to the future.

Non-violence requires a double faith, faith in God and also faith in man.

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

Confession of errors is like a broom which sweeps away the dirt and leaves the surface brighter and clearer. I feel stronger for confession.

Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.

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

When restraint and courtesy are added to strength, the latter becomes irresistible.

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

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.

Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.

It is the duty of every thoughtful Indian not to marry. In case he is helpless in regard to marriage, he should abstain from sexual intercourse with his wife.

It may be possible to gild pure gold, but who can make his mother more beautiful?

What is true of the individual will be tomorrow true of the whole nation if individuals will but refuse to lose heart and hope.

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

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

Each one prays to God according to his own light.

Truth is by nature self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear.

God cannot be realized through the intellect. Intellect can lead one to a certain extent and no further. It is a matter of faith and experience derived from that faith.

A religion that takes no account of practical affairs and does not help to solve them is no religion.

I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment following.

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

A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act.

My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realising Him.

It is the duty of every thoughtful Indian not to marry. In case he is helpless in regard to marriage, he should abstain from sexual intercourse with his wife.

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

Before the throne of the Almighty, man will be judged not by his acts but by his intentions. For God alone reads our hearts.

When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator.

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.

Faith... must be enforced by reason... when faith becomes blind it dies.

Truth never damages a cause that is just.

Purity of personal life is the one indispensable condition for building up a sound education.

Religion is a matter of the heart. No physical inconvenience can warrant abandonment of one's own religion.

The spirit of democracy is not a mechanical thing to be adjusted by abolition of forms. It requires change of heart.

Morality is contraband in war.

It is my own firm belief that the strength of the soul grows in proportion as you subdue the flesh.

Religion is more than life. Remember that his own religion is the truest to every man even if it stands low in the scales of philosophical comparison.

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

Intolerance betrays want of faith in one's cause.

Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity are the exclusive possession of no one race or religion.

We should meet abuse by forbearance. Human nature is so constituted that if we take absolutely no notice of anger or abuse, the person indulging in it will soon weary of it and stop.

Measures must always in a progressive society be held superior to men, who are after all imperfect instruments, working for their fulfilment.

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

But for my faith in God, I should have been a raving maniac.

If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.

Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is.

Only he can take great resolves who has indomitable faith in God and has fear of God.

If a man reaches the heart of his own religion, he has reached the heart of the others, too. There is only one God, and there are many paths to him.

Non-violence is the article of faith.

Non-violence and truth are inseparable and presuppose one another.

Nobody can hurt me without my permission.