Mahatma Gandhi

Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.

Young India (12 March 1931), p. 31, 1931

By its very nature, non-violence cannot ‘seize’ power, nor can that be its goal. But non-violence can do more; it can effectively control and guide power without capturing the machinery of government. That is its beauty.

Young India (Feb. 7, 1931) p. 162, 1931

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

"Interview to the Press" in Karachi about the execution of Bhagat Singh (23 March 1931); published in Young India (2 April 1931), reprinted in Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi Online Vol. 51. Gandhi begins by making a statement on his failure "to bring about the commutation of the death sentence of Bhagat Singh and his friends." He is asked two questions. First: "Do you not think it impolitic to forgive a government which has been guilty of a thousand murders?" Gandhi replies: "I do not know a single instance where forgiveness has been found so wanting as to be impolitic." In a follow-up question, Gandhi is asked: "But no country has ever shown such forgiveness as India is showing to Britain?" Gandhi replies: "That does not affect my reply. What is true of individuals is true of nations. One cannot forgive too much. The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.", 1931

"An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so."

From a letter to the Viceroy, 1930, published in The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 49, p. 180., 1930

It is not my purpose to attempt a real autobiography. I simply want to tell the story of my experiments with truth...as my life consists of nothing but those experiments.

Introduction, vol. I, p. 3, 1927

I have learnt through bitter experience the one supreme lesson to conserve my anger, and as heat conserved is transmuted into energy, even so our anger controlled can be transmuted into a power which can move the world.

Young India (15 September 1920), reprinted in Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 21 (electronic edition), p. 252., 1920

"Cowardice is impotence worse than violence. The coward desires revenge but being afraid to die, he looks to others… to do the work of defense for him."

Young India, 11 August 1920, in The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 21, p. 133., 1920

In matters of conscience, the law of majority has no place.

Young India (4 August 1920), 1920

For me the only training in Swaraj we need is the ability to defend ourselves against the whole world and to live our natural life in perfect freedom, even though it may be full of defects. Good government is no substitute for self-government.

Young India (2 September 1920) p. 1, 1920

"When 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 to remain a helpless witness to her own dishonour."

Young India, 11 August 1920, in The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vol. 21, p. 133., 1920

Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.

Satyagraha Leaflet No. 13 (3 May 1919), 1919

We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change.

From an article on dealing with snake bites, published in Indian Opinion dated August 9th, 1913, in the Gujarti language edition, English translation available in the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, vol. 12, April 1913 - December 1914, p. 158., 1913

One of the objects of a newspaper is to understand popular feeling and to give expression to it; another is to arouse among the people certain desirable sentiments; and the third is fearlessly to expose popular defects.

Sect. 1, 1909

We are our own slaves, not of the British. This should be engraved on our minds. The whites cannot remain if we do not want them. If the idea is to drive them out with firearms, let every Indian consider what precious little profit Europe has found in these.

Introduction to the publication of Tolstoy's A Letter to a Hindu, Indian opinion, 25 December, (1909), 1909

Kaffirs are as a rule uncivilised—the convicts even more so. They are troublesome, very dirty and live almost like animals.

"My Experience in Gaol", Indian Opinion (7 March 1908). Also: Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, op cit., Vol. 8, p. 199., 1908