Gandhi's Quotations

On Various Subjects

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 one self 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 not 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 won 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

  • Non-violence 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 the 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-5-224

  • 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 an 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 a 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 could not be undertaken out of anger. Anger was 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, fastings and prayers are, I know of no value, if I rely upon them for reforming me.

    • TIG-153

Fear - Fearless

  • Fear is a worse disease than malaria or kalaazar; these diseases kill the body, fear kills the soul.

    • T-2-304

  • Fear of disease killed more men than disease itself.

    • T-7-110

  • A fear-stricken person can never know God, and one who knows God will never fear a 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 refused 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 leader 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 his destructive and nefarious purpose, a housewife makes daily use of it in preparing nourishing food for mankind.

    • MM-448

Flag

  • A national spirit is necessary for the 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 the subtle passions seems to me to be harder far than the physical conquest of the world by the force of arms.

    • TIG-58

  • The 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-2-3716

  • 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 untouchbility 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 and anger and hate and an overflowing love for all.

    • T-2-318

  • The 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

  • This freedom from all attachment is the realization of God as Truth.

    • IG-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 cautions 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 a 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 as the sacrifice of truth.

    • T-3-133

  • I would not sell the vital interests of the untouchables for the sake of winning the freedom of 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 won 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 the very 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 her 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 of 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 no 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 non violent 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