Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869–1948,) called the “Mahatma” (Sanskrit: “great-souled,”) was the apostle of peace and non-violence who said, “My life is my message.” He is the political and spiritual father of modern India. His strategy of passive resistance was based on a philosophical-religious synthesis of traditional Hinduism, Tolstoyan Christianity, and other world religions. His movement mounted pressure on the British to grant India independence.
Born into a family of modest means in Porbandar, Gujarat, Gandhi was educated in British schools and earned a law degree in London. He found his calling in South Africa, where he experimented with nonviolent resistance to fight anti-Indian regulations in South Africa.
Returning to India, Gandhi led a series of nonviolent campaigns as the leader of the Indian crusade for home rule. When Great Britain granted independence in 1947, the partition of India along religious lines led Gandhi to declare his life a failure because India could not govern itself as one nation but instead gave in to the division. Gandhi’s fair-minded treatment of the Muslim cause and his desperate attempts to end intercommunal violence provoked his assassination by a Hindu nationalist just six months after independence.
Gandhi is one of the most-biographed people in the history of the world. Physicist Albert Einstein once said, “Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.”
Gandhi inspired Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi, the 14th Dalai Lama, and other political leaders who resist oppressive regimes. He was also a prolific writer; his most famous work is his autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth (1940.)
Gandhi is idolized as a modern saint not only for his extraordinary public life as the leader of India’s peaceful struggle for independence but also for his enduring philosophical contributions to humanity.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Mohandas K. Gandhi
Recommended Reading
- ‘The Essential Gandhi: An Anthology of His Writings on His Life, Work, and Ideas‘ by Mahatma Gandhi
- ‘Gandhi An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments With Truth‘ by Mahatma Gandhi
- ‘Gandhi the Man: How One Man Changed Himself to Change the World‘ by Eknath Easwaran
- ‘All Men are Brothers: Life and Thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi‘ by Mahatma Gandhi
- ‘India After Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest Democracy‘ by Ramachandra Guha
Inspirational Quotes by Mohandas K. Gandhi (Indian Hindu Political leader)
Be the change you want to see in the world.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Kindness, Vision, Mentoring, One liners, Change, Purpose
Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Gentleness
I want the freedom for the full expression of my personality.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
I claim to be an average man of less than average ability. I have not the shadow of a doubt that any man or woman can achieve what I have, if he or she would make the same effort and cultivate the same hope and faith.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Hope, Faith
All faiths constitute a revelation of Truth, but all are imperfect and liable to error
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Faith
There is a sufficiency in the world for man’s need but not for man’s greed.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Compassion, Love
An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Laws, Law, Lawyers
To speak or not to speak—when that is the question, silence should take the place of speech.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
In judging myself I shall try to be as harsh as truth, as I want others also to be.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Glory lies in the attempt to reach one’s goal and not in reaching it.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Action
Your capacity to keep your vow will depend on the purity of your life.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Promises
If I also, perhaps, stood before the prospect of
finding myself in a minority of one voice,
I humbly believe that I would have the courage
to remain in such a hopeless minority.
This is for me the only truthful position.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Conviction
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.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Love, Equality, Compassion, Power
Infinite striving to be the best is man’s duty, it is it’s own reward. Everything else is in God’s hands.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Duty, Stress
Those who know how to think need no teachers.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Thought, Living, Teachers, Thinking, Teaching
Good government is no substitute for self-government
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: One liners, Government
To lose patience is to lose the battle.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Patience
Morality is the basis of things and truth is the substance of all morality.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Morality
Hypocrisy and distortion are passing currents under the name of religion
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Hypocrisy
If your heart acquires strength, you will be able to remove blemishes from others without thinking evil of them.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Criticism
It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to coyer impotence.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Fame, Violence, Gentleness
An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Gentleness, Revenge, Miscellaneous, Eyes
A man with a grain of faith in God never loses hope, because he ever believes in the ultimate triumph of Truth
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Faith
A vow is fixed and unalterable determination to do a thing, when such a determination is related to something noble which can only uplift the man who makes the resolve.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Promises
Whether humanity will consciously follow the law of love, I do not know. But that need not disturb me. The law will work just as the law of gravitation works, whether we accept it or not. The person who discovered the law of love was a far greater scientist than any of our modern scientists. Only our explorations have not gone far enough and so it is not possible for everyone to see all its workings.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Conscience, Truth
Breach of promise is a base surrender of truth.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Promises
I used to issue leaflets asking people to enlist as recruits. One of the arguments I had used was distasteful to the Commissioner: ‘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. If we want the Arms Act to be repealed, if we want to learn the use of arms, here is a golden opportunity. If the middle classes render voluntary help to Government in the hour of its trial, distrust will disappear, and the ban on possessing arms will be withdrawn.’ The Commissioner referred to this and said that he appreciated my presence in the conference in spite of the differences between us. And I had to justify my standpoint as courteously as I could.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
We must become the change we want to see.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Change
A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Thought, Action, Thinking
Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity are the exclusive possession of no one race or religion.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Gentleness
I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: News, Equality, Media
Man becomes what he eats. The grosser the food the grosser the body.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Permanent good can never be the outcome of untruth and violence.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Goodness
The essence of all religions is one. Only their approaches are different.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Faith, Religion
Nothing is impossible for pure love.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Love
Not to have control over the senses is like sailing in a rudderless ship, bound to break to pieces on coming in contact with the very first rock.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Control, Self-Control
There is no principle worth the name if it is not wholly good.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Goodness, Humanity
To deprive a man of his natural liberty and to deny to him the ordinary amenities of life is worse then starving the body; it is starvation of the soul, the dweller in the body.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Humanity, Goodness
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.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi
Topics: Faith, Friendship, Religion
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
Indira Gandhi Indian Head of State
Sri Aurobindo Indian Mystic, Philosopher, Poet
Paramahansa Yogananda Indian Hindu Mystic
Nisargadatta Maharaj Indian Hindu Religious Leader
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Indian Hindu Religious Leader
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Indian Hindu Religious Leader
Sathya Sai Baba Indian Hindu Religious Leader
Rabindranath Tagore Bengali Poet, Polymath
Swami Vivekananda Indian Hindu Monk, Mystic
Dada J. P. Vaswani Indian Hindu Philosopher