America aims at having a car for every citizen. I do not.
I cannot conceive of a greater loss than the loss of one’s self-respect.
Nonviolence is impossible without humility.
Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.
Constant development is the law of life, and a man who always tries to maintain his dogmas in order to appear consistent drives himself into a false position.
The less you possess, the less you want, the better you are. And better for what? Not for enjoyment of this life, but for enjoyment of personal service to the fellow-beings; service which you dedicate yourself, body, soul and mind.
Part 1. It’s the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important.
Part 2. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit.
Part 3. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action.
Part 4. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.
There is really no slavery equal to that of the desires. All the sages have declared from the house-tops that man can be his own worst enemy as well as his best friend. To be free or to be a slave lies in his own hands. And what is true for the individual is true for society.
If by abundance you mean everyone having plenty to eat and drink and to clothe himself with, enough to keep his mind trained and educated, I should be satisfied. But I should not like to pack more stuffs in my belly than I can digest and more things than I can ever usefully use. But neither do I want poverty, penury, misery, dirt and dust in India.
He who would sacrifice his life for others has hardly time to reserve for himself a place in the sun.
True humility means most strenuous and constant endeavor entirely directed towards the service of humanity.
Just as one must not receive, so must one not possess anything which one does not really need. It would be a breach of this principle to possess unnecessary food-stuffs, clothing, or furniture. For instance, one must not keep a chair if one can do without it. In observing this principle one is led to a progressive simplification of one’s own life.
The first condition of humaneness is a little humility and a little diffidence about the correctness of one’s conduct and a little receptiveness.
I know that I have still before me a difficult path to traverse. I must reduce myself to zero. So long as a man does not of his own free will put himself last among his fellow creatures, there is no salvation for him. Ahimsa is the farthest limit of humility.
My imperfections and failures are as much a blessing from God as my successes and my talents and I lay them both at his feet.
When I admire the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in the worship of the creator.
The very first step in nonviolence is that we cultivate in our daily life, as between ourselves, truthfulness, humility, tolerance, loving kindness.
There is an orderliness in the universe, there is an unalterable law governing everything and every being that exists or lives. It is no blind law; for no blind law can govern the conduct of living beings.
One, who abandons all desires, is free from pride and selfishness and behaves as one apart, finds peace.
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.
Providence has its appointed hour for everything. We cannot command results, we can only strive.
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.
In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.
Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living?
To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest.
