When I was in college I had the privilege of reading extensively about the life of Gandhi. The man was brilliant. Here are a few of my favorite quotes I found while doing some research. And what is interesting is that much of what he said, if you put the name of Jesus in front of it, you’d think it was Jesus. I particularly like his ideas on freedom, which have shades of grace underlining them.
Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, keep it.
Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
Hate the sin, love the sinner.
Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress.
Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.
I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.
I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life.
I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
I want freedom for the full expression of my personality.
In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth.
Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy.
It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.
One needs to be slow to form convictions, but once formed they must be defended against the heaviest odds.
Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.
When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it–always.
You must be the change you want to see in the world.
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.
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
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.
I think it would be a good idea. when asked what he thought of Western civilization
I enjoy a lot of what he says although I find some of his sayings in direct opposition to biblical truths.
eg the one about humanity and the ocean etc.
I really enjoy his comment on Western civilization!
Lots of love!
Pops
Well, be that as it may, here’s a differing point of view:
http://history.eserver.org/ghandi-nobody-knows.txt
Quite a differing point of view. Not that Ghandi’s quotes aren’t fun to read.
Vanderleun, please don’t assume that I am elevating Gandhi to saintly status. He was a human but a brilliant one who had a the insight to lead and hold onto some basic truths. In fact your article only points to his humanity, which I am sure was deeply flawed. But just as we wish others to find and remember our best, I will remember Gandhi’s best.
Wow … we just watched the “Gandhi” movie last night. That is, my husband, my children and I. My kids are 14 and 11. We’re doing some history through movies since we didn’t do a good academic job of it last year. So, we’re playing a little catch up. It was interesting to me that my daughter (14) has seen 300, and all the LOTR movies, and several other movies which I would consider pretty violent … but she could not stomach the violence in Gandhi. That is, the violence doled out by the British with non-violent response by the Indians. So, we have some good fodder for conversation now …
Thanks for this post, it’s great additional fodder for the on-going conversation in our house.
If I may add one quote that really struck me from our viewing last night (which was, I think, my fourth viewing of the movie):
“The worst violence of all is poverty.”
That’s really been percolating in my head ever since …
Hi Jonathan, I feel like I know you because when I Google my name it comes up next to yours every time 🙂
Ghandi is one of my favorite people for obvious reasons.
Dunno if you saw this before:
Ghandi – Superfragilecallousedmysticplaguedwithhalitosis
Jonathan,
Great quotes. A lot of wisdom and substance within his words.
Thanks for posting them.
Blessings,
~Amy 🙂
http://amyiswalkinginthespirit.blogspot.com
GANDHI
Anyway…
I was just reading the Fischer biography of Gandhiji. What comes across to me is his ability to walk further than anyone else with an idea, his stubborn holding onto truth and his sense of failure at the end of his life.
For me, the greatness of the Mahatma is mostly that he was honesty, both with his internal struggles and his mental processes – so his mind was never closed and he was open to re-evaluating his own opinions if faced with a better argument. And his power was that he didn’t just come up with an idealistic manifesto, but he actually lived it. How many other leaders can you name who not only stated that his nation should be more self sufficient, but launched a clothing range entirely based on the idea that people should make their own garments – and then spent hours a day doing it himself?
My favourite story is a this one –
One day a mother came to Gandhi with her little boy for help. She asked Gandhi, “Please, Bapu, will you tell my little boy to stop eating sugar. He simply eats too much sugar and will not stop.” Gandhi told the mother to leave and come back with the boy in three days.
The mother returned with her son and said to Gandhi, “We have come back as you asked.” Gandhi turned to the boy and said, “Young boy, stop eating sweets. They are not good for you.”
The mother then asked Gandhi, “Bapu, why didn’t you tell my son that when we first came to see you? Why did you ask us to leave and come back in three days? I don’t understand.”
Gandhi said to the woman, “I asked you to return with the boy in three days, because three days ago, I, too, was eating sweets. I could not ask him to stop eating sweets so long as I had not stopped eating sweets.”
Joe, your comment makes me wonder about Gandhi’s response to the film based on his own life, and it would probably be a little bit of humility, a little bit of deprecation, and a little bit of outrage.
Gandhi said he didn’t like movies, period. I doubt you would have been able to get him to watch it.
[…] in conversation, culture, life, philosophy, quotes, religion by amoslanka on September 1st, 2008 Jonathan Brink posted some quotes from Gandhi over the weekend, some of which have set some of my mental gears in […]
It’s interesting that evangelicals use the phrases “hate the sin, love the sinner” so much. I wonder if they realize that it’s from Ghandi.
*sigh*.. Gandhi not Ghandi (sic)
I like this quote from the Movie: http://tinyurl.com/6lumwf