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Earth
» This little globe of ours is not a toy of yesterday. MM-286
Earthquake
» A man like me cannot but believe that this earthquake (Earthquake in Bihar, 15th January, 1934) is a divine chastisement sent by God for our sins. T-3-247
Economics
» Economics that hurt the moral well-being of an individual or a nation are immoral and therefore sinful. MM-263
» That economics is untrue which ignores or disregards moral values. XXV-475
» The study of Indian economics is the study of the spinning wheel. XXV-561
» We can try to canalize economic trends, we can’t run against them in a head-on collision. T-7-185
Education
» An education which does not teach us to discriminate between good and bad, to assimilate the one and eschew the other, is a misnomer. T-5-43
» Education should be so revolutionized as to answer the wants of the poorest villager, instead of answering those of an imperial exploiter. T-4-182
» Education in the understanding of citizenship is a short-term affair if we are honest and earnest. MM-378
» Basic education links children, whether of the cities or the villages, to all that is best and lasting in India. T-6-23
» Is not education the art of drawing out full manhood of the children under training? XXVI-275
» Literacy in itself is no education. MM-379
» Literacy is not the end of education nor even the beginning. EWE-22
» Literary education should follow the education of the hand - the one gift that visibly distinguishes man from beast. EWE-21
» Real education has to draw out the best from the boys and girls to be educated. EWE-32
» True education must correspond to the surrounding circumstances or it is not a healthy growth. XXVI-275
» What is really needed to make democracy function is not knowledge of facts, but right education. T-7-209
» National education to be truly national must reflect the national condition for the time being. XXVI-275
» The function of Nayee-Talim is not merely to teach an occupation, but through it to develop the whole man. T-7-384
» I believe that religious education must be the sole concern of religious associations. EWE-30
» By education I mean an all-round drawing out of the best in the child and man-body, mind and spirit. MM-379
» By spiritual training I mean education of the heart. EWE-21
» Experience gained in two schools under my control has taught me that punishment does not purify, if anything, it hardens children. T-2-218
» I consider writing as a fine art. We kill it by imposing the alphabet on little children and making it the beginning of learning. T-4-164
» I do regard spinning and weaving as a necessary part of any national system of education. XXVI-275
» The aim of university education should be to turn out true servants of the people who will live and die for the country’s freedom. MM-381
» A balanced intellect presupposes a harmonious growth of body, mind and soul. MM-379
» Love requires that true education should be easily accessible to all and should be of use to every villager in his daily life. MM-381
» The notion of education through handicrafts rises from the contemplation of truth and love permeating life’s activities. MM-381
» Persistent questioning and healthy inquisitiveness are the first requisites for acquiring learning of any kind. MM-377
» If we want to impart education best suited to the needs of the villagers, we should take the vidyapith to the villages. T-4-163
» In a democratic scheme, money invested in the promotion of learning gives a tenfold return to the people even as a seed sown in good soil returns a luxuriant crop. EWE-28
» All education in a country has got to be demonstrably in promotion of the progress of the country in which it is given. MM-381
» Schools and colleges are really a factory for turning out clerks for the Government. T-2-13
» The canker has so eaten into the society that in many cases the only meaning of education is a knowledge of English. EWE-11
» Emphasis laid on the principle of spending every minute of one’s life usefully is the best education for citizenship. EWE-24
Effort
» Pleasure lies in making an effort, not in its fulfillment. T-5-174
Employment
» Khadi will cease to have any value in my eyes if it does not usefully employ the millions. T-7-187
Enemy
» I recognise no one as my enemy on the face of the earth. XXVI-268
» In the dictionary of satyagraha, there is no enemy. T-5-162
» No man could look upon another as his enemy unless he first became his own enemy. T-7-204
Englishman-English Language
» Englishmen must learn to be Brahmins, not banias. MM-325
» Civilization is not an incurable disease, but it should never be forgotten that the English people are at present afflicted by it. X-21
» Non-co-operation is a movement intended to invite Englishmen to co-operate with us on honourable terms or retire from our land. T-2-40
» Swaraj means, a state such that we can maintain our separate existence without the presence of the English. T-2-19
» However virile the English language may be, it can never become the language of the masses of India. T-7-51
» The English language is so elastic that you can find another word to say the same thing. T-5-150
» If the English educated neglect, as they have done and even now continue, as some do, to be ignorant of their mother tongue, linguistic starvation will abide. T-7-51
» We, the English educated Indians, often unconsciously make the terrible mistake of thinking that the microscopic minority of the English-speaking Indians is the whole of India. T-2-326
» I am not anti-English, I am not anti-British, I am not anti-any Government, but I am anti-untruth, anti-humbug and anti-injustice. MM-322
» I refuse to put the unnecessary strain of learning English upon my sisters for the sake of false pride or questionable social advantage. XX-159
» My love of the British is equal to that of my own people. MM-323
» My mission is to convert every Indian, every Englishman and finally the world to nonviolence for regulating mutual relations, whether political, economic, social or religious. T-5-221
» My personal religion enables me to serve my countrymen without hurting the English or, for that matter, anybody else. MM-322
» My plea is for banishing the English language as a cultural usurper, as we successfully banished the political rule of the English usurper. T-8-128
» 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
» Personally I crave not for ‘independence’, which I do not understand, but I long for freedom from the English yoke. T-2-326
» By patriotism I mean the welfare of all people, and if I could secure it at the hands of the English, I should bow down my head to them. X-41
» Through the deliverance of India, I seek to deliver the so-called weaker races of the earth from the crushing heels of Western exploitation in which England is the greatest partner. T-2-327
» To get rid of the infatuation for English is one of the essentials of Swaraj. EWE-46
» A smattering of English is worse than useless; it is an unnecessary tax on our women. XIV-46
» Ram Mohan Roy would have been a greater reformer and Lokmanya Tilak a greater scholar if they had not to start with the handicap of having to think in English and transmit their thoughts chiefly in English. EWE-9
» This belief in the necessity of English training has enslaved us. It has unfitted us for true national service. EWE-8
» Of all the superstitions that affect India, none is so great as that a knowledge of the English language is necessary for imbibing ideas of liberty and developing accuracy to thought. EWE-10
» The canker has so eaten into the society that in many cases the only meaning of education is a knowledge of English. EWE-11
» We Hindus and Mohamedans would have to blame our folly rather than the English, if we allowed them to put us asunder. X-30
» It would be a sad day for India if it has to inherit the English scale and the English tastes so utterly unsuitable to the Indian environment. T-2-18
» My heart rebels against any foreigner imposing on my country the peace which is here called Pax-Britannica. T-2-201
» Christianity in India is inextricably mixed up for the last hundred and fifty years with the British rule. T-2-341
» No matter what the cause was and wherever it was, Indian governments must never requisition the services of British soldiers to deal with civil disturbances. T-7-359
» There is as much need for a change of heart among the Hindus and Mussalmans as there is among the British, before a proper settlement is arrived at. XXVI-233
» Let us learn from the English rulers the simple fact that the oppressors are blind to the enormity of their own misdeeds. XXV-397
» The Britisher is the top dog and the Indian the underdog in his own country. T-3-71
» That I want to destroy British imperialism is another matter, but I want to do so by converting those who are associated with it. T-4-93
» India is less manly under the British rule than she ever was before. T-2-100
» The British power is the overlord without whom Indian princes cannot breathe. T-5-192
» My conception of dominion status implies present ability to severe the British connection if I wish to. T-2-382
» The British are weak in numbers, we are weak in spite of our numbers. T-2-20
» My motto is "Unite now, today if you can; fight if you must. But in every case avoid British intervention." XXVI-233
» Will Great Britain have an unwilling India dragged into war or a willing ally co-operating with her in the prosecution of a defence of true democracy? T-5-167
» Boycott brought about anyhow of British cloth cannot yield the same results as such boycott brought about by hand-spinning and khaddar. XXV-475
» I must fight unto the death the unholy attempt to impose British methods and British institutions on India. XXV-489
» The Indian struggle is not anti-British, it is anti-exploitation, anti-foreign rule, not anti-foreigners. T-5-255
» What senseless violence does is to prolong the lease of life of the British or foreign rule. T-7-194
» Our nonviolence vis-à-vis the British Government has been the nonviolence of the weak. MM-349
» I believe in the capacity of India to offer nonviolent battle to the English rulers. XXV-489
» The builders of the British Indian Empire have patiently built its four pillars-the European interests, the army, the Indian princes and the communal divisions. T-5-237
» The collectors of revenue and the policeman are the only symbols by which millions in India’s villages know British rule. T-7-215
» It was not through democratic methods that Britain bagged India. T-5-277
» For my own part, I do not want the freedom of India if it means extinction of English or the disappearance of Englishmen. T-2-200
» It is derogatory to the dignity of mankind, it is derogatory to the dignity of India, to entertain for one single moment hatred towards Englishmen. T-2-199
» If you must kill English officials, why not kill me instead? T-3-102
» I am just not thinking of India’s deliverance. It will come, but will it be worth if England and France fall, or if they come out victorious over Germany ruined and humbled? T-5-161
» I claim to have been a lifelong and wholly disinterested friend of the British people. T-5-295
» My attitude towards the British is one of utter friendliness and respect. XXVI-52
» I may fight the British ruler, but I do not hate the English or their language. In fact, I appreciate their literary treasures. T-4-93
» By ahimsa we will be able to save the cow and also win the friendship of the English. XXV-520
Equality
» Equality of sexes does not mean equality of occupations. MM-296
» Economic equality of my conception does not mean that every one will literally have the same amount. MM-267
» The real meaning of economic equality is " To each according to his need." MM-267
» What is equality of rights between a giant and a dwarf? T-3-71
» Economic equality is the master-key to nonviolent independence. MM-257
» The prince and the peasant will not be equalized by cutting off the prince’s head. MM-248
» No two leaves were alike, and yet there is no antagonism between them or between the branches on which they grow. T-7-115
» Under ideal conditions, the barrister and the bhangi (sweeper) should both get the same payment. T-8-63
» If a single man demanded as much as a man with a wife and four children, then that would be a violation of the concept of economic equality. T-7-47
» "All men are born equal and free" is not Nature’s law in the literal sense. MM-350
» My idea of society is that while we are born equal, meaning that we have a right to equal opportunity, all have not the same capacity. MM-266
» Let no one try to justify the glaring difference between the classes and the masses, the prince and the pauper, by saying that the former need more. T-7-47
» The real implication of equal distribution is that each man shall have the wherewithal to supply all his natural needs and no more. MM-268
» The elephant needs a thousand times more food than the ant but that is not an indication of inequality. T-7-47
» No man is a true believer unless he desireth for his brother that which he desireth for himself. T-7-309
» How can I even secretly harbour the thought that my neighbour’s faith is inferior to mine? T-3-257
Ethics
» Teaching of fundamental ethics is undoubtedly a function of the state. TIG-151
» By religion I have not in mind fundamental ethics but what goes by the name of denominationalism. EWE-31
» To me God is Truth and Love; God is ethics and morality; God is fearlessness. TIG-10
Euclid
» Euclid’s line is one without breadth, but no one has so far been able to draw it and never will. MM-131
» If Euclid’s point, thought incapable of being drawn by human agency, has an imperishable value, my picture has its own for mankind to live. MM-372
» Absolute trusteeship is an abstraction like Euclid’s definition of a point, and its equally unattainable. MM-372
Europe
» Europe is today only nominally Christian. It is really worshipping Mammon. TIG-143
» European civilization is no doubt suited for the Europeans but it will mean ruin for India, if we endeavour to copy it. T-3-94
» An India prostrate at the feet of Europe can give no hope to humanity. T-2-46
» A free India will claim to examine every European interest on its merits and that which conflicts with the national interest will go by the board. T-5-192
Evil
» Not until we have reduced ourselves to nothingness can we conquer the evil in us. TIG-56
» He who has a living faith in God will not do evil deeds with the name of God on his lips. T-4-252
» Non-co-operation is a protest against an unwitting and unwilling participation in evil. T-2-45
» Nonviolence does not signify that man must not fight against the enemy, and by enemy is meant the evil which men do, not human beings themselves. T-8-281
» Real non-co-operation is non-co-operation with evil and not with the evildoer. T-2-200
» In a strictly scientific sense God is at the bottom of both good and evil. TIG-25
» Tolerance obviously does not disturb the distinction between right and wrong, or good and evil.TIG-66
Evolution
» Like man, the meaning of great writings suffers evolution. T-2-311
» The religion of our conception, thus imperfect, is always subject to a process of evolution and re-interpretation. TIG-65
Experiments
» My experiments I hold to be infinitely more important than the best equipped Himalayan expeditions. MM-8
Exploitation
» The divorce of intellect from body labour has made us perhaps the shortest-lived, most resourceless and most exploited nation on earth. T-3-289
» Exploitation and domination of one nation over another can have no place in a world striving to put an end to all war. T-7-2
» Through the deliverance of India, I seek to deliver the so-called weaker races of the earth from the crushing heels of Western exploitation in which England is the greatest partner. T-2-327