Gandhi Quotes / y en menos de 144 caracteres...

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. 

A man is but the product of his thoughts: what he thinks, he becomes. 

Where there is love there is life. 

A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' 

merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble. 

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. 

A man who was completely innocent, 

offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, 

including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. 

It was a perfect act. 

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. 

The greatness of a nation can be judged 

by the way its animals are treated. 

First they ignore you, 

then they laugh at you, 

then they fight you, 

then you win. 

A small body of determined spirits 

fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission 

can alter the course of history. 

Happiness is when 

what you think, what you say, 

and what you do are in harmony. 

Even if you are 

a minority of one, 

the truth is the truth. 

Prayer is the key of the morning 

and the bolt of the evening. 

Anger and intolerance 

are the enemies 

of correct understanding. 

Man becomes great 

exactly in the degree 

in which he works 

for the welfare 

of his fellow-men. 

Live as if you were to die tomorrow. 

Learn as if you were to live forever. 

A nation's culture resides 

in the hearts and in the soul of its people. 

Always aim at complete harmony 

of thought and word and deed. 

Always aim at purifying your thoughts 

and everything will be well. 

An error does not become truth 

by reason of multiplied propagation, 

nor does truth become error 

because nobody sees it. 

An ounce of practice 

is worth more than tons of preaching. 

Prayer is not asking. 

It is a longing of the soul. 

It is daily admission of one's weakness. 

It is better in prayer to have a heart 

without words than words without a heart. 

Spiritual relationship is far more precious than physical. 

Physical relationship divorced from spiritual is body without soul. 

All compromise is based on give and take, 

but there can be no give and take on fundamentals. 

Any compromise on mere fundamentals is a surrender. 

For it is all give and no take. 

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles; 

but today it means getting along with people. 

A religion that takes no account of practical affairs 

and does not help to solve them is no religion. 

A principle is the expression of perfection, 

and as imperfect beings like us cannot practice perfection, 

we devise every moment limits of its compromise in practice. 

Each one has to find his peace from within. 

And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances. 

A vow is a purely religious act which cannot be taken in a fit of passion. 

It can be taken only with a mind purified and composed and with God as witness. 

All the religions of the world, while they may differ in other respects, 

unitedly proclaim that nothing lives in this world but Truth. 

Nobody can hurt me without my permission. 

Action expresses priorities. 

In a gentle way, you can shake the world. 

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. 

Truth is by nature self-evident. 

As soon as you remove the cobwebs 

of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear. 

As human beings, our greatness 

lies not so much in being able to remake the world 

- that is the myth of the atomic age - 

as in being able to remake ourselves. 

If patience is worth anything, 

it must endure to the end of time. 

And a living faith will last 

in the midst of the blackest storm. 

Strength does not come from physical capacity. 

It comes from an indomitable will. 

There is a higher court than courts of justice 

and that is the court of conscience. 

It supercedes all other courts. 

A weak man is just by accident. 

A strong but non-violent man is unjust by accident. 

When I admire 

the wonders of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, 

my soul expands in the worship of the creator. 

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. 

I claim to be a simple individual 

liable to err like any other fellow mortal. 

I own, however, that I have humility enough 

to confess my errors and to retrace my steps. 

What do I think of Western civilization? 

I think it would be a very good idea. 

The best way to find yourself 

is to lose yourself in the service of others. 

Anger is the enemy of non-violence 

and pride is a monster that swallows it up. 

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. 

There is nothing that wastes the body like worry, 

and one who has any faith in God should be ashamed 

to worry about anything whatsoever. 

Intolerance is itself a form of violence 

and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit. 

If I had no sense of humor, 

I would long ago have committed suicide. 

I claim that human mind or human society 

is not divided into watertight compartments 

called social, political and religious. 

All act and react upon one another. 

Man falls from the pursuit of the ideal of plan 

living and high thinking the moment 

he wants to multiply his daily wants. 

Man's happiness really lies in contentment. 

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. 

I will far rather see the race of man extinct 

than that we should become less than beasts 

by making the noblest of God's creation, 

woman, the object of our lust. 

Each one prays to God according to his own light. 

It is health that is real wealth 

and not pieces of gold and silver. 

Man should forget his anger before he lies down to sleep. 

Let everyone try and find 

that as a result of daily prayer 

he adds something new to his life, 

something with which nothing can be compared. 

We may never be strong enough 

to be entirely nonviolent in thought, word and deed. 

But we must keep nonviolence as our goal 

and make strong progress towards it. 

It has always been a mystery to me 

how men can feel themselves honoured 

by the humiliation of their fellow beings. 

I look only to the good qualities of men. 

Not being faultless myself, 

I won't presume to probe into the faults of others. 

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. 

I know, to banish anger altogether 

from one's breast is a difficult task. 

It cannot be achieved through pure personal effort. 

It can be done only by God's grace. 

If we are to teach real peace in this world, 

and if we are to carry on a real war against war, 

we shall have to begin with the children. 

A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; 

it is the prerogative of the brave. 

God is, even though the whole world deny him. 

Truth stands, even if there be no public support. 

It is self-sustained. 

Man can never be a woman's equal 

in the spirit of selfless service 

with which nature has endowed her. 

In prayer it is better to have a heart 

without words than words without a heart. 

The real ornament of woman is her character, her purity. 

Service which is rendered without joy 

helps neither the servant nor the served. 

But all other pleasures and possessions 

pale into nothingness before service 

which is rendered in a spirit of joy. 

My life is my message. 

A policy is a temporary creed liable to be changed, 

but while it holds good it has got to be pursued with apostolic zeal. 

The spirit of democracy 

is not a mechanical thing 

to be adjusted by abolition of forms. 

It requires change of heart. 

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? 

I object to violence because when it appears to do good, 

the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent. 

Faith is not something to grasp, it is a state to grow into. 

Freedom is never dear at any price. 

It is the breath of life. 

What would a man not pay for living? 

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. 

An unjust law is itself a species of violence. 

Arrest for its breach is more so. 

What is true of the individual 

will be tomorrow true of the whole nation 

if individuals will but refuse to lose heart and hope. 

There are people in the world so hungry, 

that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread. 

I am prepared to die, 

but there is no cause 

for which I am prepared to kill. 

Prayer is not an old woman's idle amusement. 

Properly understood and applied, 

it is the most potent instrument of action. 

Glory lies in the attempt 

to reach one's goal and not in reaching it. 

Action is no less necessary than thought 

to the instinctive tendencies of the human frame. 

Those who say religion has nothing 

to do with politics do not know what religion is. 

Poverty is the worst form of violence. 

Gentleness, self-sacrifice and generosity 

are the exclusive possession of no one race or religion. 

God, as Truth, 

has been for me a treasure beyond price. 

May He be so to every one of us. 

The human voice can never reach the distance 

that is covered by the still small voice of conscience. 

We do not need to proselytise 

either by our speech or by our writing. 

We can only do so really with our lives. 

Let our lives be open books for all to study. 

You can chain me, you can torture me, 

you can even destroy this body, 

but you will never imprison my mind. 

Justice that love gives is a surrender, 

justice that law gives is a punishment. 

I have nothing new to teach the world. 

Truth and Non-violence are as old as the hills. 

All I have done is to try experiments 

in both on as vast a scale as I could. 

Faith... must be enforced by reason... 

when faith becomes blind it dies. 

The good man is the friend of all living things. 

Culture of the mind must be subservient to the heart. 

The moment there is suspicion 

about a person's motives, 

everything he does becomes tainted. 

God sometimes does try 

to the uttermost those 

whom he wishes to bless. 

Confession of errors is like a broom 

which sweeps away the dirt 

and leaves the surface brighter and clearer.

I feel stronger for confession. 

Though we may know Him 

by a thousand names, 

He is one and the same to us all. 

Non-violence is the greatest force 

at the disposal of mankind. 

It is mightier than the mightiest weapon 

of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man. 

Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress. 

Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained. 

Whatever you do may seem insignificant to you, 

but it is most important that you do it. 

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. 

Where love is, there God is also. 

Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. 

It is my own firm belief that the strength 

of the soul grows in proportion as you subdue the flesh. 

One's own religion is after all a matter 

between oneself and one's Maker and no one else's. 

I have worshipped woman as the living 

embodiment of the spirit of service and sacrifice. 

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place. 

There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed. 

Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory. 

To believe in something, and not to live it, is dishonest. 

I believe that a man is the strongest soldier for daring to die unarmed. 

The pursuit of truth does not permit violence on one's opponent. 

Healthy discontent is the prelude to progress. 

The essence of all religions is one. 

Only their approaches are different. 

When restraint and courtesy 

are added to strength, 

the latter becomes irresistible. 

Self-respect knows no considerations. 

There is more to life than increasing its speed. 

Nearly everything you do is of no importance, 

but it is important that you do it. 

Fear has its use but cowardice has none. 

Non-violence, which is the quality of the heart, 

cannot come by an appeal to the brain. 

Infinite striving to be the best is man's duty; 

it is its own reward. Everything else is in God's hands. 

I have also seen children successfully 

surmounting the effects of an evil inheritance. 

That is due to purity being an inherent attribute of the soul. 

Fear of death makes us devoid both of valour and religion.

For want of valour is want of religious faith. 

Imitation is the sincerest flattery. 

Moral authority is never retained by any attempt to hold on to it. 

It comes without seeking and is retained without effort. 

But for my faith in God, I should have been a raving maniac. 

Everyone who wills can hear the inner voice. It is within everyone. 

Providence has its appointed hour for everything. 

We cannot command results, we can only strive. 

Peace is its own reward. 

To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act 

is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer. 

Man lives freely only by his readiness to die, if need be, 

at the hands of his brother, never by killing him. 

Increase of material comforts, 

it may be generally laid down, 

does not in any way whatsoever 

conduce to moral growth. 

Capital as such is not evil; 

it is its wrong use that is evil. 

Capital in some form or other 

will always be needed. 

Violent means will give violent freedom. 

That would be a menace to the world and to India herself. 

For me every ruler is alien that defies public opinion. 

It is any day better to stand erect with a broken and bandaged head 

then to crawl on one's belly, in order to be able to save one's head. 

Commonsense is the realised sense of proportion. 

The law of sacrifice is uniform throughout the world. 

To be effective it demands the sacrifice of the bravest and the most spotless. 

I believe in the fundamental truth of all great religions of the world. 

Morality which depends 

upon the helplessness of a man or woman 

has not much to recommend it. 

Morality is rooted in the purity of our hearts. 

Truth never damages a cause that is just. 

We win justice quickest by rendering justice to the other party. 

Is it not enough to know the evil to shun it?

 If not, we should be sincere enough 

to admit that we love evil too well to give it up. 

Non-violence is not a garment to be put on and off at will. 

Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an inseparable part of our being. 

No culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive. 

Non-violence is the article of faith. 

Prayer is a confession of one's own unworthiness and weakness. 

Non-violence and truth are inseparable and presuppose one another. 

My religion is based on truth and non-violence. 

Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realising Him. 

Purity of personal life is the one indispensable 

condition for building up a sound education. 

Let us all be brave enough to die the death of a martyr, 

but let no one lust for martyrdom. 

Morality is the basis of things 

and truth is the substance of all morality. 

I reject any religious doctrine 

that does not appeal to reason 

and is in conflict with morality. 

We may have our private opinions 

but why should they be 

a bar to the meeting of hearts? 

Non-violence requires a double faith, 

faith in God and also faith in man. 

Nonviolence is the first article of my faith. 

It is also the last article of my creed. 

It is the quality of our work 

which will please God and not the quantity. 

That service is the noblest 

which is rendered for its own sake. 

The difference between what we do 

and what we are capable of doing 

would suffice to solve most of the world's problem. 

Intolerance betrays want of faith in one's cause. 

Those who know how to think need no teachers. 

Measures must always in a progressive society 

be held superior to men, who are after all 

imperfect instruments, working for their fulfilment. 

Religion is more than life. 

Remember that his own religion 

is the truest to every man even 

if it stands low in the scales 

of philosophical comparison. 

Violent men 

have not been known 

in history to die to a man. 

They die up to a point. 

There is no principle worth 

the name if it is not wholly good. 

Every formula of every religion 

has in this age of reason, 

to submit to the acid test 

of reason and universal assent. 

If co-operation is a duty, 

I hold that non-co-operation also 

under certain conditions is equally a duty. 

I would heartily welcome 

the union of East and West 

provided it is not based on brute force. 

Unwearied ceaseless effort 

is the price that must be paid 

for turning faith 

into a rich infallible experience. 

Man's nature is not essentially evil. 

Brute nature has been know 

to yield to the influence of love. 

You must never despair of human nature. 

Just as a man would not cherish living 

in a body other than his own, 

so do nations not like to live under other nations, 

however noble and great the latter may be. 

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.

Rights that do not flow from duty 

well performed are not worth having. 

We should meet abuse by forbearance. 

Human nature is so constituted 

that if we take absolutely 

no notice of anger or abuse, 

the person indulging in it 

will soon weary of it and stop. 

Non-cooperation with evil 

is as much a duty 

as is cooperation with good. 

The only tyrant I accept 

in this world is the still voice within. 

Interdependence is and ought to be 

as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency. 

Man is a social being. 

Religion is a matter of the heart. 

No physical inconvenience 

can warrant abandonment of one's own religion. 

Are creeds such simple things 

like the clothes which a man 

can change at will and put on at will? 

Creeds are such for which people 

live for ages and ages. 

Only he can take great resolves 

who has indomitable faith 

in God and has fear of God. 

Morality is contraband in war.