Gandhi Ahimsa Quotes & Sayings

Ahimsa is not a matter of mere dietetics: it transcends it. — Mahatma Gandhi

A votary of ahimsa always prays for ultimate deliverance from the bondage of the flesh. — Mahatma Gandhi

One who hooks his fortune to ahimsa, the law of love, daily lessens the circle of destruction and to that extent promotes life and love. — Mahatma Gandhi

Truth and ahimsa will never be destroyed. — Mahatma Gandhi

True ahimsa lay in running into the mouth of himsa. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa is the height of Kshatriya dharma as it represents the climax of fearlessness. — Mahatma Gandhi

Swadeshism is not a cult of hatred. It is a doctrine of selfless service that has its roots in the purest ahimsa, i.e. love. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa means infinite love, which again means infinite capacity for suffering. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa necessarily includes truth and fearlessness. — Mahatma Gandhi

My ahimsa would not tolerate the idea of giving a free meal to a healthy person who has not worked for it in some honest way. — Mahatma Gandhi

Means to be means must always be within our reach, and so ahimsa is our supreme duty. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa is the highest ideal. It is meant for the brave, never for the cowardly. — Mahatma Gandhi

The principle of ahimsa is hurt by every evil thought, by undue haste, by lying, by hatred, by wishing ill to anybody. — Mahatma Gandhi

Indeed, these errors and my prompt confessions have made me surer, if possible, of my insight into the implications of truth and ahimsa. — Mahatma Gandhi

The power of unarmed nonviolence is any day far superior to that of armed force. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa must be placed before everything else while it is professed. Then alone it becomes irresistible. — Mahatma Gandhi

For a satyagrahi brigade only those are eligible who believe in ahimsa and satya. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa was preached to man when he was in full vigor of life and able to look his adversaries straight in the face. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa is my God, and Truth is my God. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa is an attribute of the brave. Cowardice and ahimsa don't go together any more that water and fire. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa is the very definition of woman and there is no place for untruth in her heart. If she is true to herself she is no longer Abala
the weak, but she is Sabala
the strong ... — Mahatma Gandhi

Love, otherwise ahimsa, sustains this planet of ours. — Mahatma Gandhi

All my experiments in Ahimsa have taught me that nonviolence in practice means common labour with the body. — Mahatma Gandhi

The highest religion has been defined by a negative word: ahimsa. — Mahatma Gandhi

Khadi has been conceived as the foundation and the image of ahimsa. A real khadi-wearer will not utter an untruth. A real khadi-wearer will harbour no violence, no deceit, no impurity. — Mahatma Gandhi

In an atmosphere of ahimsa, one has no scope to put his ahimsa to the test. It can be tested only in the face of himsa. — Mahatma Gandhi

Unless the charkha adds to your ahimsa and makes you stronger every day, your Gandhism is of little avail. — Mahatma Gandhi

It is against the spirit of ahimsa to overawe even one person into submission. — Mahatma Gandhi

Love in the sense of ahimsa has only a limited number of votaries in the world. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa is nothing if not a well-balanced, exquisite consideration for one's neighbour, and an idle man is wanting in that elementary consideration. — Mahatma Gandhi

True ahimsa should mean a complete freedom from ill-will and anger and hate and an overflowing love for all. — Mahatma Gandhi

H. G. Wells was not the only one to mention Churchill and Hitler in the same breath: "Churchill and Hitler are striving to change the nature of their respective countrymen by forcing and hammering violent methods on them. Man may be suppressed in this manner but he cannot be changed. Ahimsa [non-violence in the Hindu tradition], on the other hand, can change human nature and sooner than men like Churchill and Hitler." — Mahatma Gandhi

I see a clear breach of ahimsa even in driving away monkeys; the breach would be proportionately greater if they have to be killed. — Mahatma Gandhi

A votary of ahimsa must cultivate the habit of unremitting toil, sleepless vigilance, ceaseless self-control. — Mahatma Gandhi

Let it be granted, that according to the letter of the Gita it is possible to say that warfare is consistent with renunciation of fruit. But after forty years' unremitting endeavour fully to enforce the teaching of the Gita in my own life, I have in all humility felt that perfect renunciation is impossible without perfect observance of ahimsa in every shape and form. — Mahatma Gandhi

For me the only certain means of knowing God is nonviolence, ahimsa, love. — Mahatma Gandhi

When two nations are fighting, the duty of a votary of ahimsa is to stop the war. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa magnifies one's own defects, and minimizes those of the opponent. It regards the mole in one's own eye as a beam and the beam in the opponent's eye as a mole. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa is the eradication of the desire to injure or to kill. — Mahatma Gandhi

Hinduism with its message of ahimsa is to me the most glorious religion in the world. — Mahatma Gandhi

He who trifles with truth cuts at the root of Ahimsa [non-violence]. He who is angry is guilty of Himsa. — Mahatma Gandhi

Woman is more fitted than man to make explorations and take bolder action in ahimsa. — Mahatma Gandhi

The path of Truth is as narrow as it is straight. Even so is that of ahimsa. — Mahatma Gandhi

Violence only makes a situation worse. It cannot help but provoke a violent response. Strictly speaking, satyagraha is not "nonviolence." It is a means, a method. The word we translate as "nonviolence" is a Sanskrit word central in Buddhism as well: ahimsa, the complete absence of violence in word and even thought as well as action. This sounds negative, just as "nonviolence" sounds passive. But like the English word "flawless," ahimsa denotes perfection. Ahimsa is unconditional love; satyagraha is love in action. Gandhi's message — Eknath Easwaran

The votary of ahimsa has only one fear, that is, of God. — Mahatma Gandhi

The richest grace of ahimsa will descend easily upon the owner of hard discipline. — Mahatma Gandhi

A soldier fights with an irresistible strength when he has blown up his bridges and burnt his boats. Even so, it is with a soldier of ahimsa. — Mahatma Gandhi

Whatever strength the masses have is due entirely to ahimsa, however imperfect or defective its practice might have been. — Mahatma Gandhi

True ahimsa should wear a smile even on a deathbed brought about by an assailant. It is only with that ahimsa that we can befriend our opponents and win their love. — Mahatma Gandhi

By ahimsa we will be able to save the cow and also win the friendship of the English. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa is the highest duty. Even if we cannot practice it in full, we must try to understand its spirit and refrain as far as is humanly possible from violence. — Mahatma Gandhi

Love and ahimsa are matchless in their effect. — Mahatma Gandhi

When there is no desire for fruit, there is no temptation for untruth or himsa (violence). Take any instance of untruth or violence, and it will be found that at its back was the desire to attain the cherished end. But it may be freely admitted that the Gita was not written to establish ahimsa. It was an accepted and primary duty even before the Gita age. The Gita had to deliver the message of renunciation of fruit. This is clearly brought out as early as the second chapter. 26. But if the Gita believed in ahimsa or it was included in desirelessness, why did the author take a warlike illustration? When the Gita was written, although people believed in ahimsa, wars were not only not taboo, but nobody observed the contradiction between them and ahimsa. — Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi was a man of peace and non-violence and lived by the Hindu principle of ahimsa, action based on refusal to do harm. As his war-strewn presidency shows, George Bush knows nothing about ahimsa and non-violence. Bush should reconsider this cynical, disrespectful display of symbolism. — Kevin Martin

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. — Mahatma Gandhi

The alphabet of ahimsa is best learnt in domestic school and I can say from experience that if we secure success there, we are sure to do so everywhere else. — Mahatma Gandhi

Dharma is one and one only. Ahimsa means moksha, and moksha is the realization of Truth. — Mahatma Gandhi

This ahimsa is the basis of the search for truth. I am realizing every day that the search is vain unless it is founded on ahimsa as the basis. It is quite proper to resist and attack a system, but to resist and attack its author is tantamount to resisting and attacking oneself. — Mahatma Gandhi

If our ahimsa is not of the brave but of the weak, and if it will bend the knee before himsa, Gandhism deserves to be destroyed. — Mahatma Gandhi

In Swaraj, based on ahimsa, people need not know their rights, but it is also necessary for them to know their duties. — Mahatma Gandhi

My ahimsa is my own. I am not able to accept in its entirety the doctrine of non-killing of animals. — Mahatma Gandhi

My errors have been errors of calculation and judging men, not in appreciating the true nature of truth and ahimsa or in their application. — Mahatma Gandhi

The most distinctive and largest contribution of Hinduism to India's culture is the doctrine of ahimsa. — Mahatma Gandhi

The fullest application of ahimsa does make life impossible. — Mahatma Gandhi

My anekantavada is the result of the twin doctrines of satya and ahimsa. — Mahatma Gandhi

The universe is not for man alone, but is a theater of evolution for all living beings. Live and let live is its guiding principle. 'Ahimsa Paramo Dharmah' - Non-injury is the highest religion. — Virchand Gandhi

Ahimsa can be practiced only towards those that are inferior to you in every way. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa in theory no one knows. It is as indefinable as God. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa must express itself through acts of selfless service of the masses. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa is the strongest force known. — Mahatma Gandhi

Truth is my religion and ahimsa is the only way of its realization. — Mahatma Gandhi

Thinking along these lines, I have felt that in trying to enforce in one's life the central teaching of the Gita, one is bound to follow Truth and ahimsa. — Mahatma Gandhi

What is it but my ahimsa that draws thousands of women to me in fearless confidence? — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa is no mere theory with me, but it is a fact of life based on extensive experience. — Mahatma Gandhi

The way to truth lies through ahimsa (nonviolence). — Mahatma Gandhi

The removal of untouchability is one of the highest expressions of ahimsa. — Mahatma Gandhi

No man has ever been able to describe God fully. The same holds true of ahimsa. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa and Truth are so intertwined that it is practically impossible to disentangle and separate them. — Mahatma Gandhi

Cow-protection can only be secured by cultivating universal friendliness, i.e. ahimsa. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa is a science. The word 'failure' has no place in the vocabulary of science. — Mahatma Gandhi

The greater the realization of truth and ahimsa, the greater the illumination. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa is one of the world's great principles, which no power on earth can wipe out. — Mahatma Gandhi

The scriptures of Christians, Mussalmans and Hindus are all replete with the teaching of ahimsa. — Mahatma Gandhi

A votary of ahimsa cannot subscribe to the utilitarian formula (of the greatest good of the greatest number). He will strive for the greatest good of all and die in the attempt to realize that ideal. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa and Truth are my two lungs. I cannot live without them. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa and love are one and the same thing. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa calls for the strength and courage to suffer without retaliation, to receive blows without returning any. — Mahatma Gandhi

Ahimsa is the attribute of the soul, and therefore, to be practiced by everybody in all affairs of life. If it cannot be practiced in all departments, it has no practical value. — Mahatma Gandhi