Darshniks

Mahatma Gandhi: Quotes & Lessons

“It is Swaraj when we learn to rule ourselves.”

Most of these come from Hind Swaraj (1909), Gandhi’s short manifesto written as a dialogue between a Reader and an Editor, quoted from the English edition Indian Home Rule. Chapter numbers are given.

Famous Quotes

  1. “The means may be likened to a seed, the end to a tree; and there is just the same inviolable connection between the means and the end as there is between the seed and the tree.”
    Hind Swaraj (1909), ch. XVI

    How you fight decides what you win.

  2. “Passive resistance is a method of securing rights by personal suffering; it is the reverse of resistance by arms.”
    Hind Swaraj (1909), ch. XVII

    Nonviolence is not passivity: it is choosing to bear the cost yourself.

  3. “It is Swaraj when we learn to rule ourselves.”
    Hind Swaraj (1909), ch. XIV

    Political freedom begins as self-mastery.

  4. “Civilization is that mode of conduct which points out to man the path of duty.”
    Hind Swaraj (1909), ch. XIII

    A civilisation is measured by its conduct, not its machines.

  5. “History is really a record of every interruption of the even working of the force of love or of the soul.”
    Hind Swaraj (1909), ch. XVII

    Peace is the normal state of things; it is only the breaks in it that make the news.

  6. “Passive resistance is an all-sided sword; it can be used anyhow; it blesses him who uses it and him against whom it is used.”
    Hind Swaraj (1909), ch. XVII

    Nonviolence aims to change the opponent, not destroy them.

  7. “Real home-rule is self-rule or self-control.”
    Hind Swaraj (1909), ch. XX

    No government can give you what you will not give yourself.

  8. “We but mirror the world. … If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change.”
    Indian Opinion, 9 August 1913 (Collected Works, vol. 12)

    The real source of the famous “be the change” idea.

  9. “As soon as India accepts the doctrine of the sword, my life as an Indian is finished.”
    Freedom’s Battle (1922)

    For Gandhi, nonviolence was not a tactic but the whole point.

  10. “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
    Young India, 2 April 1931

    Forgiving takes more strength than striking back.

How you fight decides what you winHind Swaraj, ch. XVI
  1. The meansLike a seed
  2. The endLike a tree

Often Misattributed

These circulate widely under the same name, but don’t hold up:

The full story of each: Fake Gandhi Quotes

Read More

Gandhi’s life and ideas · Hind Swaraj (Project Gutenberg)

Further Reading

Gandhi Heritage Portal · Hind Swaraj (Project Gutenberg) · Mahatma Gandhi

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