Mahatma Gandhi Quotes on Life
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, political leader, and philosopher who developed the doctrine and practice of satyagraha, nonviolent civil resistance, into a transformative form of political action. This page collects quotes attributed to Mahatma Gandhi on the topic of life, drawn from across the philosopher's works.
Quotes
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“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
We but mirror the world . All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body . If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. -
Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi:
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
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“Ours is one continual struggle against a degradation sought to be inflicted upon us by the Europeans , who desire to degrade us to the level of the raw Kaffir whose occupation is hunting, and whose sole ambition is to collect a certain number of cattle to buy a wife with and, then, pass his life in indolence and nakedness.”
Address given in Bombay (26 September 1896), Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi , Vol. 1, p. 410 (Electronic Book), New Delhi, Publications Division Government of India, 1999, 98 volumes. -
“The human body is meant solely for service, never for indulgence . The secret of happy life lies in renunciation . Renunciation is life. Indulgence spells death.”
1940s | Harijan , (24 February 1946), p. 19 -
“For one man cannot do right in one department of life whilst he is occupied in doing wrong in any other department. Life is one indivisible whole.”
1920s | Young India (27 January 1927) -
“Now when we talk of brotherhood of men, we stop there and feel that all other life is there for man to exploit for his own purposes. But Hinduism excludes all exploitation.”
1920s | Young India (26 December 1926) -
“"To deprive a man of his natural liberty and to deny to him the ordinary amenities of life is worse than starving the body.”
1930s -
“Hinduism insists on the brotherhood of not only all mankind but of all that lives.”
1930s | Harijan, 28-3-1936