Ahimsa Quotes

So long as all is ordered for attack, and that alone, leaders will instinctively increase the number of enemies that they may give their followers something to do.

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

Ascribe not to any soul that which thou wouldst not have ascribed to thee, and say not that which though doest not.

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

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

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

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

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

The fullest application of ahimsa does make life impossible.

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

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

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

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

Which religion gives the greatest joy to God? That which inspires human beings to practice Ahimsa and compassion to all creatures.

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.

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

I do feel that spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily wants.

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

I know that I have still before me a difficult path to traverse. I must reduce myself to zero. 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.

It is said about Lord Buddha sadaya-hrdaya darsita-pasu-ghatam. He saw the whole human race going to hell by this animal killing. So he appeared to teach ahimsa, nonviolence, being compassionate on the animals and human beings. In the Christian religion also, it is clearly stated, 'Thou shall not kill'. So everywhere animal killing is restricted. In no religion the unnecessary killing of animals is allowed. But nobody is caring. The killing process is increasing, and so are the reactions. Every ten years you will find a war. These are the reactions.

The intellectual and moral satisfaction that I failed to gain from the utilitarianism of Bentham and Mill, the revolutionary methods of Marx and Lenin, the social contract theory of Hobbes, the "back to nature" optimism of Rousseau, and the superman philosophy of Nietzsche, I found in the nonviolent resistance philosophy of Gandhi. I came to feel that this was the only morally and practically sound method open to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.

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

Ahimsa is the strongest force known.

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 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.

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

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

The removal of untouchability is one of the highest expressions of ahimsa.

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."

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

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

Ahimsa and love are one and the same thing.

Truth and ahimsa will never be destroyed.

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

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

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.

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

If the lambs of the world had been willingly led, they would have long ago saved themselves from the butcher's knife.

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

If the circulation of blood theory could not have been discovered without vivisection, the human kind could well have done without it.

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

The greater the realization of truth and ahimsa, the greater the illumination.

If you kill me, you kill yourself." [...] He only wanted to convey to Janegg the truth of ahimsa, which is that all beings were connected to each other in the deepest way and thus it was impossible to harm another without harming oneself.

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

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.

If we want to eliminate bad qualities like hatred, envy, pride and ostentation, we have to employ Sathya, Dharma, Santhi and Prema and Ahimsa as the cleaning instruments.

The way to truth lies through ahimsa (nonviolence).

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

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.

Strictly speaking, no activity and no industry is possible without a certain amount of violence, no matter how little. Even the very process of living is impossible without a certain amount of violence. What we have to do is to minimize it to the greatest extent possible.