75 Mahatma Gandhi Quotes on Ahimsa To Spread Nonviolence

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Gandhiji used Ahimsa as a weapon to freed India. So, what is Ahimsa? Ahimsa is derived from the Sanskrit verb root san, which means to kill. The form hims means “desirous to kill“; the prefix a- is a negation. So a-himsa means literally “lacking any desire to kill”. Gandhi teaches that the one who possesses nonviolence is blessed. Blessed is the man who can perceive the law of ahimsa (nonviolence) in the midst of the raging fire of himsa all around him. Read below the 75 Inspiring quotes said by Mahatma Gandhi to understand his view on ahimsa.

Mahatma Gandhi Quotes On Ahimsa

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

Mahatma Gandhi emphasizes that practicing nonviolence, or ahimsa, is the noblest path, suitable for those with courage and strength. It is not for those who are timid or cowardly.

2. “Ahimsa is the eradication of the desire to injure or to kill.”

Gandhi describes ahimsa as the complete elimination of the inner urge to harm or take life. It involves removing the very desire for violence from one’s heart and mind.

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

Gandhi stresses that ahimsa goes beyond just dietary choices. It’s not limited to what we eat but extends to our actions and way of life, promoting nonviolence in all aspects.

4. “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.”

Gandhi asserts that ahimsa is a supreme moral duty. Even if we can’t fully embrace it, we should strive to comprehend its essence and minimize violence as much as humanly possible.

5. “Ahimsa means infinite love, which again means infinite capacity for suffering.”

According to Gandhi, ahimsa equates to boundless love and compassion. It implies an immense capacity to endure suffering without retaliating with violence.

6. “Ahimsa is an attribute of the brave. Cowardice and ahimsa don’t go together with any more than water and fire.”

Gandhi associates ahimsa with courage. He suggests that cowardice and nonviolence are incompatible, much like water and fire cannot coexist.

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

Gandhi implies that the true essence of ahimsa is difficult to define in theory. It’s as mysterious and profound as the concept of God.

8. “The highest religion has been defined by a negative word: ahimsa.”

Gandhi highlights that the loftiest form of religion is encapsulated in the concept of ahimsa, which is represented by a negation (non-violence). It underscores the supreme importance of nonviolence.

9. “Ahimsa is one of the world’s great principles, which no power on earth can wipe out.”

Gandhi emphasizes that ahimsa is a fundamental principle of the world that is so resilient that no earthly power can erase or diminish its significance.

10. “Dharma is one and one only. Ahimsa means moksha, and moksha is the realization of Truth.”

Gandhi suggests that the ultimate righteous path, or dharma, is singular and that ahimsa is intertwined with it. Ahimsa leads to moksha (spiritual liberation), which, in turn, is the realization of Truth.

11. “Love and ahimsa are matchless in their effect.”

Gandhi affirms that the impact of love and nonviolence (ahimsa) is unparalleled. Together, they possess extraordinary transformative power.

12. “Love in the sense of ahimsa has only a limited number of votaries in the world.”

Gandhi acknowledges that the kind of love associated with nonviolence has only a limited number of dedicated followers in the world. It’s a challenging but deeply virtuous path to follow.

More Ahimsa Quotes by Gandhiji

13. “Ahimsa is the attribute of the soul, and therefore, to be practiced by everybody in all the affairs of life.”

14. “Ahimsa is the strongest force known.”

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

16. “The fullest application of ahimsa does make life impossible.”

17. “The most distinctive and largest contribution of Hinduism to India’s culture is the doctrine of ahimsa.”

18. “True ahimsa should mean complete freedom from ill will and anger and hate and overflowing love for all.”

19. “Ahimsa and love are the same things.”

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

21. “Ahimsa is my God, and Truth is my God.”

22. “Truth and ahimsa will never be destroyed.”

23. “The principle of ahimsa is hurt by every evil thought, by undue haste, by lying, by hatred, by wishing ill to anybody.”

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

25. “Ahimsa can be practiced only towards those that are inferior to you in every way.”

26. “Ahimsa was preached to man when he was in the full vigor of life and able to look his adversaries straight in the face.”

27. “The greater the realization of truth and ahimsa, the greater the illumination.”

28. “The path of Truth is as narrow as it is straight. Even so, is that of ahimsa.”

29. “Use truth as your anvil, nonviolence as your hammer, and anything that does not stand the test when it is brought to the anvil of truth and hammered with ahimsa, reject as non-Hindu.”

30. “The removal of untouchability is one of the highest expressions of ahimsa.”

31. “Ahimsa is a science. The word ‘failure’ has no place in the vocabulary of science.”

32. “Ahimsa magnifies one’s defects and minimizes those of the opponent. It regards the mole in one’s eye as a beam and the beam in the opponent’s eye as a mole.”

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

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

35. “Ahimsa is no mere theory with me, but it is a fact of life based on extensive experience.”

36. “My ahimsa is my own. I am not able to accept in its entirety the doctrine of non-killing of animals.”

37. “What is it but the ahimsa that draws thousands of women to me in fearless confidence?”

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

39. “Truth and ahimsa demand that no human being may debar himself from serving any other human being, no matter how sinful he may be.”

40. “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.”

41. “My anekantavada is the result of the twin doctrines of Satya and ahimsa.”

42. “When two nations are fighting, a votary of ahimsa must stop the war.”

43. “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.”

44. “Ahimsa and Truth are my two lungs. I cannot live without them.”

45. “My errors have been errors of calculation and judging men, not in appreciating the true nature of truth and ahimsa or in their application.”

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

47. “All my experiments in Ahimsa have taught me that nonviolence in practice means common labor with the body.”

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

49. “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.”

50. “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.”

51. “The alphabet of ahimsa is best learned in domestic school and I can say from experience that if we secure success there, we are sure to do so everywhere else.”

52. “A votary of ahimsa always prays for ultimate deliverance from the bondage of the flesh.”

53. “A steadfast pursuit of ahimsa is inevitably bound to truth-not violence.”

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

55. “A votary of ahimsa cannot subscribe to the utilitarian formula. He will strive for the greatest good of all and die in an attempt to realize that ideal.”

56. “Woman is the incarnation of ahimsa.”

57. “Ahimsa means infinite love, which again means infinite capacity for suffering.”

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

59. “Unless the charkha adds to your ahimsa and makes you stronger every day, your Gandhism is of little avail.”

60. “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 harbor no violence, no deceit, no impurity.”

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

62. “No power on earth can subjugate you when you are armed with the sword of ahimsa. It ennobles both the victor and the vanquished.”

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

64. “A votary of ahimsa must cultivate the habit of unremitting toil, sleepless vigilance, ceaseless self-control.”

65. “It is against the spirit of ahimsa to overawe even one person into submission.”

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

67. “Love, otherwise ahimsa, sustains this planet of ours.”

68. “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.”

69. “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.”

70. “Man lives freely by his readiness to die, if need be, at the hands of his brother, never by killing him.”

71. “The strength to kill is not essential for self-defense; one ought to have the strength to die.”

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

73. “If the circulation of blood theory could not have been discovered without vivisection, humankind could well have done without it.”

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

75. “By ahimsa, we will be able to save the cow and win the English friendship.”

Conclusion: I hope you liked the above Ahimsa Quotes of Mahatma Gandhi. Don’t forget to mention the best line that you liked most from the above lines in the comment box below.

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