Mahatma Gandhi Quotes

What can we be in life? Few figures in history have answered this question with as much clarity and moral authority as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Placing the state in charge of moral principles is equivalent to putting the proverbial fox in charge of the chicken coop.

Leaders can be moral-and they should be moral-without imposing their morality on others.

No perfect democracy is possible without perfect nonviolence at the back of it.

Democracy needs a moral compass.

We are a people with no army, no navy, no air force, no arms. It's people, thousands of people, who are feeling, sensing the sense of urgency, fearing for the president of their life - the life of their president, trying to protect their democratic choice, because Arafat is the elected leader of the Palestinian people.

The idea of authority, which they represented, was associated in our minds with a greater insight and a more humane wisdom.

He who rules by moral force is like the pole star, which remains in place while all the lesser stars do homage to it.

The true strength of rulers and empires lies not in armies or emotions, but in the belief of men that they are inflexibly open and truthful and legal. As soon as a government departs from that standard it ceases to be anything more than 'the gang in possession,' and its days are numbered.

His peaceful resistance shook the foundations of an empire, exposed the emptiness of a repressive ideology, and proved that moral leadership is more powerful than any weapon.

Soldiers have many faults, but they have one redeeming merit; they are never worshippers of force. Soldiers more than any other men are taught severely and systematically that might is not right. The fact is obvious. The might is in the hundred men who obey. The right (or what is held to be right) is in the one man who commands them.

Management is formal authority given from above. Leadership is moral authority given from below and all around.

I am going to give you such a weapon that the police and the army will not be able to stand against it. It is the weapon of the Prophet, but you are not aware of it. That weapon is patience and righteousness. No power on earth can stand against it.

You are resisting, but you've come to see that tactically as well as morally, it is better to be nonviolent.If one would, didn't want to deal with the moral questions, it would just be impractical for the Negro to talk about making his struggle a violent one.

The man of upright life is obeyed before he speaks.

For all works and things, which are either commanded or forbidden by God and thus have been instituted by the supreme Majesty, are 'musts.' Nevertheless, no one should be dragged to them or away from them by the hair, for I can drive no man to heaven or beat him into it with a club.

Procedure is the bone structure of a democratic society. Our scheme of law affords great latitude for dissent and opposition. It compels wide tolerance not only for their expression but also for the organization of people and forces to bring about the acceptance of the dissenter's claim....We have alternatives to violence.

If I am your leader, you have to listen to me & if you don’t want to listen to me, then drop me as your leader

We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism.

Where I cannot be moral, my power is gone.

Gandhi was a David with no material weapon.. not even a slingshot.

A country will have authority and influence because of moral factors, not its military strength; because it can be humble and not blatant and arrogant; because our people want to serve others and not dominate others. And a nation without morality will soon lose its influence around the world.

To be moral, correct, and virtuous is to be obedient to an old established law and custom.

We need to get beyond the politics of the moment, the deficit of the hour, the military count of the day, the numbers that rarely shape events. Our long-term interests must be in people and in the values of democracy and individual liberty.