Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi) is a hero of sustainability because he advocated simple living, self-reliance, humaneness and non-violence towards both people and the environment. The following Mahatma Gandhi quotes are key ideas for living an essential and authentic life.
The first principle of non-violent action is that of non-cooperation with everything humiliating.
Where there is love, there is life.
You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.
A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.
The greatness of humanity is not in being human, but in being humane.
Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.”
I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.
In a gentle way, you can shake the world.
Nobody can hurt me without my permission.
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
We may never be strong enough to be entirely nonviolent in thought, word and deed. But we must keep nonviolence as our goal and make strong progress towards it.
Change yourself – you are in control.
It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.
Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.
Nearly everything you do is of no importance, but it is important that you do it.
Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.
My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-iolence is the means of realising Him.
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.
Love is the strongest force the world possesses.
Nonviolence is a weapon of the strong.
Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.
A ‘No’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.
Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.
I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.
When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always.