“People avoid action. Often because they are afraid of the consequences, for action means risk and danger. Danger seems terrible from a distance; it is not so bad if you have a close look at it”

Peace is not merely an absence of war. It is also a state of mind.

There is perhaps nothing so bad and so dangerous in life as fear.

Failure comes only when we forget our ideals and objectives and principles.

Crises and deadlocks when they occur have at least this advantage, that they force us to think.

I am getting old and the sign of old age is that I begin to philosophize and ponder over problems which should not be my concern at all.

You don’t change the course of history by turning the faces of portraits to the wall.

Facts are facts and will not disappear on account of your likes.

I have become a queer mixture of the East and the West, out of place everywhere, at home nowhere.

I do not attach much importance to America’s bombs. I attach importance to her great vitality and integrity. The strength of America is deeper and more significant than her financial power.

Action to be effective must be directed to clearly conceived ends.

To be in good moral condition requires at least as much training as to be in good physical condition.

A leader or a man of action in a crisis almost always acts subconsciously and then thinks of the reasons for his action.

The purely agitational attitude is not good enough for a detailed consideration of a subject.

When the present is full of gloom, the past becomes haven of refuge that provides relief and inspiration.

The boundaries of democracy have to be widened so as to include economic equality also. This is the great revolution through which we are all passing.

The ambition of the greatest men of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but so long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over.

You’ll never find out what you can do, until you do all you can to find out.

Accept people and situations as they are in life and then take action. The moment you do this, you’ll see you are out of the confusion about anything in life.

With charity, money is purified. By service, our actions are purified. With music, our emotions are purified and with knowledge our intellect is purified.

Those born blind cannot see; similarly blind are those in the grip of lust. Proud men have no perception of evil; and those bent on acquiring riches see no sin in their actions.

Strange thoughts beget strange deeds.

Do not reveal what you have thought upon doing, but by wise council keep it secret being determined to carry it into execution.

When you feel you cannot do good, at least desist from doing evil.

Before man can be free, and equal, and truly wise, he must cast aside the chains of habit and superstition; he must strip sensuality of its pomp, and selfishness of its excuses, and contemplate actions and objects as they really are.