“Our task is not to liberate the oppressed, but to liberate the oppressors”

Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace.

You mustn’t compromise your principles, but you mustn’t humiliate the opposition. No one is more dangerous than one who is humiliated.

The most difficult matter is not so much to change the world as yourself.

History will judge us by the difference we make in the everyday lives of children.

One of the things I learned when I was negotiating was that until I changed myself, I could not change others.

Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward.

No power on this earth can destroy the thirst for human dignity.

A Nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but it’s lowest ones.

When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw.

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.

Education is the great engine of personal development.

Nothing is black or white.

The impression that you are a demigod worried me. I wanted to be like an ordinary human being with virtues and vices.

A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.

It is in the character of growth that we should learn from both pleasant and unpleasant experiences.

If you want the cooperation of humans around you, you must make them feel they are important – and you do that by being genuine and humble.

You set yourself free by letting go of anyone who wants to leave.

How liberating it is, to exercise our power to choose and radiate a high-frequency emotion of our choice, in every scene of life.

Touch has a memory. O say, love say, What can I do to kill it and be free In my old liberty?

Belief in karma ought to make the life pure, strong, serene and glad. Only our own deeds can hinder us; only our own will can fetter us. Once let men recognize this truth, and the hour of their liberation has struck. Nature cannot enslave the soul that by wisdom has gained power and uses both in love.

Desire is storm, greed is whirlpool, pride is precipice, attachment is avalanche, ego is volcano. Discard desire and you are liberated.

A common religion is not possible for India, but a recognition of a common basis for all religions, and the growth of a liberal, tolerant spirit in religious matters, are possible.

The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed a standard citizenry, to put down dissent and originality.

The poor wish for wealth; animals for the faculty of speech; men wish for heaven; and godly persons for liberation.