Today is the birthday of one of my favorite historical figures: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (sometimes mispelt as Ghandi). If he was alive, Ghandi would be 140 years old today! And since in a way he’s very much alive in our hearts, I’ve gathered some of his most influential and inspiring quotes to make a celebratory post. If you’re not too familiar with Gandhi other than through his quotes, I recommend you watch the amazing 1982 Richard Attenborough movie starring Ben Kingsley as Gandhi:

This is the kind of movie that will change the way you look at the world, as well as making you consider just how influential you can be in changing things for the best. If you want to watch this movie legally over the Internet, you may want to check out this website. Now, onwards to the Ghandi Quotes:

if gandhi was alive, he'd say (and I quote):

* A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.

* As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world — that is the myth of the atomic age — as in being able to remake ourselves.

* Be the change you want to see in the world.

* First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

* God is conscience. He is even the atheism of the atheist.

* Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.

* If by strength is meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man’s superior.

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

if gandhi was alive, he would say (and I quote):

* Nobody can hurt me without my permission.

* There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.

* Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.

* As long as you derive inner help and comfort from anything, keep it.

* Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.

* Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

* Hate the sin, love the sinner.

* Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress.

* Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.

if gandhi was alive, he would say (and I quote):

* I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life.

* I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.

* In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness. Our life is a long and arduous quest after Truth.

* Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy.

* It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.

* 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.

* One needs to be slow to form convictions, but once formed they must be defended against the heaviest odds.

* Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.

* The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

* Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.

if gandhi was alive, he would say (and I quote):

* When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways 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

* You must be the change you want to see in the world.

* 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.

* What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?

* Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.

* The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

* I abhor vivisection with my whole soul. All the scientific discoveries stained with innocent blood I count as of no consequence.

* Experience teaches that animal food is unsuited to those who would curb their passions. But it is wrong to over-estimate the importance of food in the formation of character or in subjugating the flesh.

* I hold today the same opinion as I held then. To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being.

* I hold flesh-food to be unsuited to our species. We err in copying the lower animal world if we are superior to it.

* I do feel that spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily wants.

* Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.

* An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

if gandhi was alive, he would say (and I quote):

* Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.

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