Thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi

You are here

  • What shall we believe? Praise of us or censure of us? Both may be undeserved. Then, shall we be our own judges? Here too there is room enough for error. God alone knows what we are, but He does not tell us. It is, therefore, best neither to seek to know n

    "April 9, 1945", CWMG, vol. LXXIX, p. 436.
  • Blind is not he who has lost his eyes, but he who hides his shortcomings.

    "April 10, 1945", CWMG, vol. LXXIX, p. 436.
  • Man's serenity of mind can be tested only in the world of men, not on the solitary heights of the Himalayas.

    "April 11, 1945", CWMG, vol. LXXIX, p. 436.
  • An ideal is one thing; living up to it is quite another. (Written on 15-4-1945.)

    "April 12, 1945", CWMG, vol. LXXIX, p. 436.
  • A man without an ideal is like a ship without a rudder. (Written on 15-4-45.)

    "April 13, 1945", CWMG, vol. LXXIX, p. 436.
  • I may be said to have an ideal only when I put forth an effort to realize it. (Written on 15-4-1945.)

    "April 14, 1945", CWMG, vol. LXXIX, p. 436.
  • We may rest content with trying, provided we make the right effort and to the best of our ability. The result does not depend on the effort alone. There are other factors over which we have no control.

    "April 15, 1945", CWMG, vol. LXXIX, p. 436.
  • What shall be called the right effort? One test is that very often it yields the desired result. So the rightness is judged by the result. But experience shows that this is not always the case. Right effort is that in which there is deep conviction about

    "April 16, 1945", CWMG, vol. LXXIX, p. 436.
  • What shall be called "the best of our ability"? That effort in which we spend all our energy without stint. Success generally attends such pure effort.

    "April 17, 1945", CWMG, vol. LXXIX, p. 437.
  • Man reaches decisions on the strength of insignificant evidence and shapes his course of action accordingly. Where such is the case, it is better not to reach a decision as far as possible and to be indifferent as regards the results. But should it become

    "April 18, 1945", CWMG, vol. LXXIX, p. 437.
GoUp