Ethics and Morality

Rights that do not flow from duty well performed are not worth having.

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 than the one derived from fear of punishment.

Purity of mind and idleness are incompatible.

Personally, I hold that a man who deliberately and intelligently takes a pledge and then breaks it, forfeits his manhood.

Non-co-operation with evil is as much a duty as is co-operation with good.

Nobody can hurt me without my permission.

Morality is the basis of things and truth is the substance of all morality.

Moral authority is never retained by any attempt to hold on to it. It comes without seeking and is retained without effort.

Morality is contraband in war.

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

Just as a man would not cherish living in a body other than his own, so do nations not like to live under other nations, however noble and great the latter may be.

It is the action, not the fruit of action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that doesn’t mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.

It is easy enough to be friendly to one’s friends, but to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business.

It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.

I reject any religious doctrine that does not appeal to reason and is in conflict with morality.

I suppose leadership at one time meant muscles, but today it means getting along with people.

Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.

Intolerance betrays want of faith in one’s cause.

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.

I look only to the good qualities of men. Not being faultless myself, I won’t presume to probe into the faults of others.

If one has no affection for a person or a system, one should feel free to give the fullest expression to this disaffection so long as one does not contemplate, promote, or incite violence.

Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress.

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

Distinguish between real needs and artificial wants and control the latter.