Mahatma Gandhi

1869–1948 · Leader of Indian independence & apostle of nonviolence

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi led India’s independence movement through satyagraha — nonviolent civil resistance — and became one of the most quoted moral figures of the twentieth century. His genuine writings fill roughly a hundred volumes of collected works, which is precisely why fabricated and paraphrased “Gandhi quotes” spread so easily: the real corpus is enormous, and few people check it. He was assassinated in New Delhi in January 1948.

Traced to source

5 quotes we’ve traced to Mahatma Gandhi

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

Verified

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

Attributed

“An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind”

Disputed

“Be the change you wish to see in the world”

Disputed

“If you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly”

Disputed

Not actually Mahatma Gandhi

Often misattributed to Mahatma Gandhi

Famous lines widely pinned on Mahatma Gandhi that we’ve traced to someone else.

“A patient is the most important person in our hospital. He is not an interruption to our work, he is the purpose of it”

actually Kenneth B. Elliott (original “customer” wording)

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win”

actually Nicholas Klein

“God has no religion”

actually Henry Whitney Bellows

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever”

actually St Edmund of Abingdon (traditionally)

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

actually David Friedrich Strauss

On the research bench

Commonly pinned on Mahatma Gandhi — under review

2 lines flagged as pinned on Mahatma Gandhi and queued for a full source trace — not yet verified.

“I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Disputed

“I think it would be a good idea.”

Disputed

Did they really say it?

Thought Mahatma Gandhi said something else?

Type a quote you think Mahatma Gandhi said — we’ll tell you what we know, or point you to the best sources.