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Who really said it

I think it would be a good idea

No record before 1967 — the joke predates Gandhi Unknown first located attribution: January 1967
Disputed Free to reuse

The exchange — a reporter asks what he thinks of Western civilization; Gandhi replies that it would be a good idea — has no contemporaneous record. Gandhi died in January 1948; the earliest attribution we can date is January 1967, in newspaper coverage of a CBS documentary where the line was spoken by the narrator, and hedged even then: Gandhi “was reported to have answered.” The joke itself was already in print in 1923.

Last verified 20 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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Disputed credit — copy with the correction

“I think it would be a good idea” This civilization is such that one has only to be patient and it will be self-destroyed. —M. K. Gandhi, Hind Swaraj (1909), ch. VI. The "it would be a good idea" quip has no record before 1967.

The slide-ready mistake: crediting this to Mahatma Gandhi. Use the credit shown above instead.

Can you use it?

Free to use, including in commercial and paid presentations — no permission or licence needed.

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In context

Evoking the world of Mahatma Gandhi — leader of the Indian independence movement. Theme: "I think it would be a good idea". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "I think it would be a good idea". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

What Gandhi actually said about Western civilization

First located attribution
January 1967 — press coverage of a CBS documentary
Form there
Narration, hedged: ‘was reported to have answered’
The joke predates him
Life, 1923: ‘It’s a good idea. Somebody ought to start it.’
Gandhi's real verdict
Hind Swaraj (1909), ch. VI ‘Civilization’

This civilization is such that one has only to be patient and it will be self-destroyed. […] Civilization is not an incurable disease, but it should never be forgotten that the English people are at present afflicted by it. Hind Swaraj, 1909

Gandhi in his own words, chapter VI. He did not think Western civilization had yet to start — he thought it was a sickness in progress. The witticism is gentler than anything he actually wrote.

Quote Investigator — the 1967 first appearance

How we traced it

  • The earliest attribution located is January 1967, in a newspaper report on the CBS News special The Italians — where the anecdote is narration rather than footage, and the paper itself hedges with ‘was reported to have answered.’ It spread from there via a magazine reprint later that year Quote Investigator ↗.
  • The gag existed before Gandhi supposedly delivered it. Life ran it as filler in 1923 — ‘What’s your opinion of civilization?’ ‘It’s a good idea. Somebody ought to start it’ — and a 1925 newspaper carried a near-relative. A joke template in circulation is exactly what migrates onto a famous name the 1923 antecedent ↗.
  • Gandhi’s real verdict on Western civilization is on the record, in Hind Swaraj (1909), and it is far harsher than the quip — he calls it a disease that will destroy itself, and describes the English as presently afflicted by it Hind Swaraj ↗.
Public domain

Free to reuse. The apocryphal quip has no identified author and no rights holder. The 1923 Life antecedent is in the United States public domain, and Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj (1909) is public domain and published free by the Government of India. You may quote any of it — provided you do not present the quip as something Gandhi is recorded as saying. This is not legal advice.

Fact-check

The attribution problem

We are careful here: you cannot prove a man never said something in an interview. What can be shown is that no record exists, that the first trace is nineteen years late, and that the joke was already circulating without him.

Nothing before 1967 nineteen years late

Gandhi died in January 1948. The earliest located attribution is January 1967, and it is narration on a television documentary, hedged as something he ‘was reported to have answered’ the trail ↗.

Already in print, 1923 pre-existing template

‘What’s your opinion of civilization?’ — ‘It’s a good idea. Somebody ought to start it’ ran as magazine filler in 1923. The gag needed only a famous mouth to put it in 1923 antecedent ↗.

Southampton, Buckingham Palace later embroidery

Retellings specify a dockside press scrum on his 1931 England visit, or the palace. Those details have no source, and 1931 press coverage of Gandhi was extensive — the absence of any contemporaneous printing is itself meaningful.

No record before 1967, and the joke predates Gandhi by at least a quarter-century. Treat it as apocryphal — his real, sourced verdict on Western civilization is in Hind Swaraj (1909) citation trail ↗.

Context

Why it resonates

The appeal is the manner as much as the content: a colonised man, asked a patronising question by the empire’s press, answering with a smile that costs them everything. It is the perfect anti-imperial punchline, which is precisely why it wants to be true.

What Gandhi actually wrote is less charming and more serious. In Hind Swaraj he treats modern civilization as an affliction — something the English are suffering from rather than something they have failed to begin.

The joke was in print in 1923. Gandhi died in 1948. The attribution arrives in 1967.

The chain, 1923 to 1967

1923, Life filler: ‘What’s your opinion of civilization?’ ‘It’s a good idea. Somebody ought to start it.’

1925, newspaper variant: ‘The question is not where civilization began, but when will it.’

1948: Gandhi dies. No contemporaneous record of the exchange exists.

January 1967: a CBS documentary’s narration attaches it to Gandhi; press coverage repeats it, hedged.

Later 1967 onward: reprinted widely, the hedge dropped, settings invented.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Humility Truth

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

What Do You Think of Western Civilization?quoteinvestigator.com

The citation trail: the January 1967 first appearance, its hedged framing, and the conclusion that the anecdote is poorly supported.
The 1923 antecedentquoteinvestigator.com

The joke in Life magazine in 1923 — ‘It’s a good idea. Somebody ought to start it’ — decades before it was attached to Gandhi.
Hind Swaraj (1909), ch. VI 'Civilization'www.mkgandhi.org

Gandhi’s actual, and much sharper, written verdict on Western civilization — free to read and quote.

Popularly credited author

Why it gets pinned on Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi

1869–1948 · leader of the Indian independence movement

Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) was a genuine and radical critic of Western civilization, and he did visit England as a world-famous figure in 1931 — the setting the anecdote usually claims. That combination makes the story almost irresistible. But a line this quotable, delivered to reporters, would have been printed at the time, and it was not: the first trace is nineteen years after his death.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source — Chicago

Gandhi, M. K. Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule, chapter VI, ‘Civilization.’ 1909.

MLA (9th ed.)

Gandhi, M. K. “Civilization.” Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule, 1909, ch. 6.

APA (7th ed.)

Gandhi, M. K. (1909). Civilization. In Hind swaraj or Indian home rule (ch. 6).

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Did Gandhi really say Western civilization ‘would be a good idea’?” Last verified 20 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/i-think-it-would-be-a-good-idea

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