Known for peaceful protests, Mahatma Gandhi left a mark on this world. Sarah Frost shares her favorite Gandhi quotes, some of the best bits of his legacy.

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In high school I started writing important thoughts, quotes, feelings—all of it—on my bedroom mirror. I suppose that’s when I fell in love with words, when I started seeing them everyday. I have journals filled with pages rendered useless because I wrote a quote down a few times. I suppose so I would remember it better.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born in Porbandar, India, in 1869. He was assassinated in 1948, after his tremendous work with the Indian independence movement.

Gandi’s philosophy of satyagraha—mass nonviolent protests—would change the world. This philosophy has been mirrored by other civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela during their own work.

He’s called Mahatma because of the life he led—it means great soul.

I believe words—the ones you begin your day with—can change your outlook and your day. Consider starting your day with some of his words. I’m adding a few of these to my mirror:

1.  “Love is the strongest force the world possesses.” 

2.  “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.” 

3.  “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.” 

4.  “‘Hate the sin and not the sinner’ is a precept which, though easy enough to understand, is rarely practiced, and that is why the poison of hatred spreads in the world.”

5.  “A man of truth must also be a man of care.”

6.  “I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet.”

7.  “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

8.  “Take care of this moment.”

9.  “The only tyrant I accept in this world is the ‘still small voice’ within me. And even though I have to face the prospect of being a minority of one, I humbly believe I have the courage to be in such a hopeless minority.”

10.  “I have been known as a crank, faddist, madman. Evidently the reputation is well deserved. For wherever I go, I draw to myself cranks, faddists and madmen.”

 

[image via thierry ehrmann on flickr]