Civil disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state becomes lawless or corrupt.
Retaliation is counter-poison and poison breeds more poison. The nectar of Love alone can destroy the poison of hate.
My notion of democracy is that under it the weakest shall have the same opportunities as the strongest... no country in the world today shows any but patronizing regard for the weak... Western democracy, as it functions today, is diluted fascism... true democracy cannot be worked by twenty men sitting at the center. It has to be worked from below, by the people of every village.
Democracy is not a state in which people act like sheep.
The only devils in the world are those running around in our own hearts - that is where the battle should be fought.
Democracy necessarily means a conflict of will and ideas, involving sometimes a war of the knife between different ideas.
Liberty and democracy become unholy when their hands are dyed red with innocent blood.
I understand democracy as something that gives the weak the same chance as the strong.
Democracy and dependence on the military and police are incompatible.
The true democrat is he who with purely nonviolent means defends his liberty and, therefore, his country's and ultimately that of the whole of mankind.
What is really needed to make democracy function is not knowledge of facts, but right education.
If we want to cultivate a true spirit of democracy we cannot afford to be intolerant. Intolerance betrays want of faith in one's cause.
Evolution of democracy is not possible if we are not prepared to hear the other side.
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
The spirit of democracy is not a mechanical thing to be adjusted by abolition of forms. It requires change of heart.
Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today.
In the days of democracy there is no such thing as active loyalty to a person. You are, therefore, loyal or disloyal to institutions.
To safeguard democracy the people must have a keen sense of independence, self-respect, and their oneness.
The science of war leads one to dictatorship, pure and simple. The science of non-violence alone can lead one to pure democracy. Power based on love is thousand times more effective and permanent than power derived from fear of punishment. It is a blasphemy to say non-violence can be practiced only by individuals and never by nations which are composed of individuals. The nearest approach to purest anarchy would be a democracy based on non-violence. A society organized and run on the basis of complete non-violence would be the purest anarchy.
Democracy comes naturally to him who is habituated normally to yield willing obedience to all laws, human or divine.
The spirit of democracy cannot be superimposed from the outside. It must come from within.
The science of nonviolence can alone lead one to pure democracy.
Democracy is a great institution and, therefore, it is liable to be greatly abused.
The only force at the disposal of democracy is that of public opinion.
If fighting for the legislatures meant a sacrifice of truth and nonviolence, democracy would not be worth a moment's purchase.
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