“I claim to be no more than an average man with less than average abilities. I have not the shadow of a doubt that any man or woman can achieve what I have, if he or she would make the same effort and cultivate the same hope and faith.”
– GANDHI           
Mahatma Gandhi
Spiritual/Political Leader and Humanitarian, 1869 – 1948

(Mohandas Karamchand) Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbandar, India. He became one of the most respected spiritual and political leaders of the Twentieth Cnetury. Gandhi helped free the Indian people from British rule through nonviolent resistance, and is honored by his people as the father of the Indian Nation. The Indian people called Gandhi Mahatma, meaning Great Soul.
At age 13, Gandhi joined Kasturba, age 12, in a marriage arranged by their parents. The Gandhis had four sons: Harilal and Manilal, born in India, and Ramdas and Devdas born in South Africa. While Gandhi displayed loving kindness to everyone else, he was quite demanding and severe with his wife and sons. Use the links below to learn more about Gandhi’s relationship with his family.

Gandhi studied law in London and returned to India in 1891 to practice. In 1893 he accepted a one year contract to do legal work in South Africa. At the time South Africa was controlled by the British. When he attempted to claim his rights as a British subject he was abused, and soon saw that all Indians suffered similar treatment. Gandhi stayed in South Africa for 21 years working to secure rights for Indian people. He developed a method of direct social action based upon the principles courage, nonviolence and truth called Satyagraha. He believed that the way people behave is more important than what they achieve. Satyagraha promoted nonviolence and civil disobedience as the most appropriate methods for obtaining political and social goals.
In 1915 Gandhi returned to India. Within 15 years he became the leader of the Indian nationalist movement. Using the tenets of Satyagraha he lead the campaign for Indian independence from Britain. Gandhi was arrested many times by the British for his activities in South Africa and India. He believed it was honorable to go to jail for a just cause. Altogether he spent seven years in prison for his political activities. More than once Gandhi used fasting to impress upon others the need to be nonviolent.

India was granted independence in 1947, and partitioned into India and Pakistan. Rioting between Hindus and Muslims followed. Gandhi had been an advocate for a united India where Hindus and Muslims lived together in peace. On January 13, 1948, at the age of 78, he began a fast with the purpose of stopping the bloodshed. After 5 days the opposing leaders pledged to stop the fighting and Gandhi broke his fast. Twelve days later he was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic who opposed his program of tolerance for all creeds and religion.
Among the tributes to Gandhi upon his death were these words by the great physicist, Albert Einstein:
“Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this walked the earth in flesh and blood.”

Source : http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95oct/mkgandhi.html

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Mahatma Gandhi Quotes.

As a practitioner of ahimsa(non-violence), Gandhi swore to speak the truth and advocated that others do the same. He lived modestly in a self-sufficient residential community and wore the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl, woven from yarn that he had spun by hand himself. He ate simple vegetarian food, experimented for a time with a fruitarian diet, and undertook long fasts as a means of both self-purification and social protest.
Below is the list of Gandhiji’s Quotes…..

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”
“Whenever you are confronted with an opponent. Conquer him with love.”
“If we practice an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, soon the whole world will be blind and toothless.”
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.”
“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.”
“Indolence is a delightful but distressing state; we must be doing something to be happy. Action is no less necessary than thought to the instinctive tendencies of the human frame.”
“Adaptability is not imitation. It means power of resistance and assimilation.”
“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.”
As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world – that is the myth of the atomic age – as in being able to remake ourselves. -Mahatma Gandhi.
“Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
“If you don’t ask, you don’t get.”
“Poverty is the worst form of violence.”
The history of the world is full of men who rose to leadership, by sheer force of self-confidence, bravery and tenacity.
Prayer is not an old woman’s idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action.
“Anger and intolerance are the enemies of correct understanding.”
A “No” uttered from deepest conviction is better and greater than a “Yes” merely uttered to please, or what is worse, to avoid trouble.

Candor:
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. -Mahatma Gandhi.
“Love the sinner but hate the sin.”
Seven sins of life: Politics without principle. Commerce without morality. Wealth without work. Education without character. Science without humanity.
Pleasure without conscience. Worship without sacrifice.
God alone is the judge of true greatness because He knows men’s hearts.
“The Weak Can never Forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the Strong.”
The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within.
Fear has its use but cowardice has .
Cowards can never be moral.
All crime is a kind of disease and should be treated as such.
No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive.
Culture of the mind must be subservient to the heart.
When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem
invincible but in the end, they always fall — think of it, ALWAYS.
Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress.
In this age of the rule of brute force, it is almost impossible for anyone to believe that any one else could possibly reject the law of the final supremacy of brute force.
Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err.
Good government is no substitute for self-government.
If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide.
When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall – Think of it, ALWAYS.
In a gentle way, you can shake the world.
The only tyrant I will accept in this world is the “still small voice” within me.
“God comes to the hungry in the form of food.”
“To believe what has not occurred in history will not occur at all, is to argue disbelief in the dignity of man.”
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
“They cannot take away our self-respect if we do not give it to them.”
Consciously or unconsciously, every one of us does render some service or other. If we cultivate the habit of doing this service deliberately, our desire for service will steadily grow stronger and we will make not only our own happiness, but that of the world at large.
“It is the quality of our work which will please God and not the quantity.”
“There is more to life than increasing its speed.”
“Anger and intolerance are the twin enemies of correct understanding.”
Intolerance betrays want of faith in one’s cause.
“I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I am prepared to kill.”
“My life is my message”
“The good man is the friend of all living things.”

Source : fresh thoughts