To forgive is not to forget. The merit lies in loving in spite of the vivid knowledge that one that must be loved is not a friend. There is not merit in loving an enemy when you forget him for a friend.
Mahatma GandhiRead
Just as a man would not cherish living in a body other than his own, so do nations not like to live under other nations, however noble and great the latter may be.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Nations value their independence and sovereignty just as individuals value their own identity.
This quote by Mahatma Gandhi emphasizes the importance of national sovereignty and the intrinsic desire of people to govern themselves. Just as a person would not want to live in a body that isn’t their own, nations resist external control, regardless of how noble or powerful the dominating nation might be, highlighting the fundamental need for autonomy and self-determination.
Themes
SovereigntyIndependenceAutonomyIdentityGovernance
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of self-governance and identity in global relations.
More from Mahatma Gandhi
All quotes →Love never claims, it ever gives. Love ever suffers, never resents never revenges itself.
Mahatma GandhiRead
Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
Mahatma GandhiRead
The real test of nonviolence lies in its being brought in contact with those who have contempt for it.
Mahatma GandhiRead
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
Mahatma GandhiRead
The devotion of such titans of spirit as Lenin to an Ideal must bear fruit. The nobility of his selflessness will be an example through centuries to come, and his Ideal will reach perfection.
Mahatma GandhiRead
Similar quotes
I think it is incumbent on anyone who can to lift human dignity to the highest possible levels, maintaining one's own and helping to raise that of others.
Henry RollinsRead
And these things that keep alive on departure know that you praise them; transient, they look to us, the most transient, to be their rescue. They want us to change them completely, in our invisible hearts, into -- O endlessly -- us! Whoever, finally, we may be.
Rainer Maria RilkeRead
It is a fraud of the Christian system to call the sciences human invention; it is only the application of them that is human.
Thomas PaineRead
But you're dead,' said Harry. 'Oh, yes,' said Dumbledore matter-of-factly. 'Then... am I dead too?' 'Ah,' said Dumbledore, smiling still more broadly. 'That is the question, isn't it? On the whole, dear boy, I think not.
J. K. RowlingRead
the neighborhood is nothing but a protective zone- remodeling, disinfection, a snobbish and hygenic design- but above all in a figurative sense: it is a machine for making emptiness.
Jean BaudrillardRead
What is the most beautiful in virile men is something feminine; what is most beautiful in feminine women is something masculine.
Susan SontagRead