Quote #131

The assumption, which served Gandhi so well in dealing with individuals, that all human beings are more or less approachable and will respond to a generous gesture, needs to be seriously questioned. It is not necessarily true, for example, when you are dealing with lunatics.

More from George Orwell

  1. It is difficult to see how Gandhi's methods could be applied in a country where opponents of the regime disappear in the middle of the nigh…
  2. It seems doubtful whether civilization can stand another major war, and it is at least thinkable that the way out lies through non-violence.
  3. Even after he had completely abjured violence he was honest enough to see that in war it is usually necessary to take sides. He did not - i…
  4. One feels of him that there was much he did not understand, but not that there was anything that he was frightened of saying or thinking. I…
  5. Gandhi's attitude was not that of most Western pacifists. Satyagraha, first evolved in South Africa, was a sort of non-violent warfare, a w…
  6. The British did get out of India without fighting, an event which very few observers indeed would have predicted until about a year before …
  7. Many people genuinely do not wish to be saints, and it is probable that some who achieve or aspire to sainthood have never felt much tempta…
  8. If, as may happen, India and Britain finally settle down into a decent and friendly relationship, will this be partly because Gandhi, by ke…

All George Orwell quotes