I appeal for cessation of hostilities ... because war is bad in essence. You want to kill Nazism. Your soldiers are doing the same work of destruction as the Germans. The only difference is that perhaps yours are not as thorough as the Germans ... I venture to present you with a nobler and a braver way, worthy of the bravest soldiers. I want you to fight Nazism without arms or ... with non-violent arms. I would like you to lay down the arms you have as being useless for saving you or humanity. You will invite Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini to take what they want of the countries you call your possessions. Let them take possession of your beautiful island, with your many beautiful buildings. You will give all these but neither your souls, nor your minds. If these gentlemen choose to occupy your homes, you will vacate them. If they do not give you free passage out, you will allow yourself, man, woman and child, to be slaughtered, but you will refuse to owe allegiance to them ... I am telling His Excellency the Viceroy that my services are at the disposal of His Majesty's Government, should they consider them of any practical use in advancing the object of my appeal.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Gandhi argues that violent resistance mirrors the enemy's destruction and advocates for non-violent resistance to preserve human dignity even under occupation.
- In plain terms
- Do not fight with weapons because it makes you like the enemy; fight by refusing to surrender your mind and soul.
- What can you take from it?
- Non-violence preserves human dignity even when physical defeat is inevitable.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Can you resist an army without weapons?
- Is it better to lose land than to lose your moral stand?
Another view
Physical non-violence may not stop immediate physical harm from a violent regime.
More from Mahatma Gandhi
I do not consider Hitler to be as bad as he is depicted. He is showing an ability that is amazing and seems to be gaining his victories without much bloodshed
Permalink to quote #26 The ideally non-violent state will be an ordered anarchy. That State is the best governed which is governed the least.
Permalink to quote #28 Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest.
Permalink to quote #25
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