"I have, therefore, not hesitated to say that it is better to be violent, if there is violence in our breasts, than to put on the cloak of non-violence to cover impotence. Violence is any day preferable to impotence. There is hope for a violent man to become non-violent. There is no such hope for the impotent."
— Mahatma Gandhi

January 1, 1970

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Anti-imperialistsAnti-war activistsPeople of British IndiaActivists from IndiaAutobiographers
Original Language: English

Sources

Non-Violence in Peace and War p. 254 (1948); also in Gandhi on Non-violence: Selected Texts from Mohandas K. Gandhi's Non-Violence in Peace and War (1965) edited by Thomas Merton; this has also appeared in paraphrased form as "if there is violence in our hearts."