Faith in Man

100. I refuse to suspect human nature. It will, is bound to respond to any noble and friendly action.

–YI, 4-8-20, Tagore, 559.

101. My proposal for British withdrawal is as much in Britain’s interest as India’s. Your difficulty arises from your disinclination to believe that Britain can never do justice voluntarily. My belief in the capacity of nonviolence rejects the theory of permanent inelasticity of human nature.

-H, 7-6-42, 177.

102. In the application of the method of nonviolence, one must believe in the possibility of every person, however depraved, being reformed under humane and skilled treatment.

–H, 22-2-42, 49.

103. When I was a little child, there used to be two blind performers in Rajkot. One of them was a musician. When he played on his instrument, his fingers swept the strings with an unerring instinct and everybody listened spell-bound to his playing. Similarly there are chords in every human heart. If we only know how to strike the right chord, we bring out the music.

—H, 27-5-39, 136.

Individualism

95. The individual is the supreme consideration. –YI, 13-11-24, 378.

96. I look upon an increase of the power of the state with the greatest fear, because, although while apparently doing good by minimizing exploitation, it does the greatest harm to mankind by destroying individuality which lies at the root of all progress. –MR,I935, 4I3.

97. A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history. – H,19-11-38, 343

Man above Institutions

98. Man and his deed are two distinct things. It is quite proper to resist and attack a system, but to resist and attack its author is tantamount to resisting and attacking oneself. For we are all tarred with the same brush, and are children of one and the same Creator, and as such the divine powers within us are infinite. To slight a single human being is to slight those divine powers, and thus to harm not only that being but with him the whole world. –Auto, 337.