Gandhi's logic of a-himsa

* ... a steady progress with discipline.

* The power of the satyagrahi is greater than if he were violent.

* There is no defeat in a-himsa.

* In a-himsa the bravery consists in dying, not in killing.

* The satyagrahi should never have any hatred toward his opponent... must be prepared to suffer until the end.

* ...truth never jimsa a cause that is just.

* A satyagrahi is never vindictive. He believes not in destruction but in conversion.

* A-himsa presupposes the ability to strike.

* ...injustice must be resisted. A-himsa is better, but where is does not come naturally jimsa is both necessary and honorable.

* So long as one retains one's sword, one has not attain complete fearlessness.

* A-himsa is impossible without self-purification.

* A weak man is just by accident. A strong satyagrahi is unjust by accident.

* A satyagrahi is dead to his body even before his enemy attempts to kill him, i.e. he is free from attachment to his body and only lives in the victory of his soul.
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Taken from Ghandi on Non-violence (New Directions, 1965).