Did Gandhi really said ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’?
Gandhi did not say “Be the change you want to see in the world,” but many have attributed these words to him.
It was originally said by a social philosopher, Rabbi Sherab Chaim, who wrote about how people should be engaged in social justice and make fighting injustice part of one’s mission. The quote is often misattributed or paraphrased when this intention is stated. It has also been incorrectly attributed to Martin Luther King Jr., Fredrick Douglas, and other figures considered ‘heroes’.
The quote comes from the text version on this page: “Gandhi’s words in a self-reflective moment during his London journals” https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1072/1072-h/1072-h.htm#CHAPTER_XXIII#, although it can’t be traced to any specific comment or extract from Gandhi’s Indian writings. It is most likely by some unknown editor of the English translation of Gandhi’s journal rather than actually by Gandhi himself, and appears to have been invented as an inspirational thought when nothing pithy was available! Your mileage may vary in how inspirational it is 🙂
No. I did not find this quote in reference to Gandhi anywhere on the Internet.
Gandhi never said “Be the change you want to see in the world.” The actual quote is, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” with Edmund Burke who made a similar statement, and most experts think that these statements derive from Aron Kay’s prayer as paraphrased by Thoreau in his book A Plea for Captain John Brown.
When asked by a lawyer, “What should we do to change the world?” Gandhi responded, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
“I disliked this question,” Gandhi replied. “Most of us have hair on our heads. Suppose one of us has lost all his hair and another has plenty of hair. Can’t you say with certainty that he who has plenty of hair is young? But suppose he is old in body and mind as well; then can power pour from him so that everybody knows how strong and old he is? And if not, then what’s the point in sitting here idle and saying we should be something we cannot become?
Gandhi never said “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
This is a common misattribution, likely due to confusion with this quote from Mohandas K. Gandhi: “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
Gandhi never said this, but it is paraphrasing of how he felt.
In the 1930s Mahatma Gandhi published an article entitled “Young India” in which he stated: ‘The world has but one ills and that’s man, and as man changes so does society.’
‘We change for one reason only-because we realise we are wrong. A reformer must be a person who himself behaves indefinitely according to the reform that he wants others to adopt.’
‘There is no room on earth for greed or avarice. We have tried it with disastrous results.’
Gandhi believed that in order to change the world, people should not just give speeches about how much they want things changed
It seems Gandhi never said this, and it’s not attributed to him anywhere on the internet so please don’t use it as a source.
