--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A civilization based on nonviolence must…" description: "\"A civilization based on nonviolence must be different from that organized for violence.\" — Mahatma Gandhi" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6db/mahatma-gandhi-23_civilization_a-civilization-based-on-nonviolence-must_860959.jpg" --- # A civilization based on nonviolence must be different from… ![“A civilization based on nonviolence must be different from that organized for violence.” quote by Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6db/mahatma-gandhi-23_civilization_a-civilization-based-on-nonviolence-must_860959.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6db/mahatma-gandhi-23_civilization_a-civilization-based-on-nonviolence-must_860959.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6db/mahatma-gandhi-23_civilization_a-civilization-based-on-nonviolence-must_860959.jpg) > “A civilization based on nonviolence must be different from that organized for violence.” [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. A peaceful society must be built on principles different from those that sustain violence. **In simple terms:** Peaceful societies need different foundations than violent ones. Key Takeaway Cultivate non‑violent structures. Themes peace non‑violence societal design ethics Mood hopeful determined Type political ethical When to use this quote - community building - education reform - policy making Key Concepts political theory social engineering conflict resolution Questions to Reflect On - What structures can replace violent ones? - How can non‑violence be sustained under threat? A Different Perspective Non‑violence may be challenged by entrenched power interests. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Civilization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/civilization/) [Nonviolence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nonviolence/) [Peacebuilding](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/peacebuilding/) [Violence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/violence/) ## Related quotes > [To my mind, Swaraj based on nonviolence is the fulfillment of the constructive programme.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/to-my-mind-swaraj-based-on-nonviolence-is-the-fulfillment-of-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [In a plan of life based on nonviolence, woman has as much right to shape her own destiny as man has to shape his.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/in-a-plan-of-life-based-on-nonviolence-woman-has-as-much-right-to/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [A country whose culture is based on nonviolence will find it necessary to have every home as much self-contained as possible.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/a-country-whose-culture-is-based-on-nonviolence-will-find-it/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Violence and nonviolence are, after all, two different forms of theater. They both depend and thrive on the response of an audience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julia-bacha/violence-and-nonviolence-are-after-all-two-different-forms-of-theater/) [Julia Bacha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julia-bacha/) > [Truth stands for the fact, nonviolence negates the fact.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/truth-stands-for-the-fact-nonviolence-negates-the-fact/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Nonviolence is not an easy thing to understand, still less to practice, weak as we are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/nonviolence-is-not-an-easy-thing-to-understand-still-less-to-practice/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [It is much more difficult to live for nonviolence than to die for it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/it-is-much-more-difficult-to-live-for-nonviolence-than-to-die-for-it/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Nonviolence is the rock on which the whole structure of non-co-operation is built.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/nonviolence-is-the-rock-on-which-the-whole-structure-of-non-co/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [When you want to find Truth as God, the only inevitable means is love, that is nonviolence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/when-you-want-to-find-truth-as-god-the-only-inevitable-means-is-love/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [The cry for peace will be a cry in the wilderness, so long as the spirit of nonviolence does not dominate millions of men…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/the-cry-for-peace-will-be-a-cry-in-the-wilderness-so-long-as-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Nonviolence in the sense of mere non-killing does not appear to me, therefore, to be of any improvement on the technique of violence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/nonviolence-in-the-sense-of-mere-non-killing-does-not-appear-to-me/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [True nonviolence is mightier than the mightiest violence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/true-nonviolence-is-mightier-than-the-mightiest-violence/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [The first condition of nonviolence is justice all round, in every department of life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/the-first-condition-of-nonviolence-is-justice-all-round-in-every/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Every moment of my existence is dedicated to the winning of Swaraj by means of truth and nonviolence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/every-moment-of-my-existence-is-dedicated-to-the-winning-of-swaraj-by/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [The Attainment of freedom, whether for a person, a nation or a world, must be in exact proportion to the attainment of nonviolence for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/the-attainment-of-freedom-whether-for-a-person-a-nation-or-a-world/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) ## More by Mahatma Gandhi > [I do not want to live at the cost of the life even of a snake. I should let him bite me to death…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-do-not-want-to-live-at-the-cost-of-the-life-even-of-a-snake-i/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Devotion required by the Gita is no soft-hearted effusiveness.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/devotion-required-by-the-gita-is-no-soft-hearted-effusiveness/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [No nation being under another nation can accept gifts, and kick at the responsibility attached to those gifts, imposed by the conquering nation.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/no-nation-being-under-another-nation-can-accept-gifts-and-kick-at-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [So long as we fear the outside world, we must cease to think of Swaraj.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/so-long-as-we-fear-the-outside-world-we-must-cease-to-think-of-swaraj/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [I do not want a kingdom, or heaven; what I want is to remove the trouble of the oppressed, the poor, and the needy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-do-not-want-a-kingdom-or-heaven-what-i-want-is-to-remove-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Religions are not for separating men from one another, they are meant to bind them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/religions-are-not-for-separating-men-from-one-another-they-are-meant/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [I hold flesh-food to be unsuited to our species. We err in copying the lower animal world if we are superior to it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-hold-flesh-food-to-be-unsuited-to-our-species-we-err-in-copying-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [“It was only in South Africa that I got over this shyness, though I never completely overcame it. It was impossible for me to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/it-was-only-in-south-africa-that-i-got-over-this-shyness-though-i/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [“Where there is life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/where-there-is-life/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [If it was wrong to seek God in a stone, how was it right to seek Him in a book called the Gita, the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/if-it-was-wrong-to-seek-god-in-a-stone-how-was-it-right-to-seek-him/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [The spirit of democracy cannot be established in the midst of terrorism, whether governmental or popular.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/the-spirit-of-democracy-cannot-be-established-in-the-midst-of/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Champions are made from something they have deep inside of them-a desire, a dream, a vison.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/champions-are-made-from-something-they-have-deep-inside-of-them-a/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [My motto is "Unite now, today if you can; fight if you must. But in every case avoid British intervention."](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/my-motto-is-unite-now-today-if-you-can-fight-if-you-must-but-in-every/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [I have no disciples, being myself an aspirant after discipleship and in search of a guru.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-have-no-disciples-being-myself-an-aspirant-after-discipleship-and/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Man becomes not the lord and master of all creation but he is its servant.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/man-becomes-not-the-lord-and-master-of-all-creation-but-he-is-its/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) [Explore all 3,284 Mahatma Gandhi quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) ## More Civilization quotes > [What sets worlds in motion is the interplay of differences, their attractions and repulsions. Life is plurality, death is uniformity. By suppressing differences and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/octavio-paz/what-sets-worlds-in-motion-is-the-interplay-of-differences-their/) [Octavio Paz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/octavio-paz/) > [Sentiment is the mightiest force in civilization; not sentimentality, but sentiment. Women will bring this into politics. Home, sweet home, is as powerful on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judith-ellen-foster/sentiment-is-the-mightiest-force-in-civilization-not-sentimentality/) [Judith Ellen Foster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judith-ellen-foster/) > [Violence is not necessary to destroy a civilization. Each civilization dies from indifference toward the unique values which created it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicolas-gomez-davila/violence-is-not-necessary-to-destroy-a-civilization-each-civilization/) [Nicolas Gomez Davila](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicolas-gomez-davila/) > [“The voice in the head that never stops speaking becomes a civilization that is obsessed with form and therefore knows nothing of the most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eckhart-tolle/the-voice-in-the-head-that-never-stops-speaking-becomes-a/) [Eckhart Tolle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eckhart-tolle/) > [We released 400,000 classified documents, the most extraordinary history of a war to ever have been released in our civilization. Those documents cover 109,000…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/julian-assange/we-released-400-000-classified-documents-the-most-extraordinary/) [Julian Assange](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/julian-assange/) > [Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/wine-is-one-of-the-most-civilized-things-in-the-world-and-one-of-the/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [Whenever we touch nature we get clean. People who have got dirty through too much civilization take a walk in the woods, or a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/whenever-we-touch-nature-we-get-clean-people-who-have-got-dirty/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [The invention of gunpowder and the constant improvement of firearms are enough in themselves to show that the advance of civilization has done nothing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-von-clausewitz/the-invention-of-gunpowder-and-the-constant-improvement-of-firearms/) [Carl von Clausewitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-von-clausewitz/) > [Another success is the post-office, with its educating energy augmented by cheapness and guarded by a certain religious sentimentin mankind; so that the power…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/another-success-is-the-post-office-with-its-educating-energy/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [“The mission is, not to replace old world mindlessness with new world mindlessness, but to put an end to all forms of brainless authoritarianism.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/the-mission-is-not-to-replace-old-world-mindlessness-with-new-world/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [We are somehow the children of the planet, we are somehow its finest hour; we bind time, we bind the past, we anticipate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/we-are-somehow-the-children-of-the-planet-we-are-somehow-its-finest/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [Our civilization, bequeathed to us by fierce adventurers, eaters of meat and hunters, is so full of hurry and combat, so busy about many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-joyce/our-civilization-bequeathed-to-us-by-fierce-adventurers-eaters-of/) [James Joyce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-joyce/) > [Coal lay in ledges under the ground since the Flood, until a laborer with pick and windlass brings it to the surface. We may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/coal-lay-in-ledges-under-the-ground-since-the-flood-until-a-laborer/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [Once we allow ourselves to be disobedient to the test of an accountant's profit, we have begun to change our civilization.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-maynard-keynes/once-we-allow-ourselves-to-be-disobedient-to-the-test-of-an/) [John Maynard Keynes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-maynard-keynes/) > [Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. 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