--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Courtesy towards opponents and eagerness…" description: "\"Courtesy towards opponents and eagerness to understand their view-point is the ABC of non-violence.\" — Mahatma Gandhi" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/333/mahatma-gandhi-23_courtesy_courtesy-towards-opponents-and-eagerness_2689181.jpg" --- # Courtesy towards opponents and eagerness to understand… ![“Courtesy towards opponents and eagerness to understand their view-point is the ABC of non-violence.” quote by Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/333/mahatma-gandhi-23_courtesy_courtesy-towards-opponents-and-eagerness_2689181.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/333/mahatma-gandhi-23_courtesy_courtesy-towards-opponents-and-eagerness_2689181.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/333/mahatma-gandhi-23_courtesy_courtesy-towards-opponents-and-eagerness_2689181.jpg) > “Courtesy towards opponents and eagerness to understand their view-point is the ABC of non-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. Treating opponents with respect and seeking to understand them is fundamental to practicing non‑violence. **In simple terms:** Respect and understanding are key to non‑violence Key Takeaway Practice empathy and respect in conflict Themes peace empathy communication Mood calm determined Type philosophical motivational When to use this quote - conflict resolution - team leadership - community building Key Concepts non‑violence dialogue humanity Questions to Reflect On - How can you cultivate empathy toward an adversary? - What steps help you stay respectful in heated discussions? A Different Perspective Understanding may be difficult when emotions run high. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Courtesy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/courtesy/) [Courtesy Opponents](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/courtesy-opponents-2643931/) [Eagerness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eagerness/) [Eagerness Understand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eagerness-understand-2643933/) [Non violence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/non-violence/) [Nonviolence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nonviolence/) [Opponents](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opponents/) [Opponents Eagerness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opponents-eagerness-2643932/) [Resolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/resolution/) [Views](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/views/) [Violence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/violence/) [Win win](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/win-win/) ## Related quotes > [Non-cooperation is a measure of discipline and sacrifice, and it demands respect for the opposite views.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/non-cooperation-is-a-measure-of-discipline-and-sacrifice-and-it/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [In the application of the method of non-violence, one must believe in the possibility of every person, however depraved, being reformed under humane and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/in-the-application-of-the-method-of-non-violence-one-must-believe-in/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Belief in non-violence is based on the assumption that human nature in the essence is one and therefore unfailingly responds to the advances of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/belief-in-non-violence-is-based-on-the-assumption-that-human-nature/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/if-i-have-the-belief-that-i-can-do-it-i-shall-surely-acquire-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Use truth as your anvil, nonviolence as your hammer and anything that does not stand the test when it is brought to the anvil…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/use-truth-as-your-anvil-nonviolence-as-your-hammer-and-anything-that/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [I know that in embarking on non-violence I shall be running what might be termed a mad risk. But the victories of truth have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-know-that-in-embarking-on-non-violence-i-shall-be-running-what/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Just as one must learn the art of killing in the training for violence, so one must learn the art of dying in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/just-as-one-must-learn-the-art-of-killing-in-the-training-for/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [With every true friendship we build more firmly the foundations on which the peace of the whole world rests. Thought by thought and act…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/with-every-true-friendship-we-build-more-firmly-the-foundations-on/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realizing Him.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/truth-is-my-god-non-violence-is-the-means-of-realizing-him/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [He who trusts has never yet lost in the world. A suspicious man is lost to himself and the eworld… Suspicion is of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/he-who-trusts-has-never-yet-lost-in-the-world-a-suspicious-man-is/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Mental violence has no potency and injures only the person whose thoughts are violent. It is otherwise with mental non-violence. It has potency which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/mental-violence-has-no-potency-and-injures-only-the-person-whose/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Non-violence ... is the only thing that the atom bomb cannot destroy. I did not move a muscle when I first heard that the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/non-violence-is-the-only-thing-that-the-atom-bomb-cannot-destroy-i/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Violent means will give violent swaraj. That would be a menace to the world and to India herself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/violent-means-will-give-violent-swaraj-that-would-be-a-menace-to-the/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [I do believe that where there is a choice between cowardice and non-violence I would advise violence. Thus when my eldest son asked me…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/i-do-believe-that-where-there-is-a-choice-between-cowardice-and-non/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Though I cannot claim to be a Christian in the sectarian sense, the example of Jesus suffering is a factor in the composition of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/though-i-cannot-claim-to-be-a-christian-in-the-sectarian-sense-the/) [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 Courtesy quotes > [If we accept being talked to any kind of a way, then we are telling ourselves we are not quite worth the best. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maya-angelou/if-we-accept-being-talked-to-any-kind-of-a-way-then-we-are-telling/) [Maya Angelou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maya-angelou/) > [Less of your courtesy and more of your purse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/proverb/less-of-your-courtesy-and-more-of-your-purse/) [Proverb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/proverb/) > [Dullness is a courteous fear.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mohammad-mustafa/dullness-is-a-courteous-fear/) [Mohammad MUSTAFA](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mohammad-mustafa/) > [Lobbying' is the activity of attempting to influence legislation by privately influencing the legislators. It is the result and creation of a mixed economy-of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ayn-rand/lobbying-is-the-activity-of-attempting-to-influence-legislation-by/) [Ayn Rand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ayn-rand/) > [“...a great man who is vicious will only be a great doer of evil, and a rich man who is not liberal will be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-cervantes/a-great-man-who-is-vicious-will-only-be-a-great-doer-of-evil-and-a/) [Miguel Cervantes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-cervantes/) > [“I would court you, with all the grace and courtesy that you deserve,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-pacat/i-would-court-you-with-all-the-grace-and-courtesy-that-you-deserve/) [C.S. Pacat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-pacat/) > [The greater the man the greater the courtesy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-the-great/the-greater-the-man-the-greater-the-courtesy/) [Alfred the Great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-the-great/) > [“Out of all its squalor and human decay, its eruptions of butchery, India produced so many people of grace and beauty, ruled by elaborate…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/out-of-all-its-squalor-and-human-decay-its-eruptions-of-butchery/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Show some mercy to this chair which has stretched out its arms to you for so long; please satisfy its desire to embrace you!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/moliere/show-some-mercy-to-this-chair-which-has-stretched-out-its-arms-to-you/) [Moliere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/moliere/) > [Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-post/manners-are-a-sensitive-awareness-of-the-feelings-of-others/) [Emily Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-post/) > [His courtesy was somewhat extravagant. He would write and thank people who wrote to thank him for wedding presents and when he encountered anyone…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/evelyn-waugh/his-courtesy-was-somewhat-extravagant-he-would-write-and-thank-people/) [Evelyn Waugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/evelyn-waugh/) > [They who sow courtesy reap friendship, and they who plant kindness gather love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/saint-basil/they-who-sow-courtesy-reap-friendship-and-they-who-plant-kindness/) [Saint Basil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/saint-basil/) > [“If a lady offers you a kindness, you absolutely have to accept”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maria-wallingford/if-a-lady-offers-you-a-kindness-you-absolutely-have-to-accept/) [Maria Wallingford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maria-wallingford/) > [though I be but the prince of Wales, yet I am king of courtesy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/though-i-be-but-the-prince-of-wales-yet-i-am-king-of-courtesy/) [William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/) > [Princes of courtesy, merciful, proud and strong.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-newbolt/princes-of-courtesy-merciful-proud-and-strong/) [Henry Newbolt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-newbolt/) [Browse all 527 Courtesy quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/courtesy/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Courtesy towards opponents and eagerness to understand their view-point is the ABC of non-violence.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mahatma Gandhi" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/courtesy-towards-opponents-and-eagerness-to-understand-their-view/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Courtesy" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/courtesy-towards-opponents-and-eagerness-to-understand-their-view/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/333/mahatma-gandhi-23_courtesy_courtesy-towards-opponents-and-eagerness_2689181.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/333/mahatma-gandhi-23_courtesy_courtesy-towards-opponents-and-eagerness_2689181.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/333/mahatma-gandhi-23_courtesy_courtesy-towards-opponents-and-eagerness_2689181.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Courtesy towards opponents and eagerness to understand their view-point is the ABC of non-violence.” — Mahatma Gandhi", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mahatma Gandhi", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Courtesy towards opponents and eagerness to...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/courtesy-towards-opponents-and-eagerness-to-understand-their-view/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/courtesy-towards-opponents-and-eagerness-to-understand-their-view/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```