Mahatma
Gandhi (1869-1948):
I think Gandhi is a great example of the INFP pattern. And yes, I know Keirsey claims him as INFJ. But Steve Myers (a type innovator with INFP prefs) suggested Gandhi fits the INFP pattern better, and I agree with him.
For one thing, isn't the notion of "passive resistance" PERFECT for INFP? Think about it. It fits the interaction style, it honors a universal value, it champions nonviolence, promotes harmony, and seems to magnificently showcase everything the INFP pattern seems to stand for.
Once you figure that out, it seems incomprehensible that Keirsey ever claimed him as INFJ.
Following is a list of Gandhi quotes. They were selected because they seemed to express dominant introverted Feeling, extraverted iNtuition, behind-the-scenes interaction style, or a general INFP philosophy. You may wish to see how these quotes resonate with you.
My life is my message.
The human voice can never
reach the distance that is covered by the still small voice of conscience.
The only tyrant I accept in
this world is the still voice within.
Everyone who wills can hear the inner voice. It is within everyone.
There are times when you
have to obey a call which is the highest of all, i.e., the voice of conscience
even though such obedience may cost many a bitter tear, and even more,
separation from friends, from family, from the state to which you may belong,
from all that you have held as dear as life itself. For this obedience is the
law of our being.
In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no
place.
I do not want any patronage, as I do not give any. I am a
lover of my own liberty, and so I would do nothing to restrict yours. I simply
want to please my own conscience, which is God.
I do not want to foresee the future. I am concerned with
taking care of the present. God has given me no control over the moment
following.
There is no principle worth
the name if it is not wholly good.
There is a higher court than
courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supercedes all other
courts.
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what
you do are in harmony.
Whatever you do may seem insignificant, but it is most
important that you do it.
A 'No' uttered from deepest conviction is better and
greater
Action expresses priorities.
All compromise is based on give and take, but there can
be no give and take on fundamentals. Any compromise on mere fundamentals is a
surrender. For it is all give and no take.
Always aim at complete harmony of thought and word and
deed. Always aim at purifying your thoughts and everything will be well.
Don't listen to friends when the Friend inside you says
'Do this.'
Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to
be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.
Men often become
what they believe themselves to be. If I believe I cannot do something, it
makes me incapable of doing it. But when I believe I can, then I acquire the
ability to do it even if I didn't have it in the beginning.
The difference
between what we do and what we are capable of doing would
Strength does not
come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
Live as if you
were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
We must be the
world we want to create.
Freedom is not worth having if it
does not include the freedom to make mistakes.
Reporter: "Mr. Gandhi,
what do you think of Western Civilization?"
Gandhi: "I think it would be a good idea."
The weak can never forgive.
Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong
As soon as we lose the moral basis, we cease to be
religious. There is no such thing as religion overriding morality. Man, for
instance, cannot be untruthful, cruel or incontinent and claim to have God on
his side.
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were
to live forever.
An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
Non-cooperation is an attempt to awaken the masses, to a
sense of their dignity and power. This can only be done by enabling them to
realize that they need not fear brute force, if they would but know the soul
within.
I object to violence because when it appears to do good,
the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.
Nonviolence is the greatest force
at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of
destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.
Whenever I see an erring man, I
say to myself I have also erred; when I see a lustful man I say to myself, so
was I once; and in this way I feel kinship with everyone in the world and feel
that I cannot be happy without the humblest of us being happy.
Abstract truth has no value unless it incarnates in human
beings who represent it, by proving their readiness to die for it.
An opponent is entitled to the same regard for his
principles as we would expect others to have for ours. Non-violence demands
that we should seek every opportunity to win over opponents.
Before the throne of the Almighty, man will be judged not
by his acts but by his intentions. For God alone reads our hearts.
Breach of promise is a base surrender of truth.
Culture of the mind must be subservient to the heart.
Everyone has faith in God though everyone does not know
it. For everyone has faith in himself and that multiplied to the nth degree is
God. The sum total of all that lives is God. We may not be God, but we are of
God, even as a little drop of water is of the ocean.
Friendship that insists upon agreement on all matters is
not worth the name. Friendship to be real must ever sustain the weight of
honest differences, however sharp they be.
I am prepared to die, but there is no cause for which I
am prepared to kill.
If we want to cultivate a true spirit of democracy we
cannot afford to be intolerant. Intolerance betrays want of faith in one's
cause.
Ill-digested principles are, if anything, worse than
ill-digested food, for the latter harms the body and there is cure for it,
whereas the former ruins the soul and there is no cure for it.
In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than
words without a heart.
Is it not enough to know the evil to shun it? If not, we
should be sincere enough to admit that we love evil too well to give it up.
Let no one charge me with ever having abused or
encouraged weakness or surrendered on matters of principle. But I have said,
as I say again, that every trifle must not be dignified into a principle.
Let no one say that he is a follower of Gandhi. It is
enough that I should be my own follower. I know what an inadequate follower I
am of myself, for I cannot live up to the convictions I stand for. You are no
followers but fellow students, fellow pilgrims, fellow seekers, fellow
workers.
Non-violence is not a garment
to be put on and off at will. Its seat is in the heart, and it must be an
inseparable part of our being.
Non-violence is the greatest
force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of
destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.
Non-violence, which is the
quality of the heart, cannot come by an appeal to the brain.
My work will be finished if I
succeed in carrying conviction to the human family, that every man or woman,
however weak in body, is the guardian of his or her self-respect and liberty,
and that this defense prevails, though the world be against the individual
resister.
Non-cooperation is an attempt
to awaken the masses, to a sense of their dignity and power. This can only be
done by enabling them to realize that they need not fear brute force, if they
would but know the soul within.
Non-cooperation is beyond the
reach of the bayonet. It has found an abiding place in the Indian heart.
Workers like me will go when the hour has struck, but non-cooperation will
remain.
Non-cooperation is directed
not against men but against measures. It is not directed against the
Governors, but against the system they administer. The roots of
non-cooperation lie not in hatred but in justice, if not in love.
Non-cooperation with evil is
as much a duty as is cooperation with good.
Purity of personal life is the
one indispensable condition for building up a sound education.
The main purpose of life is to
live rightly, think rightly, act rightly. The soul must languish when we give
all our thought to the body.
To believe in something, and
not to live it, is dishonest.
When anything assumes the
strength of a creed, it becomes self-sustained and derives the needed support
from within.
We may have our private
opinions but why should they be a bar to the meeting of hearts?
