Our non-co-operation is neither with the English nor with the West. Our non-co-operation is with
the system the English have established, with the material civilization and its attendant greed and
exploitation of the weak. Our non-co-operation is a retirement within ourselves. Our non-cooperation
is a refusal to co-operate with the English administrators on their own terms. We say to
them: 'Come and co-operate with us on our terms and it will be well for us, for you and the world.'
We must refuse to be lifted off our feet. A drowning man cannot save others.
In order to he fit to save others, we must try to save ourselves. Indian nationalism is not
exclusive, nor aggressive, nor destructive. It is health-giving, religious and therefore
humanitarian. India must learn to live before she can aspire to die for humanity. (SB, 113)
I do not want England to be defeated or humiliated. It hurts me to find St. Paul's Cathedral
damaged. It hurts me as much as I would be hurt if I heard that Kashi Vishvanath temple or the
Jumma Masjid was damaged. I would like to defend both the Kashi Vishvanath temple and the
Jumma Masjid and even St. Paul's Cathedral with my life, but would not take a single life for their
defense. That is my fundamental difference with the British people. My sympathy is there with
them nevertheless. Let there be no mistake on the part of the Englishmen, Congressmen or
others whom my voice reaches, as to where nay sympathy lies. It is not because I love the British
nation and hate the German. I do not think that the Germans as a nation are any worse than the
English, or the Italians are any worse. We are all tarred with the same brush; we are al! members
of the vast human family. I decline to draw any distinction. I cannot claim any superiority for
Indians. We have the same virtues and the same vices. Humanity is not divided into watertight
compartments so that we cannot go from one to another. They may occupy one thousand rooms,
but they are all related to one another. I would not say: 'India should be all in all, let the whole
world perish.' That is not my message. India should be all in all, consistently with the well-being of
other nations of the world. I can keep India intact and its freedom also intact only if I have good
will towards the whole of the human family and not merely for the human family which inhabits
this little spot of the earth called India. It is big enough compared to other smaller nations, but
what is India in the wide world or in the universe? (SB, 171-72)
Not to believe in the possibility of permanent peace is to disbelieve in the godliness of human
nature. Methods hitherto adopted have failed because rock-bottom sincerity on the part of those
who have striven has been lacking. Not that they have realized this lack. Peace is un-attained by
part performance of conditions, even as a chemical combination is impossible without complete
fulfillment of the conditions of attainment thereof. If the recognized leaders of mankind who have
control over the engines of destructions were wholly to renounce their use, with full knowledge of
its implications, permanent peace can be obtained. This is clearly impossible without the Great
Powers of the earth renouncing their imperialistic design. This again seems impossible without
great nations ceasing to believe in soul-destroying competition and to desire to multiply wants
and, therefore, increase their material possessions
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