Precisely because the evil faced by the disciple is utterly unjustifiable, they are not to resist but to bring evil to an end through suffering —- and so overcome the evildoer. Willing suffering is stronger than evil; it is the death of evil. There is no act of evil so great or powerful that it would justify a different response from the Christian. The more terrible the evil, the more willing the disciple must be to suffer. The evildoer must fall into Jesus’ hands—not mine. Jesus alone must deal with them

In nothing is the degree of the contradiction which the lives of the men of our time have reached so striking, as in that phenomenon which forms the last means and expression of violence - in the universal military service.

After every revolution, every attempt at a revolution, every plot, every violent change of government: Every struggle only strengthens the means of the enslavement of those who at a given time are in power.

Violence is now no longer maintained on the ground that it is necessary, but only that it has existed for a long time, and has been so organized by men to whom it is advantageous, that is, by governments and the ruling classes, that the men who are in their power cannot tear themselves away from it.

People are astonished that every year there are sixty thousand cases of suicide in Europe, and those only the recognized and recorded cases – and excluding Russia and Turkey; but one ought rather to be surprised that there are so few. Every person of the present day, if we go deep enough into the contradiction between his conscience and his life, is in a state of despair.

Not to speak of all the other contradictions between modern life and the conscience, the permanently armed condition of Europe together with its profession of Christianity is alone enough to drive anyone to despair, to doubt of the sanity of humankind, and to terminate an existence in this senseless and brutal world. This contradiction, which is a quintessence of all the other contradictions, is so terrible that to live and to take part in it is only possible if one does not think of it – if one is able to forget it.

Spiritual Influence is Incompatible with Power

The defenders of the social concept of life generally try to mix up the concept of power, that is, of violence, with that of spiritual influence, but this admixture is quite impossible.

A spiritual influence is an action upon a man, such that in consequence of it the very desires of a man are changed and coincide with what is demanded of him. A man who submits to a spiritual influence acts in accordance with his desires. But power, as this word is generally understood, is a means for compelling a man to act contrary to his wishes. A man who submits to power does not act as he would wish, but as the power compels him to act. Now what can compel a man to do, not what he wishes, but what he does not wish, is physical violence, or a threat of using such, that is, the deprivation of liberty, beating, maiming, or executable menaces that such actions will be carried out. In this has power always consisted.

Physical coercion is not adapted to moral regeneration; that the sinful disposition of man can be subdued only by love; that evil can be exterminated from the earth only by goodness; that it is not safe to rely upon an arm of flesh – upon man, whose breath is in his nostrils – to preserve us from harm; that there is great security in being gentle, harmless, long-suffering, and abundant in mercy; and that it is only the meek who shall inherit the earth, for the violent, who resort to the sword, shall perish with the sword.

“Destructive means cannot bring about constructive ends”

The Philosophy of Nonviolence

I’d like to take just a minute to say something about the philosophy of nonviolence because in our struggle this has been the most important undergirding philosophy. And I still believe that nonviolence is the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom and human dignity.

This method has a way of disarming the opponent. It exposes his moral defenses, it weakens his morale. And at the same time, it works on his conscience, and he just doesn’t know how to handle it. If he doesn’t beat you, wonderful. If he beats you, you develop the quiet courage of accepting blows without retaliating. If he doesn’t put you in jail, wonderful. Nobody with any sense loves to go to jail. But if he puts you in jail, you go in that jail and transform it from a dungeon of shame to a haven of freedom and human dignity. Even if he tries to kill you, you develop the inner conviction that there are some things so dear, some things so eternally true, some things so precious that they are worth dying for.