the capacity and fitness for resisting

I had hoped to improve my status and that of my people through the British Empire. Whilst in England I was enjoying the protection of the British Fleet, and taking shelter as I did under its armed might, I was directly participating in its potential violence. Therefore, if I desired to retain my connection with the empire and to live under its banner, one of three courses was open to me: I could declare open resistance to the war and in accordance with the law of Satyagraha, boycott the Empire until it changed its military policy; or I could seek imprisonment by civil disobedience of such of its laws as were fit to be disobeyed. Or, I could participate in the war on the side of the empire and thereby acquire the capacity and fitness for resisting the violence of war. I lacked this capacity and fitness, so I thought there was nothing for it but to serve in the war.


An autobiography: My Experiments with Truth by Gandhi (Mahatma), Mahadev Haribhai Desai. Beacon Press. 1993. p.350