Nonviolence means avoiding injury to anything on earth, in thought, word or deed. . . .
Nonviolence is the greatest and most active force in the world. One person who can express nonviolence in life exercises a force superior to all the forces of brutality. My optimism rests on my belief in the infinite possibilities in the individual to develop nonviolence. The more you develop it in your own being, the more infectious it becomes till it overwhelms your surroundings and by and by might oversweep the world.
— Mahatma Gandhi, Mohandas Gandhi: Essential Writings by Mahatma Gandhi, John Dear, editor