Baba Amte Quotes

26 Sourced Quotes

I was tempted by Shankar bhagwan. He too has spondylitis but uses a cobra as a brace.

Baba Amte
The condition of the tribals is worse than those inflicted with leprosy. Purna swaraj can only be possible when the poorest of the poor is uplifted.

Baba Amte
I, who had never had planted single seed in the estate was expected to enjoy the comfort of a beautiful farm house, while those who had toiled there all their lives had only the meanest hovels.

Baba Amte
I have to be cautious, but caution also has its own adventure.

Baba Amte
I rushed across and started putting such handful of coins into the tin which he held out to me that it almost fell from his hand with the weight. 'I am only a beggar, young sir, don't put stones into my bowl'. 'These are not stones but coins. Count them if you wish'. I said. He sat and counted and then recounted sorting out the coins on that tattered cloth. He just could not believe it. He went on counting and feeling the coins. It made me so sad. I ran home in tears.

Baba Amte
The image of that dying leprosy patient was burning me like a branding iron and would not give me a moment's rest. From that moment on I was out to conquer fear.... Where there is fear there is no love. Where there is no love there is no God.

Baba Amte
That microscopic look at village life taught me to hear the heart-beat of reality. To me the common man's society is a maskless society. He does not carry that thick mask which the professional people, the upper classes, wear so that they might look nice and beautiful. Very often they do not dare to say what they really think and feel.

Baba Amte
I don't want to be a leader. I want to be one who goes around with a little oil can and offer help when I see a breakdown.

Baba Amte
The halo of Fr. Damian was before me,[he said] and I knew that Sadhana would nurse me.

Baba Amte
Those who do monumental work don't need monuments.

Baba Amte
I am upset I am very much disappointed when I see within myself a wrong image of myself.... A man can live without fingers, but he cannot live without self-respect.... That is why I to0k up leprosy work. Not to help anyone but to overcome that fear in my life. That it worked out good for others is a byproduct. But the fact is I did it to overcome fear.

Baba Amte
…richness of heart of the poor people [and to despise] the poverty of heart of the rich.

Baba Amte
When leprosy patients touched the soil, they transformed it into gold, but the politicians did that and made it into dirt.

Baba Amte
A client would admit that he had committed rape, and I was expected to obtain an acquittal. And worse still, when I succeeded, I was expected to attend the celebration party.

Baba Amte
We all felt happy and excited because it was Diwali. My mother had saved lot of small coins from her shopping and gave them to me to buy crackers Stuffed full with sweets and feeling that life was grand I ran towards the market. Then I saw a blind beggar. He sat in the hot sun by the edge of the unpaved road while gusts of wind raised clouds of dust and rubbish over him. 'Andhalalya paisa dey, Bhagwan', he kept on saying to the passers, 'Give one paisa to this blind man, oh! Bhagwan.' In front of him there was a rusty cigarette tin. It struck me alongside my bright happy world there was a world of misery and pain.

Baba Amte
You have come a long way to talk to me, but I have a surprise for you: I have worked out most of the details already....

Baba Amte
I believe as a society we have to evolve, through experimentation, a system which combines the principles of individual freedom and common ownership. And this is what we have tried, basically with success, in all our projects, involving leprosy patients, tribal people and the so-called 'disabled' persons.

Baba Amte
If you give the royalties from your book, I shall give the land.

Baba Amte
Those who indulge in history cannot create new history. You cannot legislate national integration unless political work is done constructively and there is a lifestyle for life.

Baba Amte
The new leadership in India is taking shape quietly, without any drum beating through the newspapers. … Various centers, the centers of energy and strength in the life of society are gaining tremendous momentum. May be, the surging new generation of today appears to have lost its bearing, to have lost its soul. But it is absolutely certain that one day it will have its own leader and prophet.... I am absolutely confident that the phoenix of a new leadership is rising from the ashes of all its failure. Soon the world will witness the lightning hidden in its beak and the storm hidden in its wings.

Baba Amte
[A balanced economic system is one which provides] sufficiency for all and superfluity for some. The MNCs have entered the country like nomads. The majority doesn't need Pepsi or Coke, they want water. You can have your skyscrapers and Cokes but before this you must ensure that that tribal girl defecating in the open has the privacy of a toilet.

Baba Amte
There is a certain callousness in families like mine. They put up strong barriers so as not to see the misery in the world outside and I rebelled against it.

Baba Amte
I was charging fifty rupees for arguing for fifteen minutes while a labourer was getting only three-quarters of a Rupee for twelve hours of toil. That was what was eating into me.

Baba Amte
I have never been frightened of anything. Because I fought British tommies to save the honor of an Indian lady, Gandhiji called me abhay sadhak, a fearless seeker of truth. When the sweepers of Warora challenged me to clean gutters, I did so. But that same person who fought goondas and British bandits quivered in fright when he saw the living corpse of TuIshiram, no fingers, no clothes, with maggots all over. That is why I took up leprosy work. Not to help anyone, but to overcome that fear in my life. That it worked out good for others was a by-product. But the fact is I did it to overcome fear.

Baba Amte
Consider the honey-bee. Its treasure is nectar, obtained even from the chilly plant. It is not at the cost of the flower. In fact, its act of extracting honey contributes to the progress of the flowers. You need not learn from Kahlil Gibran, Marx or Gorbachev, not even from Gandhiji. Choose instead to learn your lesson from the honey bees as your silent partners: they will show you how to develop without destroying.

Baba Amte
Our governance is by a gerontocracy. This cataract of history can only be removed by youth. In this common man's century, only the common man can change the profile of this country.

Baba Amte