Mahatma Gandhi, also known as Mohandas Karamchad Gandhi, was born in India in 1869 and died in 1948. Gandhi lived during the time when the British controlled India but Indians were starting to revolt against British rule. Because of this, Gandhi had to experience and see a lot of violence and he made it his mission in life to not only apply his ideals of non-violence, but also teach them to his people and encourage them to follow. In essence, Gandhi was not against control by the government and did not believe in the uselessness of force when this was needed. In fact, he believed that under the right circumstances, force could be used. But what he did preach was for people to seek a way to help a cause without hurting others and without resorting to unnecessary violence. In fact, in his own life, he made it his mission to help out but without resorting to any kind of violence. In this particular excerpt of the views of Gandhi, what he was doing was showing the people first his own example, and asking them to do the same. He insisted that there was more action in not giving in to the desire to act through violence to oppose English rule than in inflicting harm through violence. So he calls his people to act, not in opposing this rule violently, but instead, opposing it by not conforming to what the British wished, which was called civil disobedience.
