Einstein vs Gandhi: does truth bend matter or men?

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EINSTEIN vs MAHATMA GANDHI go head to head — and every jab is rooted in real history.

EINSTEIN

We agree on the sacred thing, Mohandas: nonviolence is no mere tactic but a law as firm as any I found in nature, and I honestly doubt future generations will believe such a man in flesh walked the earth.

MAHATMA GANDHI

Kindly said, Albert - and I would add that truth, satya, is the very ground; my ahimsa is only truth made active, a force stronger than any weapon because it converts the opponent rather than destroys him.

EINSTEIN

Yet here we part: I could not sign an absolute vow, for against a Hitler I believed a free people had the sorrowful duty to take up arms - some evils are stopped only by resistance.

MAHATMA GANDHI

There is our fault line - I hold that the moment we borrow the tyrant's methods we become him; a wrong met by violence breeds the next wrong, while suffering willingly borne is the only fire that purifies.

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