Baba Amte Quotes

Indian freedom fighter, social worker (1914–2008)

Add quote

Dr Murlidhar Devidas Amte (December 26, 1914 – February 9, 2008) was a highly dedicated Indian social worker for the cause of rehabilitation and empowerment of poor people, particularly those suffering from leprosy. He gave up all his luxurious way of living. He gave up his wealth and established three ashrams for treatment and rehabilitation of leprosy patients, disabled people, and people from marginalized sections of the society in Maharashtra, India, of which Anandwan was the precursor. He also adopted non-violent means to fight the Indian government for independence, along with Mahatma Gandhi, and was also imprisoned in the 1942 Quit India movement. He was the recipient of many international and national awards of which the most prominent are: The Ramon Magsaysay Award; the Padma Vibhushan, the highest civilian honour of the Government of India; and the Gandhi Peace Prize.

From: Wikiquote (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Alternative Names: Murlidhar Devidas Amte

From Wikidata (CC0)

Joy is more infectious than leprosy.

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

I never had money. But that had never stopped me.

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....

Whenever God has pointed the way with his finger, he also cleared the way with his mighty palm.

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

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 took 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.

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.

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.

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.

The common man, he is the uncommon man

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

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.

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.

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.