During my travels, I find a general belief that to turn a Christian is to turn European; to become self-willed, and give up self-restraint, use only foreign cloth, dress oneself in European style and start taking meat and brandy. But I think the fact is, if a person discards his country, his customs and his old connections and manners when he changes his religion, he becomes all the more unfit to gain a knowledge of God. For, a change of religion means really a conversion of the heart. When there is a real conversion, a man's heart grows. But in this country one finds that conversion brings about deep disdain for one's old religion and its followers, i.e., one's old friends and relatives. The next change that takes place is that of dress and manners and behaviour. All that does great harm to the country.

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Probable attribution

This saying is widely associated with Mahatma Gandhi, but the attribution is not supported by a reliable primary source.

Likely origin: Attributed to a 1969 diary compilation, Mahadev Desai, Day-to-Day with Gandhi, Vol. 7, as quoted in Sita Ram Goel, History of Hindu-Christian Encounters (1996).

About this quote

Real change happens inside, in the heart, not in the costume you adopt afterward. The tell of a shallow conversion is contempt — turning on your old customs, faith, and people. Genuine transformation does the opposite: it enlarges you, so you grow more connected to your roots rather than more scornful of them.

When to use it

  • Someone who takes up a healthier lifestyle keeps the family dinners and never looks down on friends who eat differently.
  • A person embracing a new faith keeps warm ties with his parents instead of treating them as beneath the new belief.
  • A worker who joins a prestigious firm resists mimicking its accents and its quiet scorn for where he came from.