“Faith... must be enforced by reason... when faith becomes blind it dies.”
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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 Gandhi's writings on faith and reason (Young India/Harijan era); presented as an ellipsis-edited excerpt.
About this quote
Belief and inquiry are usually cast as enemies, yet here they lean on each other: questioning keeps conviction honest, and a conviction that refuses examination slowly hardens into something brittle. Faith unwilling to face a hard question tends to lose the very meaning it was meant to hold.
When to use it
- A donor keeps giving to a charity but audits its finances yearly instead of assuming the best.
- A researcher holds a hypothesis firmly, then redesigns the experiment when the results push back.
- A believer studies the tradition they were raised in, letting real questions strengthen rather than threaten it.