“God, help me to tell the truth to the strong and to avoid telling lies to get the weak's applause. If you give me success, do not take away my humility. If you give me humility, do not take away my dignity. God, help me to see the other side of the medal. Don't let me blame others of treason just because they don't think like me. God, teach me to love people as I love myself and to judge myself as I judge others. Please, don't let me be proud if I succeed, or fall in despair if I fail. Remind me that failure is the experience that precedes triumph. Teach me that forgiving is the most important in the strong and that revenge is the most primitive sign in the weak. If you take away my success, let me keep my strength to succeed from failure. If I fail people, give me courage to apologize and if people fail me, give me courage to forgive them. God, if I forget you, please do not forget me.”
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Attribution note
A long 'prayer' shared under Gandhi's name with typos ('thruth', 'succed') and no citation to any Gandhi work; it does not appear in his primary writings and reads as an internet-circulated composition.
Likely origin: No reliable primary source; a widely circulated devotional 'prayer' attached to Gandhi's name online (with spelling errors), not found in his collected writings.
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Success quietly inflates the ego and failure deflates it; this asks for the ballast to resist both. Judging yourself by the same standard you use on others, and choosing to forgive rather than settle scores, keeps a person steady when circumstances swing.
When to use it
- After a big promotion, someone keeps taking out the trash and thanking the cleaning staff by name.
- A person who was wronged by a former friend chooses to forgive instead of spreading the story.
- A founder whose startup failed treats it as a lesson and starts again rather than giving up.