“I cannot understand why the Ali Brothers are going to be arrested as the rumours go, and why I am to remain free. They have done nothing which I would not do. If they had sent a message to the Amir, I also would send one to inform the Amir that if he came, no Indian so long as I can help it, would help the Government to drive him back.”
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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: On Gandhi's Wikiquote (1920s) but sourced only to a secondary book, K. L. Gauba's The Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi (1969); no dated primary located.
About this quote
Refusing a protection your comrades don't get is a way of keeping faith with them. If you'd take the same action they're being punished for, accepting immunity would quietly separate you from them — so you stake the same claim and invite the same consequence.
When to use it
- A supervisor who ordered the risky shortcut insists on facing the same inquiry as the crew who carried it out.
- When one classmate is blamed for a group's prank, another steps forward to share the punishment rather than stay quiet.
- A protest organizer declines special treatment and waits in the same holding cell as the volunteers.