“I realised that even a man’s reforming zeal ought not to make him exceed his limits. I also saw that in thus lending trust-money I had disobeyed the cardinal teaching of the Gita, viz., the duty of a man of equipoise to act without desire for the fruit. The error became for me a beacon-light of warning.”
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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: Gandhi, An Autobiography - reflection on lending trust-money and the Gita's teaching to act without desire for the fruit.
About this quote
Zeal for a good cause still has limits, and one of them is what belongs to other people. Handling money held in trust as if the rules bent for a worthy motive is a breach, not an exception. The useful move is to keep that slip as a standing warning rather than bury it.
When to use it
- A treasurer lends the club's funds to a friend's promising venture and learns the account was never his to gamble.
- A manager bends procurement rules for a cause he believes in, then owns the mess when it unravels.
- A caretaker dips into an elderly relative's savings during an emergency and never lets himself forget the line he crossed.