“I realized that it was not as easy to commit suicide as to contemplate it. And since then, whenever I have heard of someone threatening to commit suicide, it has had little or no effect on me.”
Share this quote
Probable attribution
This saying is widely associated with Mahatma Gandhi, but the attribution is not supported by a reliable primary source.
Likely origin: From Gandhi's An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth (Navjivan, 1925-29), recounting a youthful contemplation of suicide.
About this quote
A thought that feels overwhelming in a dark hour rarely survives the cold light of actually facing it; the impulse shrinks the moment it meets reality. That gap between an anguished idea and any real willingness to act on it shows how much despair inflates itself, and how often the feeling passes.
When to use it
- Someone furiously drafts a resignation email at midnight, feels different after sleep, and never sends it.
- A person blurts 'I'm done with this friendship' mid-argument, then realizes by morning she didn't mean it.
- A teenager swears he'll run away for good, and finds the resolve has evaporated once the anger cools.