“join me in the crusade against educated Indians abandoning their manners, habits and customs which are not proved to be bad or harmful.”
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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 1917 booklet 'Third Class in Indian Railways'; consistent with his writing on educated Indians and Western manners, exact wording unconfirmed.
About this quote
Do not scrap an old custom just because it looks unfashionable beside a borrowed one. The test is evidence: if a habit has never been shown to do harm, prestige alone is no reason to drop it. Reform should follow proof, not the pull of whatever seems modern.
When to use it
- A family that keeps speaking its mother tongue at home even as the kids grow up abroad.
- A company that keeps a slow, careful review step instead of chasing a trendy new workflow.
- A cook who holds onto a grandmother's method because it plainly works, not out of nostalgia.