“My regard for jurisprudence increased, I discovered in it religion. I understood the Gita teaching of non-possession to mean that those who desired salvation should act like the trustee who, though having control over great possessions, regards not an iota of them as his own.”
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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: M. K. Gandhi, An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth (c.1925-29); passage on jurisprudence and the Gita ideal of trusteeship/non-possession.
About this quote
Non-possession here doesn't mean owning nothing; it means holding what you control the way a trustee does — managing real wealth while claiming none of it as truly yours. That shift loosens the grip of possessiveness and turns ownership into a duty to steward rather than a license to hoard.
When to use it
- A business owner treats profits as capital to reinvest in the staff rather than a personal trophy.
- A woman who inherits land runs it for the whole family's benefit instead of cashing out.
- A fund manager guards his clients' money more carefully than he would guard his own.