“The only tyrant I accept in this world is the still voice within.”
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Attribution note
This popular truncation drops 'small' (losing the biblical 'still small voice' allusion) and 'me'; the genuine sourced wording is 'still small voice within me' (Young India, 2 Mar 1922), so this altered form is only a paraphrase.
Likely origin: Shortened form of a sourced Gandhi quote: 'The only tyrant I accept in this world is the "still small voice" within me.' - Young India, 2 March 1922 (also CWMG Vol. 48, p. 340, 1931 speech).
Review the attribution sourceAbout this quote
Answering to a single inner authority means no boss, crowd, or statute gets the final word over your conscience. That's demanding rather than freeing: the quiet inner verdict is harder to argue with than any outside pressure, and it refuses to take excuses.
When to use it
- An auditor signs off on nothing she couldn't defend to herself, whatever the client wants.
- A soldier refuses an order he believes is wrong and prepares to face the cost.
- An employee blows the whistle despite pressure to stay quiet, unable to talk his conscience down.