“Unfortunately for His Excellency the movement is likely to grow with ridicule as it is certain to flourish on repression. No vital movement can be killed except by the impatience, ignorance or laziness of its authors. A movement cannot be 'insane' that is conducted by men of action as I claim the members of the Non-co-operation Committee are. Ridicule is like repression. Both give place to respect when they fail to produce the intended effect. It will be admitted that non-co-operation has passed the stage of ridicule. Whether it will now be met by repression or respect remains to be seen. But the testing time has now arrived. In a civilized country when ridicule fails to kill a movement it begins to command respect.”
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About this quote
A sound effort isn't killed by mockery or crackdowns from outside; those tend to convert into respect once they fail to stop it. What actually sinks it is the impatience, ignorance, or laziness of the people running it — the fatal damage comes from within.
When to use it
- A small shop laughed off early that endures because its owners stay steady, then earns the neighborhood's respect.
- A reform effort that dies not from its critics but from organizers who lose patience and drift away.
- A new idea at work brushed aside at first, then adopted once it proves it isn't going anywhere.