Misquote Quotes

Context

This famous line was (not really) spoken by Mahatma Gandhi.

It's always nice when things work out fairly. But we're guessing the authors of Exodus weren't being super literal when they talked about "an eye for an eye"—someone losing an eye in exchange for someone else losing an eye probably isn't in anyone's best interests.

It basically means that when something awful is done by someone, they deserve to have the same thing done to them. Like…if some goober drops and breaks your MacBook, then it's only fair for you to take his MacBook and break it.

Well, Gandhi wasn't on board with that. His quote "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind" is saying that if we keep punishing those we deem cruel, then we're no better than the bad guys ourselves. It's the whole "you can't solve violence with violence" spiel. 

To be fair, there is some uncertainty as to whether Gandhi actually ever said these words, and even if he did, how it went exactly. Here are a few versions:

• An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
• An eye for an eye only makes the world blind.
• An eye for an eye will make the world blind.
• An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.

Whether this was his line or not, Gandhi probably did enough good stuff in his lifetime to make the question moot. In the meantime…we'll just give it to him. He's earned it.

Where you've heard it

People just loooove to quote Gandhi. Not that that's a bad thing. He had a lot of uplifting, positive stuff to say. If he was ever in a crabby mood, he sure didn't let it show.

You'll find this phrase in a lot of places where someone's trying to be inspirational or encouraging others to "turn the other cheek," like in this political article or in this anthology of poetry.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

We'd normally give a line like this a 6 or 7, considering how grandiose the statement is—and the fact that it's taking a common figurative adage and making it literal. But it's Gandhi. He's allowed to get away with a bit more than most.