Many years ago, I heard someone famous say at the end of her speech, "I will close now with the words of Gandhi, 'Be the change you want to see in the world'." This left a deep impression on me, and I would recall it every time I heard another public figure make this statement.

You can imagine my surprise when I discovered, through browsing on the internet, that in fact Gandhi had never said the above words, and that he had actually said something else. I decided to go the distance and find out what his real words had been. Here they are, even more beautiful and profound than expected:

"“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.” – Mahatma Gandhi