World Leaders, Thinkers and Celebrities who were inspired by Mahatma Gandhi

Top World Leaders, Thinkers and Celebrities, who were inspired by Mahatma Gandhi. The list is very long, and we have picked just a few.

During India’s struggle for freedom, Gandhi was revered not just in India, he had fans all over the world, including political leaders, authors, poets, educators, and actors.

Here are the celebrities and creative people who were inspired by Mahatma Gandhi.

George Bernard Shaw

Nobel-prize-winning Irish playwright and passionate socialist, George Bernard Shaw on Gandhi, “Impressions of Gandhi? You might well ask for someone’s impression of the Himalayas.”

Richard Attenborough

Film director and producer Lord Richard Attenborough’s film Gandhi swept the Oscars in 1983. “When asked what attribute he most admired in human nature, Mahatma Gandhi replied, simply and immediately, ‘Courage’. ‘Nonviolence’, he said, ‘is not to be used ever as the shield of the coward. It is the weapon of the brave,” said Richard when asked of his inspiration.

Charlie Chaplin

When Mahatma Gandhi was in England, among the many famous celebrities who wrote, requesting an audience with Gandhiji, one of them was Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin’s movie The Great Dictator (1940) had a speech which was written with Gandhi’s vision in mind.

John Lennon

British musician and part of the famous band The Beatles, John Lennon referred to Gandhi as an influence on his music. John and his wife Yoko Ono protested for non-violent interactions in the world, and for the end of the Vietnam War.

Also Read: Bapu in the Movies: Memorable Movies featuring Mahatma Gandhi

Here are the politicians, world leaders and thinkers who were inspired by Mahatma Gandhi.

“He was right, he knew he was right, we all knew he was right. The man who killed him knew he was right. However long the follies of the violent continue, they but prove that Gandhi was right. ‘Resist to the very end’, he said, ‘but without violence’. Of violence the world is sick. Oh, India, dare to be worthy of your Gandhi,”
Noted American writer and novelist, Pearl S. Buck, after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

Former US president Barack Obama

In 2009, a ninth grader asked the would-be President Barack Obama: “If you could have dinner with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?” Obama answered: “I think that it might be Gandhi, who is a real hero of mine.”

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela, great leader of the South African people, often cited Mahatma Gandhi as one of his greatest teachers: “Gandhi’s ideas have played a vital role in South Africa’s transformation and with the help of Gandhi’s teaching, apartheid has been overcome.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

“Christ gave us the goals and Mahatma Gandhi the tactics,” said Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights leader in the United States of America, who adopted non-violence to help millions of African Americans fight for their rights.

Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama, monk and exiled leader of the Tibetan people, has always said he is a follower of Mahatma Gandhi. “I have the greatest admiration for Mahatma Gandhi. He was a great human being with a deep understanding of human nature. His life has inspired me,” said the Dalai Lama.

Albert Einstein

Did you know that Albert Einstein and Gandhi frequently wrote letters to one another? Einstein called Gandhi “a role model for the generations to come” and in a letter said “I believe that Gandhi’s views were the most enlightened of all the political men in our time.”

Steve Jobs

When Steve Jobs started his second innings at Apple (in the year 1997), he stood before a giant portrait of Mahatma Gandhi and addressed a packed audience: “Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers…because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” It’s believed that the Mahatma inspired these words.

Aung San Suu Kyi

Nobel Peace Prize winner and prominent Burmese freedom fighter Aung San Suu Kyi (who currently faced criticism for handling the Rohingya crisis) said Gandhi was one of the major influences in her life and urged the students to read his works (while addressing students at Columbia University in New York in 2012)

Ho Chi Minh

Vietnamese communist revolutionary leader, Ho Chi Minh, was also an admirer of Gandhi: “I and others may be revolutionaries but we are disciples of Mahatma Gandhi, directly or indirectly, nothing more nothing less,” he said.

Mahatma Gandhi and Charlie Chaplin together in one frame (old picture)

When Gandhiji was in England (1931), among the many famous celebrities who wrote, requesting an audience with Gandhiji, was none other than famous comedian Charlie Chaplin.

But Gandhi had not heard of him before, and when Gandhi was told that Charlie Chaplin was a famous actor, Gandhi replied he did not have time to meet with him. Then someone, who was aware of the depth of Chaplin’s radicalism, spoke up, “He’s sympathetic to our cause!” “In that case,” Gandhi replied, “I will meet with him.””

When Chaplin met Gandhi, he said “I am all for the freedom of your country and its people. But there is one thing that I don’t understand. Why do you oppose the use of machines? Don’t you think that a lot of work would come to a standstill if machines are not used?”

Gandhi responded frankly, “I am not against machines but I cannot bear it when these very machines take away a man’s work from him. Today we your slaves because we cannot overcome our attraction, for your goods. Freedom will surely be ours if we learn to free ourselves from this attraction.”

The 1940 Chaplin film “The Great Dictator” offered nonviolent resistance to Hitler’s aura of power. The final soliloquy of the film certainly sounds like influence from the Mahatma! Check it out.

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