That the caste system must be abolished if the Hindu society is to be reconstructed on the basis of equality, goes without saying. Untouchability has its roots in the caste system. They cannot expect the Brahmins to rise in revolt against the caste system. Also we cannot rely upon the non-Brahmins and ask them to fight our battle.

B. R. Ambedkar

In Hinduism, conscience, reason and independent thinking have no scope for development.

B. R. Ambedkar

So long as you do not achieve social liberty, whatever freedom is provided by the law is of no avail to you.

B. R. Ambedkar

I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.

B. R. Ambedkar

If I find the constitution being misused, I shall be the first to burn it.

B. R. Ambedkar

Cultivation of mind should be the ultimate aim of human existence.

B. R. Ambedkar

Some people think that religion is not essential to society. I do not hold this view. I consider the foundation of religion to be essential to the life and practices of a society.

B. R. Ambedkar

The food habits of the different classes of Hindus have been as fixed and stratified as their cults. Just as Hindus can be classified on their basis of their cults, so also they can be classified on the basis of their habits of food.

B. R. Ambedkar

History shows that where ethics and economics come in conflict, victory is always with economics. Vested interests have never been known to have willingly divested themselves unless there was sufficient force to compel them.

B. R. Ambedkar

However good a Constitution may be, if those who are implementing it are not good, it will prove to be bad. However bad a Constitution may be, if those implementing it are good, it will prove to be good.

B. R. Ambedkar

I refuse to join with them in performing the miracle—I will not say trick—of liberating the oppressed with the gold of the tyrant, and raising the poor with the cash of the rich.

B. R. Ambedkar

The relationship between husband and wife should be one of the closest friends.

B. R. Ambedkar

I like the religion that teaches liberty, equality and fraternity.

B. R. Ambedkar

Life should be great rather than long.

B. R. Ambedkar

What are we having this liberty for? We are having this liberty in order to reform our social system, which is full of inequality, discrimination and other things, which conflict with our fundamental rights.

B. R. Ambedkar

Political tyranny is nothing compared to the social tyranny and a reformer who defies society is a more courageous man than a politician who defies Government.

B. R. Ambedkar

Religion is for man and not man for religion.

B. R. Ambedkar

Indifferentism is the worst kind of disease that can affect people.

B. R. Ambedkar

Indians today are governed by two different ideologies. Their political ideal set in the preamble of the Constitution affirms a life of liberty, equality and fraternity. Their social ideal embodied in their religion denies them.

B. R. Ambedkar

Men are mortal. So are ideas. An idea needs propagation as much as a plant needs watering. Otherwise both will wither and die.

B. R. Ambedkar

Equality may be a fiction but nonetheless one must accept it as a governing principle.

B. R. Ambedkar

Constitution is not a mere lawyers document, it is a vehicle of Life, and its spirit is always the spirit of Age.

B. R. Ambedkar

A great man is different from an eminent one in that he is ready to be the servant of the society.

B. R. Ambedkar

For a successful revolution it is not enough that there is discontent. What is required is a profound and thorough conviction of the justice, necessity and importance of political and social rights.

B. R. Ambedkar

Religion and slavery are incompatible.

B. R. Ambedkar

The reason why Broken Men only became Untouchables was because in addition to being Buddhists, they retained their habit of beef-eating, which gave additional ground for offence to the Brahmins to carry their new-found love and reverence to the cow to its logical conclusion.

B. R. Ambedkar

That the object of the Brahmins in giving up beef-eating was to snatch away from the Buddhist Bhikshus the supremacy they had acquired is evidenced by the adoption of vegetarianism by Brahmins. the dark age of India. It is an age in which people, instead of looking for their ideals in the future, are returning to antiquity.

B. R. Ambedkar

Every man who repeats the dogma of Mill that one country is no fit to rule another country must admit that one class is not fit to rule another class.

B. R. Ambedkar

A people and their religion must be judged by social standards based on social ethics. No other standard would have any meaning if religion is held to be necessary good for the well-being of the people.

B. R. Ambedkar

A safe army is better than a safe border.

B. R. Ambedkar

The basic idea underlying religion is to create an atmosphere for the spiritual development of the individual.

B. R. Ambedkar

I solemnly assure you that I will not die as a Hindu.

B. R. Ambedkar

Law and order are the medicine of the politic body and when the politic body gets sick, medicine must be administered.

B. R. Ambedkar

Generally speaking, the Smritikars never care to explain the why and the how of their dogmas.

B. R. Ambedkar

Unlike a drop of water which loses its identity when it joins the ocean, man does not lose his being in the society in which he lives. Man’s life is independent. He is born not for the development of the society alone, but for the development of his self.

B. R. Ambedkar

Every man must have a philosophy of life, for everyone must have a standard by which to measure his conduct. And philosophy is nothing but a standard by which to measure.

B. R. Ambedkar

The sovereignty of scriptures of all religions must come to an end if we want to have a united integrated modern India.

B. R. Ambedkar

My social philosophy may be said to be enshrined in three words: liberty, equality and fraternity. Let no one, however, say that I have borrowed by philosophy from the French Revolution. I have not. My philosophy has roots in religion and not in political science. I have derived them from the teachings of my Master, the Buddha.

B. R. Ambedkar

Though, I was born a Hindu, I solemnly assure you that I will not die as a Hindu.

B. R. Ambedkar

Every man who repeats the dogma of Mill that one country is fit to rule another country must admit that one class is not fit to rule another class.

B. R. Ambedkar

We are Indians, firstly and lastly.

B. R. Ambedkar

Lost rights are never regained by appeals to the conscience of the usurpers, but by relentless struggle…. Goats are used for sacrificial offerings and not lions.

B. R. Ambedkar

Religion must mainly be a matter of principles only. It cannot be a matter of rules. The moment it degenerates into rules, it ceases to be a religion, as it kills responsibility which is an essence of the true religious act.

B. R. Ambedkar

No Hindu community, however low, will touch cow’s flesh. On the other hand, there is no community which is really an Untouchable community which has not something to do with the dead cow. Some eat her flesh, some remove the skin, some manufacture articles out of her skin and bones.

B. R. Ambedkar

One can quite understand vegetarianism. One can quite understand meat-eating. But it is difficult to understand why a person who is a flesh-eater should object to one kind of flesh, namely cow’s flesh. This is an anomaly which call for explanation.

B. R. Ambedkar

The Touchables, whether they are vegetarians or flesh-eaters, are united in their objection to eat cow’s flesh. As against them stand the Untouchables, who eat cow’s flesh without compunction and as a matter of course and habit.

B. R. Ambedkar

There is one taboo against meat-eating. It divides Hindus into vegetarians and flesh eaters. There is another taboo which is against beef eating. It divides Hindus into those who eat cow’s flesh and those who do not.

B. R. Ambedkar

People are not wrong in observing Caste. In my view, what is wrong is their religion, which has inculcated this notion of Caste. If this is correct, then obviously the enemy, you must grapple with is not the people who observe Caste, but the Shastras which teach them this religion of Caste.

B. R. Ambedkar

To my mind, there is no doubt that this Gandhi age isat-eating. But it is difficult to understand why a person who is a flesh-eater should object to one kind of flesh, namely cow’s flesh. This is an anomaly which call for explanation.

B. R. Ambedkar

Democracy is not merely a form of government. It is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience. It is essentially an attitude of respect and reverence towards fellow men.

B. R. Ambedkar

A bitter thing cannot be made sweet. The taste of anything can be changed. But poison cannot be changed into nectar.

B. R. Ambedkar

One cannot have any respect or regard for men who take the position of the reformer and then refuse to see the logical consequences of that position, let alone following them out in action.

B. R. Ambedkar