"Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory"
About this Quote
The phrasing is quietly muscular. “Attainment” is the language of trophies and policy wins; “effort” is the language of vows. He’s not denying the value of results, he’s refusing to make them the source of legitimacy. That matters in a movement built on satyagraha, where the immediate “attainment” might be jail, ridicule, or economic punishment. If success is defined only as independence achieved on a neat timeline, nonviolence starts to look naive. If success is defined as “full effort,” then nonviolence becomes a daily practice with its own internal reward system - and, crucially, its own standard of honor.
The subtext is also a warning about means. “Full effort is full victory” implies that compromised effort - shortcuts, cruelty, opportunism - is a kind of defeat even if it “works.” Gandhi’s leadership depended on persuading people that the struggle’s integrity was not a luxury but the point: the nation you’re trying to build is already being rehearsed in how you fight for it.
Quote Details
| Topic | Perseverance |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Gandhi, Mahatma. (2026, January 17). Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/satisfaction-lies-in-the-effort-not-in-the-33324/
Chicago Style
Gandhi, Mahatma. "Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/satisfaction-lies-in-the-effort-not-in-the-33324/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/satisfaction-lies-in-the-effort-not-in-the-33324/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.






