Swami Vivekananda Quotes in English.

Swami Vivekananda Quotes

Name	Swami Vivekananda (Narendra)
Born	January 12, 1863 , Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India
Died	July 4, 1902 , Belur Math near Kolkata
Nationality	Indian
Field	Religion, Social Work
Achievement	Introduced Hindu philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga in Europe and America through his famous speech ‘Sisters and Brothers of America’

Come up, O lions, and shake off the delusion that you are sheep; you are souls immortal, spirits free, blest and eternal; ye are not matter, ye are not bodies; matter is your servant, not you the servant of matter.

— Swami Vivekananda

"Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is way great spiritual giants are produced."
— Swami Vivekananda

"In a conflict between the heart and the brain, follow your heart. "
— Swami Vivekananda

"You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you,
none can make you spiritual.
There is no other teacher but your own soul."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Dare to be free, dare to go as far as your thought leads, and dare to carry that out in your life. "
— Swami Vivekananda

"In a day, when you don't come across any problems - you can be sure that you are travelling in a wrong path"
— Swami Vivekananda

"When I Asked God for Strength
He Gave Me Difficult Situations to Face

When I Asked God for Brain & Brown
He Gave Me Puzzles in Life to Solve

When I Asked God for Happiness
He Showed Me Some Unhappy People

When I Asked God for Wealth
He Showed Me How to Work Hard

When I Asked God for Favors
He Showed Me Opportunities to Work Hard

When I Asked God for Peace
He Showed Me How to Help Others

God Gave Me Nothing I Wanted
He Gave Me Everything I Needed."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Be not Afraid of anything. You will do Marvelous work. it is Fearlessness that brings Heaven even in a moment."
— Swami Vivekananda

"All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore love for love's sake, because it is law of life, just as you breathe to live.
"
— Swami Vivekananda

"The great secret of true success, of true happiness, is this: the man or woman who asks for no return, the perfectly unselfish person, is the most successful."
— Swami Vivekananda

"We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far. "
— Swami Vivekananda

"They alone live, who live for others."
— Swami Vivekananda

"The fire that warms us can also consume us; it is not the fault of the fire."
— Swami Vivekananda

"We reap what we sow. We are the makers of our own fate.
The wind is blowing; those vessels whose sails are unfurled
catch it, and go forward on their way, but those which have
their sails furled do not catch the wind. Is that the fault of
the wind?....... We make our own destiny.
"
— Swami Vivekananda

"Comfort is no test of truth. Truth is often far from being comfortable."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Strength is Life, Weakness is Death.
Expansion is Life, Contraction is Death.
Love is Life, Hatred is Death."
— Swami Vivekananda

"The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Neither seek nor avoid, take what comes."
— Swami Vivekananda

"All power is within you, you can do, anything and everything. believe in that do not believe that you are weak. You can do any thing and everything, without even the guidance of any one. Stand up and express the divinity within you…, Within each of you there is the power to remove all wants and all miseries."
— Swami Vivekananda

"You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Do one thing at a Time, and while doing it put your whole Soul into it to the exclusion of all else."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Was there ever a more horrible blasphemy than the statement that all the knowledge of God is confined to this or that book? How dare men call God infinite, and yet try to compress Him within the covers of a little book!"
— Swami Vivekananda

"Ask nothing; want nothing in return. Give what you have to give; it will come back to you, but do not think of that now."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Feel nothing, know nothing, do nothing, have nothing, give up all to God, and say utterly, 'Thy will be done.' We only dream this bondage. Wake up and let it go."
— Swami Vivekananda

"We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about that you think."
— Swami Vivekananda

"All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Learn Everything that is Good from Others, but bring it in, and in your own way absorb it; do not become others."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Man is to become divine by realizing the divine. Idols or temples, or churches or books, are only the supports, the help of his spiritual childhood."
— Swami Vivekananda

"This is a great fact: strength is life; weakness is death. Strength is felicity, life eternal, immortal; weakness is constant strain and misery, weakness is death."
— Swami Vivekananda

"whatever you think that you will be.
if you think yourself weak,weak you will be;
if you think yourself strong,you will be"
— Swami Vivekananda

"Each work has to pass through these stages—ridicule, opposition, and then acceptance. Those who think ahead of their time are sure to be misunderstood."
— Swami Vivekananda

"The Vedanta recognizes no sin it only recognizes error. And the greatest error, says the Vedanta is to say that you are weak, that you are a sinner, a miserable creature, and that you have no power and you cannot do this and that."
— Swami Vivekananda

"If a man can realize his divine nature with the help of an image, would it be right to call that a sin? Nor, even when he has passed that stage, should he call it an error. [...] man is not traveling from error to truth, but from truth to truth, from lower to higher truth. To him all the religions from the lowest fetishism to the highest absolutism, mean so many attempts of the human soul to grasp and realize the Infinite, each determined by the conditions of its birth and association, and each of these marks a stage of progress; and every soul is a young eagle soaring higher and higher, gathering more and more strength till it reaches the Glorious Sun."
— Swami Vivekananda

"The cheerful mind perseveres and the strong mind hews its way through a thousand difficulties."
— Swami Vivekananda

"The brain and muscles must develop simultaneously. Iron nerves with an intelligent brain — and the whole world is at your feet."
— Swami Vivekananda

"All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Anything that makes weak - physically, intellectually and spiritually, reject it as poison."
— Swami Vivekananda

"The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy - by one, or more, or all of these - and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details."
— Swami Vivekananda

"A few heart-whole, sincere, and energetic men and women can do more in a year than a mob in a century."
— Swami Vivekananda

"The only religion that ought to be taught is the religion of fearlessness. Either in this world or in the world of religion, it is true that fear is the sure cause of degradation and sin. It is fear that brings misery, fear that brings death, fear that breeds evil. And what causes fear? Ignorance of our own nature."
— Swami Vivekananda

"We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in the future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Astrology and all these mystical things are generally signs of a weak mind; therefore as soon as they are becoming prominent in our minds, we should see a physician, take good food, and rest."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Desire, ignorance, and inequality—this is the trinity of bondage."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Don't look back—forward, infinite energy, infinite enthusiasm, infinite daring, and infinite patience—then alone can great deeds be accomplished."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Bless people when they revile you. Think how much good they are doing by helping to stamp out the false ego."
— Swami Vivekananda

"The Tapas and the other hard Yogas that were practiced in other Yugas do not work now. What is needed in this Yuga is giving, helping others. "
— Swami Vivekananda

"Blessed are they whose bodies get destroyed in the service of others."
— Swami Vivekananda

"beleive in yourself and the world will be at your feet"
— Swami Vivekananda

"Shri Ramakrishna use to say, "As Long as I Live, so long do I learn". That man or that society which has nothing to learn is already in the jaws of death."
— Swami Vivekananda

"The Heart and core of everything here is good, that whatever may be the surface waves, deep down and underlying everything, there is an infinite basis of Goodness and Love."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way."
— Swami Vivekananda

"If faith in ourselves had been more extensively taught and practiced, I am sure a very large portion of the evils and miseries that we have would have vanished."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth."
— Swami Vivekananda

"The will is not free - it is a phenomenon bound by cause and effect - but there is something behind the will which is free."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Religion is being and becoming. Religion is the manifestation of the Divinity already in man."
— Swami Vivekananda

"The earth is enjoyed by heroes”—this is the unfailing truth. Be a hero. Always say, “I have no fear."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success."
— Swami Vivekananda

"After every happiness comes misery; they may be far apart or near. The more advanced the soul, the more quickly does one follow the other. What we want is neither happiness nor misery. Both make us forget our true nature; both are chains--one iron, one gold; behind both is the Atman, who knows neither happiness nor misery. These are states, and states must ever change; but the nature of the Atman is bliss, peace, unchanging. We have not to get it, we have it; only wash away the dross and see it."
— Swami Vivekananda

"All knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind; the infinite library of the universe is in our own mind."
— Swami Vivekananda

"All power is within you. You can do anything and everything. Believe in that. Do not believe that you are weak; do not believe that you are half-crazy lunatics, as most of us do nowadays. Stand up and express the divinity within you."
— Swami Vivekananda

"All truth is eternal. Truth is nobody’s property; no race, no individual can lay any exclusive claim to it. Truth is the nature of all souls."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Be not afraid, for all great power throughout the history of humanity has been with the people. From out of their ranks have come all the greatest geniuses of the world, and history can only repeat itself. Be not afraid of anything. You will do marvelous work."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Be strong! … You talk of ghosts and devils. We are the living devils. The sign of life is strength and growth. The sign of death is weakness. Whatever is weak, avoid! It is death. If it is strength, go down into hell and get hold of it! There is salvation only for the brave. "None but the brave deserves the fair." None but the bravest deserves salvation."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Have Faith in Man, whether he appears to you to be a very learned one or a most ignorant one."
— Swami Vivekananda

"If the Student thinks he is the Spirit, he will be a better Student. If the Lawyer thinks he is the Spirit, he will be a better Lawyer, and so on."
— Swami Vivekananda

"We are allowed to worship him. Stand in that reverent attitude to the whole universe, and then will come perfect non attachment"
— Swami Vivekananda

"Be Grateful to the Man you help, think of Him as God. Is it not a great privilege to be allowed to worship God by helping our fellow men?"
— Swami Vivekananda

"This universe is the wreckage of the infinite on the shores of the finite."
— Swami Vivekananda

"In a day, when you don't come across any problems, you can be sure that you are treveling in a wrong path"
— Swami Vivekananda

"We must be Bright and Cheerful, long faces do not make Religion"
— Swami Vivekananda

"Now is wanted intense Karma-Yoga with unbounded courage and indomitable strength in the heart. Then only will the people of the country be roused."
— Swami Vivekananda

"The whole universe is only the self with variations, one tune made bearable by variations. Sometimes there are discords, but they only make the subsequent harmony more perfect."
— Swami Vivekananda

"If in this hell of a world one can bring a little joy and peace even for a day into the heart of a single person, that much alone is true; this I have learnt after suffering all my life; all else is mere moonshine. . . ."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Put the good before them, see how eagerly they take it, see how the divine that never dies, that is always living in the human..."
— Swami Vivekananda

"The Older I grow, the more everything seems to me to lie in manliness. This is my new gospel"
— Swami Vivekananda

"As different streams having different sources all mingle their waters in the sea, so different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to God."
— Swami Vivekananda

"GOD is to be worshipped as the one beloved, dearer than everything in this and next life."
— Swami Vivekananda

"If money help a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin; to say that you are weak, or others are weak."
— Swami Vivekananda

"The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him - that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free."
— Swami Vivekananda

"The more we come out and do good to others, the more our hearts will be purified, and God will be in them."
— Swami Vivekananda

"When an idea exclusively occupies the mind, it is transformed into an actual physical or mental state."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Where can we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own hearts and in every living being."
— Swami Vivekananda

"All condemnation of others really condemns ourselves. Adjust the microcosm which is in your power to do) and the macrocosm will adjust itself for you."
— Swami Vivekananda

"There is no limit to the power of the human mind. The more concentrated it is, the more power is brought to bear on one point"
— Swami Vivekananda

"He is an atheist who does not believe in himself. The old religions said that he was an atheist who did not believe in God. The new religion says that he is an atheist who does not believe in himself."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success. "
— Swami Vivekananda

"A tremendous stream is flowing toward the ocean, carrying us all along with it; and though like straws and scraps of paper we may at times float aimlessly about, in the long run we are sure to join the Ocean of Life and Bliss."
— Swami Vivekananda

"The more we grow in Love, Virtue and Holiness, the more we see Love, Virtue and Holiness outside."
— Swami Vivekananda

"What is now wanted is a combination of the greatest heart with the highest intellectuality, of infinite love with infinite knowledge."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Above all, beware of compromises. Hold on to your own principles in weal or woe and never adjust them to others’ “fads” through the greed of getting supporters. Your Atman is the support of the universe—whose support do you stand in need of?"
— Swami Vivekananda

"Above all, beware of compromises. I do not mean that you are to get into antagonism with anybody, but you have to hold on to your own principles in weal or woe and never adjust them to others “fads” thought the greed of getting supporters."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Why should a Man be Moral? Because this strengthens his will."
— Swami Vivekananda

"This World will always continue to be a mixture of Good and Evil. Our duty is to sympathize with the weak and to Love even the wrongdoer."
— Swami Vivekananda

"God is present in every Jiva; there is no other God besides that. Who serves Jiva serves God indeed."
— Swami Vivekananda

"All who have actually attained any real religious experience never wrangle over the form in which the different religions are expressed. They know that the soul of all religions is the same and so they have no quarrel with anybody just because he or she does not speak in the same tongue."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Anything that brings spiritual, mental, or physical weakness, touch it not with the toes of your feet."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Are you unselfish? That is the question. If you are, you will be perfect without reading a single religious book, without going into a single church or temple."
— Swami Vivekananda

"This attachment of Love to God is indeed one that does not bind the soul but effectively breaks all its bondages."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Books are infinite in number and time is short. The secret of knowledge is to take what is essential. Take that and try to live up to it."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Even the greatest fool can accomplish a task if it were after his or her heart. But the intelligent ones are those who can convert every work into one that suits their taste."
— Swami Vivekananda

"The greatest sin is to think yourself weak"
— Swami Vivekananda

"The Land where humanity has attained its highest towards gentleness, towards generosity, towards purity, towards calmness - it is India."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Education is the manifestation of perfection already existing in man."
— Swami Vivekananda

"Devotion to duty is the highest form of worship of God."
— Swami Vivekananda

"arise,awake,stop not until your goal is achieved."
— Swami Vivekananda

"By doing well the duty which is nearest to us, the duty which is in our hands, we make ourselves stronger"

"My Faith is in the Younger Generation, the Modern Generation, out of them will come my workers. They will work out the whole problem, like Lions."
— Swami Vivekananda

"It is the Level-headed Man, the Calm Man, of Good Judgement and cool nerves, of Great sympathy and love, who does good work and so does good to himself."
— Swami Vivekananda

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