Swami Vivekananda Quotes

We are ever free if we would only believe it, only have faith enough. You are the soul, free and eternal, ever free, ever blessed. Have faith enough and you will be free in a minute.

If I, as an Oriental have to worship Jesus of Nazareth, there is only one way, that is, to worship him as God and nothing else.

YOU know, I may have to be born again, you see, I have fallen in love with mankind.

True religion comes not front the teaching of men or the reading of books; it is the awakening of the spirit within us, consequent upon pure and heroic action.

As soon as we react, we become slaves. A man blames me, and I immediately react in the form of anger. A little vibration which he created made me a slave.

It is faith that makes a lion of a man.

You must be fearless. It is the coward who fears and defends himself

Why should a Man be Moral? Because this strengthens his will.

It is the witness alone that can work without any desire, without any idea of going to heaven, without any idea of blame, without any idea of praise. The witness alone enjoys, and none else.

Not believing in the glory of our own soul is what the Vedanta calls atheism.

Never talk about the faults of others, no matter how bad they may be. Nothing is ever gained by that. You never help one by talking about his fault; you do him an injury, and injure yourself as well.

The secret of karma yoga which is to perform actions without any fruitive desires is taught by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita.

What is salvation? To live with God. Where? Anywhere. Here this moment. One moment in infinite time is quite as good as any other moment.

We must patiently practice every day.

The moment you fear, you are nobody.

Have faith in yourselves, and stand up on that faith and be strong; that is what we need.

All that is real in me is God; all that is real in God is I. The gulf between God and me is thus bridged. Thus by knowing God, we find that the kingdom of heaven is within us.

We are the living devils.

I am indebted to my mother for the efflorescence of my knowledge.

Know that every time you feel weak, you not only hurt yourself but also the cause. Infinite faith and strength are the only conditions of success.

The best guide in life is strength. In religion, as in all other matters, discard everything that weakens you, have nothing to do with it.

Losing faith in one's self means losing faith in God.

According to this philosophy, each man consists of three parts - the body, the internal organ or the mind, and behind that, what is called the Atman, the Self.

Man's experience in the world is to enable him to get out of its whirlpool.

Cut the bondage of all worldly affections; go beyond laziness and all care as to what becomes of you.

Perfection is always infinite. We are the Infinite already. You and I, and all beings, are trying to manifest that infinity.

Be grateful that the poor man is there, so that by making a gift to him you are able to help yourself

It is the hero alone, not the coward, who has liberation within his easy reach.

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.

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.

A sapling must be hedged about for protection, but when it becomes a tree, a hedge would be a hindrance. So there is no need to criticise and condemn the old forms.

The weak have no place here, in this life or any other life. Weakness leads to slavery. Weakness leads to all kinds of misery, physical and mental. Weakness is death.

True progress is slow but sure.

Never allow weakness to overtake your mind. Remember Mahavira, remember the Divine Mother! And you will see that all weakness, all cowardice will vanish at once.

Any particle in this universe can change in relation to any other particle; but take the whole universe as one.

The power is with the silent ones, who only live and love and then withdraw their personality. They never say “me” and “mine”; they are only blessed in being instruments

There is salvation only for the brave.

In everything we do, the serpent ego is rising up.

Man never dies, nor is he ever born; bodies die, but he never dies.

Say it with pride we are Hindus

Live for an ideal, and that one ideal alone. Let it be so great, so strong, that there may be nothing else left in the mind; no place for anything else, no time for anything else.

Your success is not measured in terms of what all you obtained but in term of what you become, how you live and what actions you do. Upon this point reflect well and attain great happiness

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

Always remember that renunciation is the root idea. Unless one is initiated into this idea, not even Brahma and the World - gods have the power to attain Mukti

My countrymen should have nerves of steel, muscles of iron, and minds like thunderbolt.

Everything is fraught with fear: Renunciation alone is fearless.

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

The soul ... is nameless because it is formless. It will neither go to heaven nor [to hell] any more than it will enter this glass.

Brave, bold men, these are what we want. What we want is vigour in the blood, strength in the nerves, iron muscles and nerves of steel, not softening namby-pamby ideas.

Charity opens the heart.