Swami Vivekananda Quotes

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He whom the sages have been seeking in all these places is in our own hearts; the voice that you heard was right, says Vedanta, but the direction you gave to the voice was wrong.

Swami Vivekananda
Consciously or unconsciously, we are all striving for perfection. Every being must attain to it.

Swami Vivekananda
We have all been hearing from childhood of such things as love, peace, charity, equality, and universal brotherhood; but they have become to us mere words without meaning, words which we repeat like parrots, and it has become quite natural for us to do so. We cannot help it.

Swami Vivekananda
Hinduism threw away Buddhism after taking its sap. The attempt of all the Southern Acharyas was to effect a reconciliation between the two. Shankaracharya's teaching shows the influence of Buddhism. His disciples perverted his teaching and carried it to such an extreme point that some of the later reformers were right in calling the Acharya's followers "crypto-buddhists".

Swami Vivekananda
Purity, patience, and perseverance are the three essentials to success and, above all, love.

Swami Vivekananda
Too early religious advancement of the Hindus and that superfineness in everything which made them cling to higher alternatives, have reduced them to what they are. The Hindus have to learn a little bit of materialism from the West and teach them a little bit of spirituality.

Swami Vivekananda
Stand upon the Self, only then can we truly love the world. Take a very high stand; knowing our universal nature, we must look with perfect calmness upon all the panorama of the world.

Swami Vivekananda
We must have friendship for all; we must be merciful toward those that are in misery; when people are happy, we ought to be happy; and to the wicked we must be indifferent. These attitudes will make the mind peaceful.

Swami Vivekananda
Manifest the divinity within you and everything will be harmoniously arranged around it.

Swami Vivekananda
Do not be afraid of a small beginning. great things come afterwards. Be courageous. Do not try to lead your brethren, but serve them. The brutal mania for leading has sunk many a great ships in the waters of life. Take care especially of that, i.e. be unselfish even unto death, and work.

Swami Vivekananda
Never try to follow another's path for that is his way, not yours. When that path is found, you have nothing to do but fold your arms and the tide will carry you to freedom.

Swami Vivekananda
Wait, my child, wait and work on. Patience, patience.....

Swami Vivekananda
Man is the best mirror, and the purer the man, the more clearly he can reflect God.

Swami Vivekananda
To devote your life to the good of all and to the happiness of all is religion. Whatever you do for your own sake is not religion.

Swami Vivekananda
What is meant by charity? Charity is not fundamental. It is really helping on the misery of the world, not eradicating it. One looks for name and fame and covers his efforts to obtain them with the enamel of charity and good works. He is working for himself under the pretext of working for others. Every so-called charity is an encouragement of the very evil it claims to operate against.

Swami Vivekananda
We reap what we sow. We are the makers of our own fate. None else has the blame, none has the praise.

Swami Vivekananda
The more you think of yourself as shining immortal spirit, the more eager you will be to be absolutely free of matter, body, and senses. This is the intense desire to be free.

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
I do not care what philosophy you take up; only I am ready to prove here that throughout the whole of India, there runs a mutual and cordial string of eternal faith in the perfection of humanity, and I believe in it myself. And let that faith be spread over the whole land.

Swami Vivekananda
Renunciation is the background of all religious thought wherever it be, and you will always find that as this idea of renunciation lessens, the more will the senses creep into the field of religion, and spirituality will decrease in the same ratio.

Swami Vivekananda
It is nature that is driving us towards perfection, and eventually she will bring everyone there.

Swami Vivekananda
The great lesson is, that unity is behind all. Call it God, Love, Spirit. Allah, Jehovah - it is the same unity that animates all life from the lowest animal to the noblest man.

Swami Vivekananda
The Indian mind is first religious, then anything else. So this is to be strengthened.

Swami Vivekananda
Something cannot be made out of nothing. Nor can something be made to go back to nothing.

Swami Vivekananda
The glory of man is that he is a thinking being. It is the nature of man to think and therein he differs from animals

Swami Vivekananda
Everything that has form, everything that is the result of combination, is evolved out of this Akasha.

Swami Vivekananda
Meditation is a sort of prayer and prayer is meditation. The highest meditation is to think of nothing. If you can remain one moment without thought, great power will come.

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

Swami Vivekananda
Each man must begin where he stands, must learn how to control the things that are nearest to him.

Swami Vivekananda
The ego of man and woman is the soul. If the soul is independent, how then can it be isolated from the infinite whole?

Swami Vivekananda