Swami Vivekananda Quotes

1,114 Sourced Quotes

I have come to deal with principles. I have only to preach that God comes again and again, and that He came in India as Krishna, Rama, and Buddha, and that He will come again. It can almost be demonstrated that after each 500 years the world sinks, and a tremendous spiritual wave comes, and on the top of the wave is a Christ.

Swami Vivekananda
The "ego" like its correlative "non-ego", is the product of the body, mind etc. The only proof of the existence of the real Self is realisation.

Swami Vivekananda
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.

Swami Vivekananda
Knowledge can only be got in one way, the way of experience; there is no other way to know.

Swami Vivekananda
The progress of the world means more enjoyment and more misery too.

Swami Vivekananda
The coward, afraid of the lash, with one hand wipes his eyes and gives with the other. Of what avail are such gifts?

Swami Vivekananda
Anything that is secret and mysterious in these systems of yoga should be at once rejected. 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.

Swami Vivekananda
Let the churches preach doctrines, theories, philosophies to their hearts' content, but when it comes to worship, the real practical part of religion, it should be as Jesus says, "When thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret".

Swami Vivekananda
Look upon every man, woman, and everyone as God. You cannot help anyone, you can only serve: serve the children of the Lord, serve the Lord Himself, if you have the privilege.

Swami Vivekananda
Until we give up the world manufactured by the ego, never can we enter the kingdom of heaven. None ever did, none ever will.

Swami Vivekananda
"I am the thread that runs through all these pearls," and each pearl is a religion or even a sect thereof. Such are the different pearls, and God is the thread that runs through all of them; most people, however, are entirely unconscious of it.

Swami Vivekananda
Principles must conquer in the long run, for that is the manhood of man.

Swami Vivekananda
Religion in India must be made as free and as easy of access as is God's air.

Swami Vivekananda
I believe that the Hindu faith has developed the spiritual in its devotees at the expense of the material, and I think that in the Western world the contrary is true. By uniting the materialism of the West with the spiritualism of the East I believe much can be accomplished. It may be that in the attempt the Hindu faith will lose much of its individuality.

Swami Vivekananda
Have charity towards all beings. Pity those who are in distress. Love all creatures. Do not be jealous of anyone. Look not to the faults of others.

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

Swami Vivekananda
Mind you, there is no value in learning. You are all mistaken in learning. The only value of knowledge is in the strengthening, the disciplining, of the mind.

Swami Vivekananda
Soft-brained people, weak-minded, chicken-hearted, cannot find the truth. One has to be free, and as broad as the sky.

Swami Vivekananda
Man makes the mistake of separating himself from God and identifying himself with the body.

Swami Vivekananda
Learning and wisdom are superfluities, the surface glitter merely, but it is the heart that is the seat of all power. It is not in the brain but in the heart that the Atman, possessed of knowledge, power, and activity, has its seat.

Swami Vivekananda
What good being object of charity? Give away, ne'er turn to ask in return, Should there be the wealth treasured in thy heart.

Swami Vivekananda
Each man has a mission in life, which is the result of all his infinite past Karma.

Swami Vivekananda
Perfection is one thing and enjoyment another; these two having different ends, engage men differently.

Swami Vivekananda
Nothing else is necessary but these - love, sincerity, and patience.

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

Swami Vivekananda
As long as we believe ourselves to be even the least different from God, fear remains with us; but when we know ourselves to be the One, fear goes; of what can we be afraid?

Swami Vivekananda
The Church tries to fit Christ into it, not the Church into Christ.

Swami Vivekananda
The whole universe is one. There is only one Self in the universe, only One Existence.

Swami Vivekananda
Woman has suffered for eons, and that has given her infinite patience and infinite perseverance.

Swami Vivekananda
Man has infinite power within himself, and he can realise it - he can realise himself as the one infinite Self. It can be done; but you do not believe it. You pray to God and keep your powder dry all the time.

Swami Vivekananda