Swami Vivekananda Quotes

When I Asked God for Strength He Gave Me Difficult Situations to Face When I Asked God for Brain & Brawn 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.

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

True religion is not talk, or doctrines, or theories, nor is it sectarianism. It is the relation between soul and God. Religion does not consist in erecting temples, or building churches, or attending public worship. It is not to be found in books, or in words, or in lectures, or in organizations. Religion consists in realization. We must realize God, feel God, see God, talk to God. That is religion.

"I do not want to get material life, do not want the sense-life, but something higher." That is renunciation. Then, by the power of meditation, undo the mischief that has been done.

He who is alone is happy. Do good to all, like everyone, but do not love anyone. It is a bondage, and bondage brings only misery. Live alone in your mind - that is happiness. To have nobody to care for and never minding who cares for one is the way to be free.

Do not hate anybody, because that hatred which comes out from you must, in the long run, come back to you. If you love, that love will come back to you, completing the circle.

Do not desire, for what you desire you get, and with it comes terrible bondage. It is nothing but bringing "noses on us," as in the case of the man who had three boons to ask. We never get freedom until we are self-contained. "Self is the Saviour of self, none else."

No one step back, that is the idea.... Fight it out, whatever comes. Let the stars move from the sphere! Let the whole world stand against us!.... What of it? Thus fight! You gain nothing by becoming cowards.... Taking a step backward, you do not avoid any misfortune.

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.

You are incarnations of God, all of you. You are incarnations of the Almighty, Omnipresent, Divine Principle. You may laugh at me now, but the time will come when you will understand. You must. Nobody will be left behind.

Never say NO, Never say, 'I cannot', for you are INFINITE. All the power is WITHIN you. You can do anything.

Everything is easy when you are busy. But nothing is easy when you are lazy.

Do not lower your goals to the level of your abilities. Instead, raise your abilities to the height of your goals.

Take Risks in Your Life If you Win, U Can Lead! If You Lose, You can Guide!

Talk to yourself atleast once in a Day.. Otherwise you may miss a meeting with an EXCELLENT person in this World.

The gift of knowledge is the highest gift in the world.

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

Dependence is misery. Independence is happiness.

What we call powers, secrets of nature, and force, are all within. In the external world are only a series of changes.

All practice or worship is only for taking off this veil. When that will go, you will find that the Sun of Absolute Knowledge is shining in Its own lustre.

Differentiation is in name and form only.

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.

Everything is ended if you forgive and forget.

Purity, patience and perseverance overcome all obstacles. All great things must of necessity be slow.

The man who gives way to anger, or hatred, or any other passion, cannot work; he only breaks himself to pieces, and does nothing practical. It is the calm, forgiving, equable, well-balanced mind that does the greatest amount of work.

To get any reason out of the mass of incongruity we call human life, we have to transcend our reason, but we must do it scientifically, slowly, by regular practice, and we must cast off all superstition.

The power of meditation gets us everything. If you want to get power over nature, [you can have it through meditation]. It is through the power of meditation all scientific facts are discovered today. They study the subject and forget everything, their own identity and everything, and then the great fact comes like a flash

Ishvara is the highest manifestation of the Absolute Reality, or in other words, the highest possible reading of the Absolute by the human mind. Creation is eternal, and so also is Ishvara.

It is not that Christ is superior to Allah, not that Allah is everything and Brahma is nothing, but it is the same one whom you call either Brahma or Allah, or Almighty, or by a hundred other names. The names are different but God is one and the same.

Have faith in yourself. You people were once the Vedic Rishis. Only, you have come in different forms, that's all. I see it clear as daylight that you all have infinite power in you. Rouse that up; arise, arise - apply yourselves heart and soul, gird up your loins.

You have the right to work, but do not become so degenerate as to look for results. Work incessantly, but see something behind the work. Even good deeds can find a man in great bondage. Therefore be not bound by good deeds or by desires for name and fame.

Neither seek nor avoid; take what comes. It is liberty to be affected by nothing. Do not merely endure; be unattached.

Man in his true nature is substance, soul, spirit.

Be not afraid of anything. You will do marvelous work. The moment you fear, you are nobody. Be a hero. Always say, 'I have no fear'. Tell this to everybody-'Have no fear'.

Whatever you believe, that you will be. If you believe yourselves to be sages, sages you will be tomorrow. There is nothing to obstruct you.

When a man is perfect, he sees perfection in others. When he sees imperfection, it is his own mind projecting itself.

Worship of society and popular opinion is idolatry.

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

The test of progress is the amount of renunciation that one has attained.

Take up an idea, devote yourself to it, struggle on in patience, and the sun will rise for you.

Say, "I can do everything ." "Even if poison of a snake is powerless if you can firmly deny it."

If you have knowledge and see a man weak, do not condemn him. Go to his level and help him if you can. He must grow.

True progress is slow but sure.

It is the greatest manifestation of power to be calm.

Our religion teaches that anger is a great sin, even if it is "righteous".

We must be bright and cheerful. Long faces do not make religion. Religion should be the most joyful thing in the world, because it is the best.

Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourselves weak, weak you will be; if you think yourselves strong, strong you will be.

The Hindus have to learn a little bit of materialism from the West and teach them a little bit of spirituality.

The banyan tree does not mean awakening, nor does the hill, nor the saint, nor the European couple. The lotus is a symbol of regeneration.

Neither money pays, nor name pays, nor fame, nor learning; it is CHARACTER that cleave through adamantine walls of difference.

The mind is but the subtle part of the body. You must retain great strength in your mind and words.

The best thermometer to the progress of a nation is its treatment of its women.

Everyone goes with the flow... but the one who goes against the flow becomes someone remarkable in life.

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

One may gain political and social independence, but if one is a slave to his passions and desires, one cannot feel the pure joy of real freedom

There is no other teacher but your own soul.

Real freedom is not merely doing what you like, but also NOT doing what you like.

If you are pure, if you are strong, you, one man are equal to the whole world.

None of us have yet seen an ideally perfect man, and yet without that ideal we cannot progress.

I have come to this conclusion that there is only one country in the world which understands religion - it is India.

In whatever name or form they are offered, all these flowers are laid at God's feet, for He is the one Lord of all, the one Soul of all souls.

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

The remedy for weakness is not brooding over weakness, but thinking of strength.

Let him who has courage in his mind and love in his heart come with me. I want none else.

Thank God for giving you this world as a moral gymnasium to help your development, but never imagine you can help the world.

You yourselves are the Being you are seeking.

There is only one Soul in the Universe. There is no 'you' or 'me'; all variety is merged into the absolute unity, the one infinite existence - God.

All the forces that are working in this body have been produced out of food; we see that every day.

Blame nobody else, do not commit the mistake of the ignorant.

Eka-Nishtha or devotion to one ideal is absolutely necessary for the beginner in the practice of religious devotion.

The awakening of the soul to its bondage and its effort to stand up and assert itself - this is called life.

You must all pay attention to your health first.

Be an atheist if you want, but do not believe in anything unquestioningly.

Take courage and work on. Patience and steady work- this is the only way.

The man who becomes angry never does a great amount of work, and the man whom nothing can make angry accomplishes so much.

As soon as extreme attachment comes, a man loses himself, he is no more master of himself, he is a slave.

The past was great no doubt, but I sincerely believe that the future will be more glorious still.

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

Each soul is a star and all stars are set in the infinite azure, the eternal sky-the Lord.

According to the Hindu way of thinking, marriage is rather a duty than a privilege.

They only live, who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive.

Education is the manifestation of perfection already existing in man.

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

The truths of Upanishadas are before you. Take them up, live up to them, and the salvation of Bharat will be at hand.

Things do not grow better; they remain as they are. It is we who grow better, by the changes we make in ourselves.

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

All the work you do, is done for your own salvation, is done for your own benefit.

Self-sacrifice, not self-assertion, is the law of the highest universe.

Our supreme duty is to advance toward freedom - physical, mental, and spiritual - and help others to do so.

The first sign of your becoming religious is that you are becoming cheerful

Put God behind everything-human beings, animals, food, and work. Make this a habit.

Please everyone without becoming a hypocrite or a coward.

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

The body cannot be the soul.

The mistake is that we cling to the body when it is the spirit that is really immortal.

Man always is perfect, or he never could become so; but he had to realise it.

Work and worship are necessary to take away the veil, to lift off the bondage and illusion.

There is no virtue higher than non-injury.

You must keep a strict eye on your health; let everything else be subordinated to that.