Swami Vivekananda quotes: wise famous quotes, sayings and quotations by Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda Famous Quotes & Sayings

Discover top inspirational quotes from Swami Vivekananda on Wise Famous Quotes.

How to transcend the senses without disturbing the health is what we want to learn.

There cannot be any form unless it is the result of force and matter; and all combinations must dissolve.

All forms are transitory, that is why all religions say, "God has no form".

The Yogi says, religion is practical if you know first why misery exists. All the misery in the world is in the senses. Is

Infinite strength is religion and God.

Excessive attention to the minutiae of astrology is one of the superstitions which has hurt the Hindus very much.

Never mind these failures, these little backslidings; hold the ideal a thousand times, and if you fail a thousand times, make the attempt once more.

What makes a man stand up and work? Strength. Strength is goodness, weakness is sin.

Practice makes us what we shall be.

Happiness presents itself to man, wearing the crown of sorrow on its head. He who welcomes it must also welcome sorrow.

Out of purity and silence comes the word of power.

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

The main feature should be the teaching of principles through stories. Don't make it metaphysical at all.

Let the end and the means be joined into one.

Get away from all books and forms and let your soul see its Self. "We are deluded and maddened by books", Shri Krishna declares.

Law is death. The more of the law in a country, the worse for the country.

It is only by doing good to others that one attains to one's own good

There is no good in store so long as malice and jealousy and egotism will prevail.

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

The effect is delusion, and therefore the cause must be delusion.

This universe is the wreckage of the infinite on the shores of the finite.

The finer is always the cause, the grosser the effect. So the external world is the effect, the internal the cause.

If one religion true, then all the others also must be true. Thus the Hindu faith is yours as much as mine.

No two persons have the same mind or the same body.

It is not the building, but the people that make a church, and that is what we always forget.

May the Lord ordain that your son becomes a man, and never a coward!

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

Never are we nearer the Light than when the darkness is deepest.

Have faith in your destiny

We first observe facts, then generalise, and then draw conclusions or principles.

To the person who desires nothing and does not get entangled in desires, the manifold changes of nature are one panorama of beauty and sublimity.

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.

Each nation has a main current in life; in India it is religion. Make it strong and the waters on either side must move along with it.

Is there no room for art in the spoken language? What is the use of creating an unnatural language to the exclusion of the natural one?

The guiding motive of mankind should be charity towards men, charity towards all animals.

Accumulation of power is as necessary as its diffusion, or rather more so.

Before we can believe in God, we must first believe in ourselves.

Animals cannot have any high thoughts; nor can the Angels or Devas attain to direct freedom without human birth.

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

The day, man will find that he never really dies; that his Soul persists beyond death; he will have no more fear of death.

If you really want to judge the character of a man, look not at his great performances. Watch a man do his most common actions.

They become what they think. We will become [only] by [degrees].

Christ, Buddha, and Krishna are but waves in the Ocean of Infinite Consciousness that I am!

Friends or foes, they are all instruments in Her hands to help us work out our own karma, through pleasure or pain. As such, 'Mother' bless all.

The Impersonal God seen through the mists of sense is personal.

He jests at scars that never felt a wound.

Arise! Awake! and stop not until the goal is reached.

The Gita is a bouquet composed of the beautiful flowers of spiritual truths collected from the Vedas and the Upanishads.

Calm and silent and steady work, and no newspaper humbug, no name-making, you must always remember.

He who asserts he is free, shall be free. He who says he is bound, bound he shall remain.

The easiest way to make ourselves happy is to see that others are happy.

Let new India arise out of peasants' cottage, grasping the plough, out of huts, cobbler and sweeper.

When once you consider an action, do not let anything dissuade you. Consult your heart, not others, and then follow its dictates.

The way to God is the opposite to that of the world. And to few, very few, are given to have God and mammon at the same time.

All the superior religions had their growth between the Ganga and the Euphrates.

An atheist can be charitable but not religious. But the religious man must be charitable.

Awake! Stand up and fight! Die if you must.

The body is subject to the law of growth and decay, what grows must of necessity decay.

The idea of God grew side by side with the idea of materialism.

puts the cart before the horse.

We must have life building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas.

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

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

Religion is the one and sole interest of the people of India.

Love and charity for the whole human race, that is the test of true religiousness.

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

Even the lowest of the Hindus, the Pariah, has less of the brute in him than a Briton in a similar social status.

Man is the greatest being that ever can be.

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

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

As soon as we identify ourselves with the work we do, we feel miserable; but if we do not identify ourselves with it, we do not feel that misery.

Comfort is no test of truth. Truth is often far from being comfortable.

It is a constant change. Not one body is constant.

Pay no attention whatsoever to newspaper nonsense or criticism. Be sincere and do your duty. Everything will come all right. Truth must triumph.

Learn to recognise the mother in Evil, Terror, Sorrow, Denial, as well as in Sweetness and in Joy.

The Absolute God of the universe, the creator, preserver, and destroyer of the universe, is impersonal principle.

The sky never changes: it is the cloud that is changing.

What power is higher than the power of purity?

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.

Every wave of passion restrained is a balance in your favor. It is therefore good policy not to return anger for anger, as with all true morality.

What we want is progress, development, realisation.

No freedom without renunciation.

The Absolute is the material of both God and man.

This world is not for cowards. Do not try to fly. Look not for success or failure. Join yourself to the perfectly unselfish will and work on.

The development of man is a return to an original perfection.

And so, as in every other thing, we are always trying to ignore the standard of another, trying to bind the whole world to our standard.

Prana is the driving power of the world, and can be seen in every manifestation of life.

Man is miserable this moment, happy the next.

To be good and to do good-that is the whole of religion.

Some men, who begin by saying that the world is a hell, often end by saying that it is a heaven when they succeed in the practice of self-control.

To be more free is the goal of all our efforts, for only in perfect freedom can there be perfection.

Do not wait for anybody or anything. Do whatever you can. Build your hope on none.

No matter what that makes elastic - sharply, intellectually and sincerely, keep at bay it as noxious waste.

Those who die, merely suffering the woes of life like cats and dogs, are they men?

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

All is bound by the law of causation

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

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?

Each one has a special nature peculiar to himself which he must follow and through which he will find his way to freedom

Cowards never win victories. We have to fight fear and troubles and ignorance if we expect them to flee before us.