Recommended Reading
- ‘Raja Yoga‘ by Swami Vivekananda
- ‘Vivekananda: A Biography‘ by Swami Nikhilananda
- ‘Bhagavad Gita As Viewed by Swami Vivekananda‘ by Swami Vivekananda
- ‘Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda‘ by Swami Vivekananda and Sister Nivedita
- ‘Lectures on the Bhagavad Gita‘ by Swami Vivekananda
Inspirational Quotes by Swami Vivekananda (Indian Hindu Monk, Mystic)
Liberation means entire freedom — freedom from the bondage of good, as well as from the bondage of evil.
—Swami Vivekananda
Are great things ever done smoothly? Time, patience, and indomitable will must show.
—Swami Vivekananda
I, for one, thoroughly believe that no power in the universe can withhold from anyone anything they really deserve.
—Swami Vivekananda
Every action that helps us manifest our divine nature more and more is good; every action that retards it is evil.
—Swami Vivekananda
We want to worship a living God. I have not seen anything but God all my life, nor have you… He is everywhere, Saying, “I am”. The moment you feel “I am,” you are conscious of Existence. Where shall we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own hearts and in every living being?
—Swami Vivekananda
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
Purity, patience, and perseverance are the three essentials to success and, above all, love.
—Swami Vivekananda
Knowledge can only be got in one way, the way of experience; there is no other way to know.
—Swami Vivekananda
Turn thy gaze inward, wherein resides the Supreme Self.
—Swami Vivekananda
Topics: Meditation
Truth does not pay homage to any society, ancient or modern. Society has to pay homage to Truth or die.
—Swami Vivekananda
So long as there is desire or want, it is a sure sign that there is imperfection. A perfect, free being cannot have any desire.
—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
Whenever we attain a higher vision, the lower vision disappears of itself.
—Swami Vivekananda
Every individual is a center for the manifestation of a certain force. This force has been stored up as the resultant of our previous works, and each one of us is born with this force at our back.
—Swami Vivekananda
As soon as I think that I am a little body, I want to preserve it, to protect it, to keep it nice, at the expense of other bodies; then you and I become separate.
—Swami Vivekananda
Are you unselfish? That is the question. If you are, you will be perfect without reading a single religious book, without going into a single church or temple.
—Swami Vivekananda
Be perfectly resigned, perfectly unconcerned; then alone can you do any true work. No eyes can see the real forces; we can only see the results. Put out self, forget it; just let God work, it is His business.
—Swami Vivekananda
A few heart-whole, sincere, and energetic men and women can do more in a year than a mob in a century.
—Swami Vivekananda
Understanding human nature is the highest knowledge, and only by knowing it can we know God. It is also a fact that the knowledge of God is the highest knowledge, and only by knowing God can we understand human nature.
—Swami Vivekananda
Truth, Purity, Unselfishness
wherever these are present,
there is no power below or above the Sun
to crush the possessor thereof.
—Swami Vivekananda
We often talk of right and justice, but we find that in the world right and justice are mere baby’s talk. There are two things which guide the conduct of men: might and mercy. The exercise of might is invariably the exercise of selfishness.
—Swami Vivekananda
If we really want to be blessed, and make others blessed, we must go deeper. The first step is not to disturb the mind, not to associate with persons whose ideas are disturbing.
—Swami Vivekananda
As soon as you know the voice and understand what it is, the whole scene changes. The same world which was the ghastly battlefield of maya is now changed into something good and beautiful.
—Swami Vivekananda
Give me a few men and women who are pure and selfless, and I shall shake the world.
—Swami Vivekananda
Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way.
—Swami Vivekananda
Topics: Helping
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
When a man has done so much good work and thought so many good thoughts that there is an irresistible tendency in him to do good in spite of himself and even if he wishes to do evil, his mind, as the sum total of his tendencies, will not allow him to do so; the tendencies will turn him back; he is completely under the influence of the good tendencies. When such is the case, a man’s good character is said to be established.
—Swami Vivekananda
The will is not free – it is a phenomenon bound by cause and effect – but there is something behind the will which is free.
—Swami Vivekananda
Blows are what awaken us and help to break the dream. They show us the insufficiency of this world and make us long to escape, to have freedom.
—Swami Vivekananda
However we may receive blows, and however knocked about we may be, the Soul is there and is never injured. We are that Infinite.
—Swami Vivekananda
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Paramahansa Yogananda Indian Hindu Mystic
- Ramana Maharshi Indian Hindu Mystic
- Sri Aurobindo Indian Mystic, Philosopher, Poet
- Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Indian Hindu Philosopher
- Swami Chinmayananda Indian Hindu Spiritual Teacher
- Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Indian Hindu Religious Leader
- Rabindranath Tagore Bengali Poet, Polymath
- Nolini Kanta Gupta Indian Hindu Revolutionary
- Nisargadatta Maharaj Indian Hindu Religious Leader
- Sathya Sai Baba Indian Hindu Religious Leader
Leave a Reply