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)
God is merciful to those whom He sees struggling heart and soul for realization. But remain idle, without any struggle, and you will see that His grace will never come.
—Swami Vivekananda
Face the brutes. That is a lesson for all life—face the terrible, face it boldly. Like the monkeys, the hardships of life fall back when we cease to flee before them.
—Swami Vivekananda
Don’t look back—forward, infinite energy, infinite enthusiasm, infinite daring, and infinite patience—then alone can great deeds be accomplished.
—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
I fervently wish no misery ever came near anyone; yet it is that alone that gives us an insight into the depths of our lives, does it not? In our moments of anguish, gates barred forever seem to open and let in many a flood of light.
—Swami Vivekananda
Religion has no business to formulate social laws and insist on the difference between beings, because its aim and end is to obliterate all such fictions and monstrosities.
—Swami Vivekananda
Anything that makes weak – physically, intellectually and spiritually, reject it as poison.
—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
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
Only when a man sees this universe as God does the veil fall from his eyes; then that man, purified and cleansed, finds his whole vision changed.
—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
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 varieties of religious belief are an advantage, since all faiths are good, so far as they encourage us to lead a religious life. The more sects there are, the more opportunities there are for making a successful appeal to the divine instinct in all of us.
—Swami Vivekananda
Work and worship are necessary to take away the veil, to lift off the bondage and illusion.
—Swami Vivekananda
Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man, and character is the test of that manifestation.
—Swami Vivekananda
The Self when it appears behind the universe is called God. The same Self when it appears behind this little universe—the body—is the soul.
—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
Religion is the manifestation of the Divinity already in man.
—Swami Vivekananda
Topics: Religion
The world is ready to give up its secrets if we only know how to knock, how to give it the necessary blow. The strength and force of the blow come through concentration.
—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
This is the great lesson that we are here to learn through myriads of births and heavens and hells—that there is nothing to be asked for, desired for, beyond one’s spiritual Self (atman).
—Swami Vivekananda
If a man thinks good thoughts and does good works, the sum total of these impressions will be good; and they, in a similar manner, will force him to do good even in spite of himself.
—Swami Vivekananda
All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.
—Swami Vivekananda
Topics: Mindfulness
Are great things ever done smoothly? Time, patience, and indomitable will must show.
—Swami Vivekananda
Truth does not pay homage to any society, ancient or modern. Society has to pay homage to Truth or die.
—Swami Vivekananda
Liberation means entire freedom — freedom from the bondage of good, as well as from the bondage of evil.
—Swami Vivekananda
Tell the truth boldly, whether it hurts or not. Never pander to weakness. If truth is too much for intelligent people and sweeps them away, let them go; the sooner the better.
—Swami Vivekananda
Watch people do their most common actions; these are indeed the things that will tell you the real character of a great person.
—Swami Vivekananda
All men and women try to make the most of whatever power or advantage they have.
—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
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 Spiritual Teacher
- Sathya Sai Baba Indian Hindu Religious Leader
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