Quotes by Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda, was known as in as Narendranath Datta in his pre-monastic life. He was an Indian Hindu parson as well as a chief follower of saint Ramakrishna. He is possibly best recognized for his rousing words at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in 1893 which started, “Sisters and brothers of America …,” in which he represented Hinduism. He credited the raise of interfaith responsiveness and brought Hinduism to a rank as a major religion in the world. Here are some motivational and inspiring quotes by Swami Vivekananda.

1. “Talk to yourself at least once in a Day… Otherwise you may miss a meeting with an EXCELLENT person in this World…”
2. “You must have an iron will, if you would cross the ocean. You must be strong enough to pierce mountains.”
3. “A brave, frank, clean-hearted, courageous and aspiring youth is the only foundation on which the future nation can be built.”
4. “He who always thinks himself as weak will never become strong, but he who knows himself to be a lion, rushes out from the worlds meshes, as a lion from its cage.”
5. “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.”
6. “If the suns come down, and the moons crumble into dust, and systems after systems are hurled into annihilation, what is that to you? Stand as a rock; you are indestructible. You are the Self, the God of the universe. Say — “I am Existence Absolute, Bliss Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, I am He,” and like a lion breaking its cage, break your chain and be free forever. What frightens you, what holds you down? Only ignorance and delusion; nothing else can bind you. You are the Pure One, the Ever-blessed.”
7. “There is hope for all. None can die; none can be degraded forever. Life is but a playground, however gross the play may be. However we may receive blows, and however knocked about we may be, the Atman is there and is never injured. We are that Infinite.”
8. “We want Shraddhâ, we want faith in our own selves. Strength is life, weakness is death. ‘We are the Âtman, deathless and free; pure, pure by nature. Can we ever commit any sin? Impossible!’ — such a faith is needed. Such a faith makes men of us, makes gods of us. It is by losing this idea of Shraddha that the country has gone to ruin.”
9. “Onward, my brave boys — money or no money — men or no men! Have you love? Have you God? Onward and forward to the breach, you are irresistible.”
10. “Let positive, strong, helpful thought enter into their brains from childhood. Lay yourself open to these thoughts, and not to weakening and paralysing ones.”
11. “First, let us be Gods, and then help others to be Gods. “Be and make.” Let this be our motto. Say not man is a sinner. Tell him that he is a God. Even if there were a devil, it would be our duty to remember God always, and not the devil.”
12. “We have seemingly been divided, limited, because of our ignorance; and we have become as it were the little Mrs. so – and – so and Mr. so – and – so. But all nature is giving this delusion the lie every moment. I am not that little man or little woman cut off from all else; I am the one universal existence. The soul in its own majesty is rising up every moment and declaring its own intrinsic Divinity.”
13. “Stamping down the weakness of mind and heart, stand up, saying, “I am possessed of heroism, I am possessed of a steady intellect…” Never allow weakness to overtake your mind.”
14. “Be not afraid of anything. You will do marvelous work. The moment you fear, you are nobody. It is fear that is the great cause of misery in the world. It is fear that is the cause of all our woes and it is fearlessness that brings heaven even in a moment.”
15. “But on the heights of the Himalayas I have a place where I am determined nothing shall enter except pure truth. There I want to work out this idea about which I have spoken to you today. There are an Englishman and an Englishwoman in charge of the place. The purpose is to train seekers of truth and to bring up children without fear and without superstition. They shall not hear about Christs and Buddhas and Shivas and Vishnus — none of these. They shall learn, from the start, to stand upon their own feet. They shall learn from their childhood that God is the spirit and should be worshiped in spirit and in truth. Everyone must be looked upon as spirit. That is the ideal.”
16. “I stand for truth. Truth will never ally itself with falsehood. Even if all the world should be against me, Truth must prevail in the end.”
17. “This is the central idea of the Gita- to be calm and steadfast in all circumstances, with one’s body, mind, and soul centered at His hallowed feet!”
18. “Women will work out their destinies—much better, too, than men can ever do for them. All the mischief to women has come because men undertook to shape the destiny of women.”
19. “Each one of you has a glorious future if you dare believe me. Have a tremendous faith in yourselves, like the faith I had when I was I was young… Have that faith, each one of you, in yourself – that eternal power is lodged in every soul – and you will revive the whole of India.”
20. “We must have faith in ourselves first and then in God. Those who have no faith in themselves can never have faith in God.”
21. “Be free; hope for nothing from anyone. I am sure, if you look back upon your lives, you will find that you were always trying to get help from others, which never came. All the help that has come was from within yourselves.”
22. “Stand up, be bold, and take the blame on your own shoulders. Do not go about throwing mud at others; for all the faults you suffer from, you are the sole and only cause.”
23. “Worship of society and popular opinions is idolatry. The soul has no sex, no country, no place, no time.”
24. “The world sympathizes only with strong and powerful.”
25. “If you have not even a little imagination, you are simply a brute. So you must not lower your ideal, neither are you to lose sight of practicality. We must avoid the two extremes…. You must try to combine in your life immense idealism with immense practicality.”
26. “Advance like a hero. Do not be thwarted by anything. How many days will this body last, with its happiness and misery? When you have the human body, then rouse the Atman within and say-I have reached the state of fearlessness!…and then as long as the body endures, speak unto others this message of fearlessness: ‘Thao art That’, ‘Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached’”
27. “Let people say whatever they like, quick to your own conviction, and rest assured, the world will be at your feet. They say, ‘Have faith in this fellow or that fellow’, but I say, ‘Have faith in yourself first’, that’s the way.”
28. “Above all, beware of compromises. I do not mean that you are to get into antagonism with anybody, but you have to hold on to your own principles in weal or woe and never adjust them to others “fads” thought the greed of getting supporters.”
29. “You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.”
30. “The earth is enjoyed by heroes”—this is the unfailing truth. Be a hero. Always say, “I have no fear.”
31. “Be moral. Be brave. Be a heart-whole man. Strictly moral, brave unto desperation. Don’t bother your head with religious theories, cowards only sin, brave men never, no, not even in mind.”
32. “The only religion that ought to be taught is the religion of fearlessness. Either in this world or in the world of religion, it is true that fear is the sure cause of degradation and sin. It is fear that brings misery, fear that brings death, fear that breeds evil. And what causes fear? Ignorance of our own nature.”
33. “There is no help for you, outside yourself; You are the creator of the universe.”
34. “Go and preach to all, ‘Arise, awake, sleep no more: within each of you there is the power to remove all wants and all miseries. Believe this, and that power will be manifested,”
35. “No one was ever really taught by another; each of us has to teach himself. The external teacher offers only the suggestion which rouses the internal teacher to work to understand things.”
36. “Proclaim the glory of the Atman with the roar of a lion, and impart fearlessness unto all beings by saying, ‘Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached’!”
37. “Work unto death – I am with you, and when I am gone, my spirit will work with you. This life comes and goes – wealth, fame, enjoyments are only of a few days. It is better, far better to die on the field of duty, preaching the truth, than to die like a worldly worm. Advance!”
38. “God is true. The universe is a dream. Blessed am I that I know this moment that I [have been and] shall be free all eternity; … that I know that I am worshiping only myself; that no nature, no delusion, had any hold on me. Vanish nature from me, vanish [these] gods; vanish worship; … vanish superstitions, for I know myself. I am the Infinite. All these — Mrs. So-and-so, Mr. So-and-so, responsibility, happiness, misery — have vanished. I am the Infinite. How can there be death for me, or birth? Whom shall I fear? I am the One. Shall I be afraid of myself? Who is to be afraid of [whom]?…”
39. “What we want is muscles of iron and nerves of steel. We have wept long enough. No more weeping, but stand on your feet and be men. It is man-making theories that we want. It is man-making education all round that we want.”
40. “Every idea that strengthens you must be taken up and every thought that weakens you must be rejected.”
41. “Have faith in yourselves, and stand up on that faith and be strong; that is what we need.”
42. “If you are really my children, you will fear nothing, stop at nothing. You will be like lions. We must rouse India and the whole world. No cowardice. I will take no nay. Do you understand? Be true unto death!… The secret of this is GURU-BHAKTI-faith in the guru unto death!”
43. “So long as the millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold every man a traitor who, having been educated at their expense, pays not the least heed to them.”
44. “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.”
45. “Do not be afraid of a small beginning, great things come afterwards. Be courageous. Do not try to lead your brethren, but serve them. The brutal mania for leading has sunk many a great ship in the waters of life. Take care especially of that, i.e. Be unselfish even unto death, and work.”
46. “You are strong, omnipotent, and omniscient. No matter that you have not expressed it yet, it is in you. All knowledge is in you, all power, all purity, and all freedom-why cannot you express this knowledge? Because you do not believe in it… Believe in it, and it must and will come out.”
47. “The remedy for weakness is not brooding over weakness, but thinking of strength.”
48. “Bold words and bolder deeds are what we want. Awake, awake, great ones! The world is burning with misery. Can you sleep?”
49. “To succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendous will.”
50. “Pay no attention whatsoever to newspaper nonsense or criticism. Be sincere and do your duty. Everything will come all right. Truth must triumph.”
51. “Bear in mind, my children, that only cowards and those who are weak commit sin and tell lies. The brave are always moral. Try to be moral, try to be brave, try to be sympathizing.”
52. “The only saint is that soul that never weakens, faces everything, and determines to die game.”
53. “If you are pure, if you are strong, you, one man are equal to the whole world.”
54. “Let each one of us pray day and night for the downtrodden millions who are held fast by poverty, priestcraft, and tyranny. Pray day and night for them. I care more to preach religion to them than to the high and the rich.”
55. “A nation is not to be judged by its weaklings called the wicked, as they are only the weeds which lag behind, but by the good, the noble, and the pure, who indicate the national life current flowing clear and vigorous.”
56. “We must travel; we must go to foreign parts. We must see how the engine of society works in other countries, and keep free and open communication with what is going on in the minds of other nations, if we really want to be a nation again.”
57. “Truth alone triumphs, not untruth. Through truth alone lies the way to Devayana (the way to the gods).” Those who think that a little sugar – coating of untruth helps the spread of truth are mistaken and will find in the long run that a single drop of poison poisons the whole mass . . . The man who is pure, and who dares, does all things.”
58. “If you have faith in all the three hundred and thirty millions of your mythological gods, and still have no faith in yourselves, there is no salvation for you. Have faith in yourselves, and stand up on that faith and be strong; that is what we need”
59. “The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him – that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.”
60. “Do not say we are weak; we can do anything and everything. What can we not do? Everything can be done by us; we all have the same glorious soul, let us believe in it.”
61. “None will be able to resist truth and love and sincerity. Are you sincere? Unselfish even unto death, and loving? Then fear not, not even death.”
62. “Anything that makes you weak physically, intellectually, and spiritually, reject as poison.”
63. “If you are really my children, you will fear nothing, stop at nothing. You will be like lions.”
64. “To me the thought of oneself as low and humble is a sin and ignorance.”
65. “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”
66. “I am one of the proudest men ever born, but let me tell you frankly, it is not for myself, but on account of my ancestry. The more I have studied the past, the more I have looked back, more and more has this pride come to me, and it has given me the strength and courage of conviction, raised me up from the dust of the earth, and set me working out that great plan laid out by those great ancestors of ours. Children of those ancient Aryans, through the grace of the Lord may you have the same pride, may that faith in your ancestors come into your blood, may it become a part and parcel of your lives, may it work towards the salvation of the world!”
67. “Our first duty is not to hate ourselves, because to advance we must have faith in ourselves first and then in God. Those who have no faith in themselves can never have faith in God”
68. “We have wept enough. No more weeping, but stand on feet and be men.”
69. “I loved my motherland dearly before I went to America and England. After my return, every particle of dust of this land seems sacred to me.”
70. “The truths of Upanishadas are before you. Take them up, live up to them, and the salvation of Bharat will be at hand.”
71. “For a warrior, nothing is higher than a war against evil. The warrior confronted with such a war should be pleased, Arjuna, for it comes as an open gate to heaven. But if you do not participate in this battle against evil, you will incur sin, violating your dharma and your honor.”
72. “If you believe yourselves to be sages, sages you will be tomorrow. There is nothing to obstruct you. For if there is one common doctrine that runs through all our apparently fighting and contradictory sects, it is that all glory, power, and purity are within the soul already; only according to Ramanuja, the soul contracts and expands at times, and according to Shankara, it comes under a delusion. Never mind these differences. All admit the truth that the power is there -potential or manifest it is there — and the sooner you believe that, the better for you. All power is within you; you can do anything and everything. Believe in that, do not believe that you are weak; do not believe that you are half-crazy lunatics, as most of us do nowadays. You can do anything and everything without even the guidance of any one. All power is there. Stand up and express the divinity within you.”
73. “All power is within you. Believe in that,do not believe that you are weak. . . . Stand up and express the Divinity within you.”
74. “I love my nation, I cannot see you degraded, weakened any more than you are now. Therefore I am bound for your sake and for truth’s to cry, “Hold!” and to raise my voice against this degradation of my race. Give up these weakening mysticism and be strong…”
75. “Bold has been my message to the people of the west, bolder is my message to you, my beloved countryman.”
76. “We have wept enough. No more weeping, but stand on feet and be men.”
77. “Stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibility on your own shoulders.”
78. “Let the mind be cheerful but calm. Never let it run into excesses, because every excess will be followed by a reaction.”
79. “Do not say, ‘You are bad’; say only, ‘You are good’, but be better!”
80. “God is present in every Jiva; there is no other God besides that. ’To serves Jiva, serves God indeed’.”
81. “Strength is life, weakness is death. Strength is felicity, life eternal, immortal; weakness is constant strain and misery; weakness is death.”
82. “The moment you fear, you are nobody. It is fear that is the great cause of misery n the world. It is fear that is the greatest of all superstitions. It is fear that is the cause of our woes, and it is fearlessness that brings heaven in a moment.”
83. “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’.”
84. “Dependence is misery. Independence is happiness.” Advaita is the only system that gives us complete control over ourselves, takes off all dependence and its associated superstitions, thus making us brave to suffer, brave to do, and in the long run, attain to absolute freedom.”
85. “For the next fifty years this alone shall be our keynote — this, our great Mother India. Let all other vain gods disappear for the time from our minds. This is the only god that is awake, our own race — “everywhere his hands, everywhere his feet, everywhere his ears, he covers everything.” All other gods are sleeping. What vain gods shall we go after and yet cannot worship the god that we see all round us, the Virât? When we have worshiped this, we shall be able to worship all other gods.”
86. “Arise, awake and stop not till the desired end is reached.” Be not afraid, for all great power, throughout the history of humanity, has been with he people. From out of their ranks have come all the greatest geniuses of the world, and history can only repeat itself. Be not afraid of anything. You will do marvelous work. The moment you fear, you are nobody. It is fear that is the great cause of misery in the world. It is fear that is the greatest of all superstitions. It is fear that is the cause of our woes, and it is fearlessness that brings heaven even in a moment. Therefore, “Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached.”
87. “Strength is Life, Weakness is death. Strength is felicity, Life eternal, immortal; Weakness is constant strain and misery. Weakness is Death.”
88. “Hold on to your own ideal. . . . Above all, never attempt to guide or rule others, or, as the Yankees say, “boss” others. Be the servant of all.”
89. “Everything will come right if you are pure and sincere. We want hundreds like you bursting upon society and bringing new life and vigor of the spirit wherever they go.”
90. “Brave, bold men, these are what we want. What we want is vigor in the blood, strength in the nerves, iron muscles and nerves of steel, not softening namby-pamby ideas. Avoid all these. Avoid all mystery. There is no mystery in religion. Is there any mystery in the Vedanta, or in the Vedas, or in the Samhitâs, or in the Puranas? What secret societies did the sages of yore establish to preach their religion? What sleight-of-hand tricks are there recorded as used by them to bring their grand truths to humanity? Mystery mongering and superstition are always signs of weakness. These are always signs of degradation and of death. Therefore beware of them; be strong, and stand on your own feet.”
91. “My faith is in the younger generation, the modern generation, out of them will come my workers. They will work out the whole problem like lions.”
92. “Take courage and work on. Patience and steady work–this is the only way. Go on. Remember–patience and purity and courage and steady work. So long as you are true and pure, you will never fail. Mother will never leave you. All blessings will be on you.”
93. “What makes you weep, my friend? In you is all power. Summon up your all-powerful nature, O mighty one, and this whole universe will lie at your feet. It is the Self alone that predominates, and not matter.”
94. “Always keep the mind cheerful. Everyone will die once, but cowards suffer the pangs of death again and again, solely due to the fear in their own minds.”
95. “People will call us both good and bad. But we shall have to work like lions keeping the ideal before us.”
96. “Strength, strength is what the Upanishads speak to me from every page. This is the one great thing to remember, it has been the one great lesson I have been taught in my life; strength, it says, strength, O man, be not weak. Are there no human weaknesses? — says man. There are, say the Upanishads, but will more weakness heal them, would you try to wash dirt with dirt? Will sin cure sin, weakness cure weakness? Strength, O man, strength, say the Upanishads, stand up and be strong.”
97. “The great secret of true success, of true happiness, is this: the man or woman who asks for no return, the perfectly unselfish person, is the most successful.”
98. “You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.”
99. “Man is to become divine by realizing the divine. Idols or temples, or churches or books, are only the supports, the help of his spiritual childhood.”
100. “If the mind is intensely eager, everything can be accomplished—mountains can be crumbled into atoms.”
101. “Purity, patience, and perseverance are the three essentials to success and, above all, love.”