Swami Vivekananda Quotes

“The body is made by the thought that lies behind it. The body politic is thus the expression of national thought.”

“How has all the knowledge in the world been gained but by the concentration of the powers of the mind? 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. There is no limit to the power of the human mind. The more concentrated it is, the more power is brought to bear on one point; that is the secret.”

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

“Do you have the belief in you to move on, even when the whole world is against you, with swords in their hands?”

“My child, what I want is muscles of iron and nerves of steel, inside which dwells a mind of the same material as that of which the thunderbolt is made.”

“Wherever in any society there are too many laws, it is a sure sign that that society will soon die. If you study the characteristics of India, you will find that no nation possesses so many laws as the Hindus, and national death is the result.”

“The Absolute cannot be divided.”

“All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore love for love's sake, because it is the only law of life, just as you breathe to live.”

“To work with undaunted energy! What fear! Who is powerful enough to thwart you.”

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

“There is no limit to the power of the human mind. The more concentrated it is, the more power is brought to bear on one point”

“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.”

“There will never be a perfectly good or bad world, because the very idea is a contradiction in terms.”

“The difference between architecture and building is that the former expresses an idea, while the latter is merely a structure built on economical principles. The value of matter depends solely on its capacities of expressing ideas.”

“The body and mind are continually changing, and are, in fact, only names of series of changeful phenomena, like rivers whose waters are in a constant state of flux, yet presenting the appearance of unbroken streams. Every particle in this body is continually changing; no one has the same body for many minutes together, and yet we think of it as the same body.”

“What power is higher than the power of purity?”

“Service to man is service to god”

“Man cannot live upon words, however he may try.”

“It is a retarding element creating hatred and anger, and causing people to fight each other, and making them unsympathetic.”

“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 ships in the waters of life. Take care especially of that, i.e. be unselfish even unto death, and work.”

“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.”

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

“Principles must conquer in the long run, for that is the manhood of man.”

“Never say, ‘No’, never say, ‘I cannot’, for you are infinite. Even time and space are as nothing compared with your nature. You can do anything and everything, you are almighty”

“Blessed are they whose bodies get destroyed in the service of others.”