Swami Vivekananda Quotes

“By practice men can bring even the heart under control, until it will just beat at will, slowly, or quickly, or almost stop. Nearly every part of the body can be brought under control.”

“There cannot be friendship without equality.”

“Man is the highest being that exists, and this is the greatest world.”

“To cowards what advice shall I offer? - nothing whatsoever have I to say.”

“Forget not that thy marriage, thy wealth, thy life are not for sense-pleasure, are not for thy individual personal happiness.”

“Even books are nurses, medicines are nurses. But we must work to bring about the time when man shall recognise his mastery over his own body. Herbs and medicines have power over us as long as we allow them; when we become strong, these external methods are no more necessary.”

“Sincerity of conviction and purity of motive will surely gain the day; and even a small minority, armed with these, is surely destined to prevail against all odds.”

“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.”

“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.”

“To make a great future India, the whole secret lies in organization, accumulation of power, co-ordination of wills.”

“Perfection is always infinite.”

“Do not run away, it is cowardice.”

“The real man is the one Unit Existence.”

“Give me few men and women who are pure and selfless and I shall shake the world.”

“Never say any man is hopeless, because he only represents a character, a bundle of habits, which can be checked by new and better ones. Character is repeated habits, and repeated habits alone can reform character.”

“Why are people so afraid? The answer is that they have made themselves helpless and dependent on others. We are so lazy, we do not want to do anything ourselves. We want a Personal God, a Savior or a Prophet to do everything for us.”

“If you can get rid of your attachment to a single thing, you are on the way to liberation.”

“The body must be properly taken care of. The people who torture their flesh are demoniacal.”

“What is marriage but the renunciation of unchastity? The savage does not marry. Man marries because he renounces.”

“Everything that can weaken us as a race we have had for the last thousand years. It seems as if during that period the national life had this one end in view, viz how to make us weaker and weaker, till we have become real earthworms, crawling at the feet of every one who dares to put his foot on us. Therefore my friends, as one of your blood, as one that lives and dies with you, let me tell you that we want strength, strength, and every time strength.”

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

“When the body is still healthy and diseaseless, When old age has not yet attacked it”

“How can there be any progress of the country without the spread of education, the dawning of knowledge?”

“Whenever two particles come together, they are held by a certain attraction; and there will come a time when those particles will separate. This is the eternal law. So, wherever there is a body - either grosser or finer, either in heaven or on earth - death will overcome it.”

“The whole point is to discipline the mind.”