Swami Vivekananda: Trending quotes (page 11)

“As body, mind, or soul, you are a dream; you really are Being, Consciousness, Bliss (satchidananda). You are the God of this universe.”

“Please everyone without becoming a hypocrite or a coward.”

“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.”

“We must be bright and cheerful. Long faces do not make religion. Religion should be the most joyful thing in the world, because it is the best.”

“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.”

“Everything must be sacrificed, if necessary, for that one sentiment: universality.”

“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.”

“It is here that Indians build temples for Mohammedans and Christians; nowhere else. If you go to other countries and ask Mohammedans or people of other religions to build a temple for you, see how they will help. They will instead try to break down your temple and you too, if they can.”

“The goal of mankind is knowledge.... Now this knowledge is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from outside: it is all inside. What we say a man "knows," should, in strict psychological language, be what he "discovers" or "unveils"; what man "learns" is really what he discovers by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge.”

“Look upon every man, woman, and everyone as God. You cannot help anyone, you can only serve: serve the children of the Lord, serve the Lord Himself, if you have the privilege.”

“Work on with the intrepidity of a lion but at the same time with the tenderness of a flower.”

“Every action that helps us manifest our divine nature more and more is good; every action that retards it is evil.”

“That man has reached immortality who is disturbed by nothing material.”

“To devote your life to the good of all and to the happiness of all is religion. Whatever you do for your own sake is not religion.”

“A perfect life is a contradiction in terms.”

“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.”

“Impurity is a mere superimposition under which your real nature has become hidden. But the real you is already perfect, already strong.”

“When we come to nonattachment, then we can understand the marvelous mystery of the universe: how it is intense activity and at the same time intense peace, how it is work every moment and rest every moment.”

“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.”