Quotessence
Home / Authors / Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenIfsWorldMotivationalMindSoulBodyThinkingInspirationalKnowsUniverseWholeWantGivingIdeasHeartInfiniteFormHelpingHuman Beings

Famous Swami Vivekananda Quotes

“He who was Shri Rama, whose stream of love flowed with resistless might even to the Chandala (the outcaste); Oh, who ever was engaged in doing good to the world though superhuman by nature, whose renown there is none to equal in the three worlds, Sita's beloved, whose body of Knowledge Supreme was covered by devotion sweet in the form of Sita. (part of A Hymn To Shri Ramakrishna)”

WorldBodyMightFormThreeSweetEqualSupremeDevotionBelovedEngagedStreamsCoveredDoing GoodRamaHymnsSuperhumanRenownSita
Book:Complete Works
Create image

“As to the so-called Hindu idolatry - first go and learn the forms they are going through, and where it is that the worshippers are really worshipping, whether in the temple, in the image, or in the temple of their own bodies. First know for certain what they are doing - which more than ninety per cent of the revilers are thoroughly ignorant of - and then it will explain itself in the light of the Vedantic philosophy.”

KnowsFirstsPhilosophyBodyLightFormCertainWorshipIgnorantTemplesCentsNinetyIdolatryWorshippersIdol Worship
Book:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda
Create image

“We are all born idolaters, and idolatry is good, because it is in the nature of man. Who can get beyond it? Only the perfect man, the God-man. The rest are all idolaters. So long as we see this universe before us, with its forms and shapes, we are all idolaters. This is a gigantic symbol we are worshipping. He who says he is the body is a born idolater.”

MenLongBodyFormUniverseBornPerfectShapesWorshipSymbolsIdolatryNature Of ManPerfect ManIdol Worship
Book:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda
Create image

“Man stands in materialism; you and I are materialists. Our talking about God and Spirit is good; but it is simply the vogue in our society to talk thus: we have learnt it parrot-like and repeat it. So we have to take ourselves where we are as materialists, and must take the help of matter and go on slowly until we become real spiritualists, and feel ourselves spirits, understand the spirit, and find that this world which we call the infinite is but a gross external form of that world which is behind.”

MenWorldFeelsRealMatterHelpingFormSpiritBehindsTalkingThis WorldGoes OnInfiniteRepeatsOur SocietyMaterialismGrossVogueParrots
Book:Complete Works
Create image

“The devil comes in many guises-anger in the form of justice-passion in the form of duty. When it first comes, the man knows and then he forgets. Just as your pleaders' conscience; at first they know it is all Badmashi (roguery), then it is duty to their clients; at last they get hardened.”

KnowsMenFirstsLastsFormPassionJusticeForgetHe ManDutyDevilConscienceAngerClientsGuiseHardened
Book:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda
Create image

“All the forces that we see in nature, such as gravitation, attraction, and repulsion, or as thought, feeling, and nervous motion - all these various forces resolve into that Prana, and the vibration of the Prana ceases. In that state it remains until the beginning of the next cycle. Prana then begins to vibrate, and that vibration acts upon the Akasha, and all these forms are thrown out in regular succession.”

StatesFeelingsFormNextForceRemainsVariousAttractionCeaseNervousThrownCyclesResolveVibrationsSuccessionVibrateGravitationPranaRepulsionAttraction And Repulsion
Book:Jnana-Yoga: The Yoga of Knowledge
Create image

“When we free ourselves from name and form, especially from a body - when we need no body, good or bad - then only do we escape from bondage. Eternal progression is eternal bondage; annihilation of form is to be preferred. We must get free from any body, even a "god-body". God is the only real existence, there cannot be two. There is but One Soul, and I am That.”

NeedsTwoRealSoulBodyFormNamesExistenceEternalBondageProgressionAnnihilation
Book:Vedanta Philosophy: Inspired Talks, Recorded by a Disciple During the Seven Weeks at Thousand Island Park
Create image

“We can form no idea of the millions of pounds that are spent every year in the making of dress in the West. The dress-making business has become a regular science. What colour of dress will suit with the complexion of the girl and the colour of her hair, what special feature of her body should be disguised, and what displayed to the best advantage-these and many other like important points, the dressmakers have seriously to consider. Again, the dress that ladies of very high position wear, others have to wear also, otherwise they lose their caste! This is FASHION.”

ShouldYearsImportantIdeasBodyFormGirlLosesBusinessMillionsSpecialFashionPositionHairAdvantageDressesWestSuitsNo IdeaFeaturesColourPoundsCastesComplexion
Author:Swami Vivekananda
Create image