Quotessence
Home / Authors / Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda Quotes

Author

Filter quotes by topic

AllMenIfsWorldMotivationalMindSoulBodyThinkingInspirationalKnowsUniverseWholeWantGivingIdeasHeartInfiniteFormHelpingHuman Beings

Famous Swami Vivekananda Quotes

“Knowledge is inherent in man; no knowledge comes from outside; it is all inside. We say Newton discovered gravitation. Was it sitting anywhere waiting for him? It was in his own mind; the time came and he found it out. All knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind; the infinite library of the universe is in our own mind. The external world is simply the suggestion, the occasion, which sets you to study your own mind.”

MenWorldMindUniverseFoundWaitingStudySittingInfiniteLibraryOccasionsInherentSuggestionsNewtonGravitation
Book:Awakened India
Create image

“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.”

IfsKnowsWorldGivingMindHumansForceSecretKnow HowReadyBearsLimitsGiving UpBlowConcentrationHuman MindPower Of The MindReady To Give Up
Book:Raja Yoga: Conquering the Internal Nature
Create image

“Some imaginations help to break the bondage of the rest. The whole universe is imagination, but one set of imaginations will cure another set. Those that tell us that there is sin and sorrow and death in the world are terrible. But the other set - thou art holy, there is God, there is no pain - these are good, and help to break the bondage of the others. The highest imagination that can break all the links of the chain is that of the Personal God.”

WorldArtWholeHelpingPainUniverseImaginationSinBreakTerribleSorrowHolyHighestCuresChainsLinksBondageNo Pain
Book:Prabuddha Bharata: Or Awakened India
Create image

“It is entirely wrong to think that we have done, or can do, good to the world, or to think that we have helped such and such people. It is a foolish thought, and all foolish thoughts bring misery. We think that we have helped some man and expect him to thank us, and because he does not, unhappiness comes to us. Why should we expect anything in return for what we do? Be grateful to the man you help, think of him as God. Is it not a great privilege to be allowed to worship God by helping our fellow men?”

PeopleThinkingMenWorldShouldDoeDoneHelpingCan DoHe ManReturnWorshipFellowsGratefulMiseryPrivilegeFoolishUnhappinessBe GratefulFellow ManWorship GodThank U
Book:Karma Yoga: The Yoga of Action
Create image

“Plunge into the world, and then, after a time, when you have suffered and enjoyed all that is in it, will renunciation come; then will calmness come. So fulfill your desire for power and everything else, and after you have fulfilled the desire, will come the time when you will know that they are all very little things; but until you have fulfilled this desire, until you have passed through that activity, it is impossible for you to come to the state of calmness, serenity, and self-surrender.”

KnowsWorldLittlesSelfStatesDesireImpossibleActivitySurrenderEnjoyedLittle ThingsSerenityFulfilledCalmnessPlungeRenunciationDesire For Power
Book:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda
Create image

“Just as the law of gravitation existed before its discovery and would exist if all humanity forgets it, so it is with the laws that govern the spiritual world. The moral, ethical and spiritual relations between soul and soul and between individual spirits and the Father of all spirits were there before their discovery and would remain even if we forget them.”

IfsWorldSoulSpiritualLawSpiritHumanityFatherIndividualForgetMoralDiscoveryRelationEthicalForget ItGravitation
Book:Chicago Addresses
Create image

“The Vedanta teaches men to have faith in themselves first. As certain religions of the world say that a man who does not believe in a Personal God outside of himself is an atheist, so the Vedanta says, a man who does not believe in himself is an atheist. Not believing in the glory of our own soul is what the Vedanta calls atheism.”

MenWorldFirstsBelieveDoeSoulCertainFaithTeachAtheismGloryAtheistHave FaithVedanta
Book:Vedanta: Voice of Freedom
Create image

“It is weakness, says the Vedanta, which is the cause of all misery in this world. Weakness is the one cause of suffering. We become miserable because we are weak. We lie, steal, kill and commit other crimes, because we are weak. We die because we are weak. Where there is nothing to weaken us, there is no death nor sorrow. We are miserable through delusion. Give up the delusion and the whole thing vanishes.”

WorldGivingWholeLyingSufferingDiesCausesStrengthCrimeThis WorldSorrowGiving UpWeaknessWeakMiseryStealingCommitMiserableDelusionVedanta
Author:Swami Vivekananda
Create image

“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.”

WorldIdeasWholeMotivationalMovingFightingStarsStepsBecomingGainsWhole WorldCowardMisfortunesSpheres
Book:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda
Create image

“Even the greatest fool can accomplish a task if it be after his heart. But the intelligent man is he who can convert every work into one that suits his taste. No work is petty. Everything in this world is like a banyan seed, which, though appearing tiny as a mustard seed, has yet the gigantic banyan tree latent with it. He indeed is intelligent who notices this and succeeds in making all work truly great.”

IfsMenWorldHeartTreeThis WorldFoolTasteSucceedTasksIntelligentAccomplishSeedsTinySuitsPettyAppearingLatentIntelligent ManMustardMustard Seed
Book:Personality Development
Create image

“We find the vast majority of people in every country believing that there will be a time when this world will become perfect, when there will be no disease, nor death, nor unhappiness, nor wickedness. That is a very good idea, a very good motive power to inspire and uplift the ignorant. But if we think for a moment, we shall find on the very face of it that it cannot be so. How can it be, seeing that good and evil are the obverse and reverse of the same coin? How can you have good without evil at the same time?”

PeopleIfsThinkingWorldBelieveIdeasCountryMomentsFacesEvilPerfectSeeingThis WorldInspireDiseaseMajorityVery GoodIgnorantUpliftingMotiveGood And EvilUnhappinessGood IdeasReverseCoinsWickedness
Author:Swami Vivekananda
Create image

“Pleasure is not the goal of man, but knowledge. Pleasure and happiness comes to an end. It is a mistake to suppose that pleasure is the goal. The cause of all the miseries we have in the world is that men foolishly think pleasure to be the ideal to strive for. After a time man finds that it is not happiness, but knowledge, towards which he is going, and that both pleasure and pain are great teachers.”

ThinkingMenWorldEndsPainCausesGoalPleasureMistakeTeacherIdealsMiseryStriveGreat TeacherPain And PleasurePleasure And Happiness
Book:Karma Yoga: The Yoga of Action
Create image

“I hate this world, this dream, this horrible nightmare, with its churches and chicaneries, its books and blackguardisms, its fair faces and false hearts, its howling righteousness on the surface and utter hollowness beneath and, above all, its sanctified shopkeeping!”

WorldHeartBookDreamFacesHateChurchThis WorldFairsI HateSurfaceHorribleNightmareRighteousnessHollownessFalsenessChicanery
Book:The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda
Create image

“In this external world, which is full of finite things, it is impossible to see and find the Infinite. The Infinite must be sought in that alone which is infinite, and the only thing infinite about us is that which is within us, our own soul. Neither the body, nor the mind, nor even our thoughts, nor the world we see around us, is infinite.”

WorldMindSoulBodyImpossibleInfiniteOur ThoughtsFinite
Book:Jnana Yoga: The Yoga of Knowledge
Create image

“Stick to God! Who cares what comes to the body or to anything else! Through the terrors of evil, say-my God, my love! Through the pangs of death, say-my God, my love! Through all the evils under the sun, say-my God, my love! Thou art here, I see Thee. Thou art with me, I feel Thee. I am Thine, take me. I am not of the world's but Thine, leave not then me.”

WorldFeelsArtBodyCareEvilSunSticksTerrorTheeTake MeWho CaresGod Help Me
Book:The Complete Works of the Swami Vivekananda, Comprising All His Lectures, Addresses and Discourses Delivered in Europe, America and India: All His Writings in Prose and Poetry, Together with Translations of Those Written in Bengali and Sanskrit; Reports of His Interviews and His Replies to the Various Addresses of Welcome; His Sayings and Epistles,--private and Public--original and Translated; with an Index; Carefully Revised & Edited
Create image

“I am what I am, and what I am is always due to him; whatever in me or in my words is good and true and eternal came to me from his mouth, his heart, his soul. Sri Ramakrishna is the spring of this phase of the earth's religious life, of its impulses and activities. If I can show the world one glimpse of my Master, I shall not have lived in vain.”

IfsWorldHeartI CanSoulShowsEarthReligiousMastersActivityEternalSpringMouthsDuesVainImpulsePhasesGlimpseReligious LifeI Am What I Am
Author:Swami Vivekananda
Create image

“By work alone, men may get to where Buddha got largely by meditation or Christ by prayer. Buddha was a working Jnani, Christ was a Bhakta, but the same goal was reached by both of them. Good motives, sincerity, and infinite love can conquer the world. One single soul possessed of these virtues can destroy the dark designs of millions of hypocrites and brutes.”

MenWorldMaySoulGoalChristDarkPrayerMillionsVirtueMeditationDesignInfiniteConquerMotiveSincerityPossessedHypocriteBrutesInfinite LoveConquer The WorldAlone Man
Author:Swami Vivekananda
Create image

“The world has seen thousands of prophets, and the world has yet to see millions”

WorldMillionsProphet
Book:The Complete Works of the Swami Vivekananda, Comprising All His Lectures, Addresses and Discourses Delivered in Europe, America and India: All His Writings in Prose and Poetry, Together with Translations of Those Written in Bengali and Sanskrit; Reports of His Interviews and His Replies to the Various Addresses of Welcome; His Sayings and Epistles,--private and Public--original and Translated; with an Index; Carefully Revised & Edited
Create image