1,842 Quotes by Swami Vivekananda

Great work requires great and persistent effort for a long time. Character has to be established through a thousand stumbles.

One may gain political and social independence, but if one is a slave to his passions and desires, one cannot feel the pure joy of real freedom.

Say – i am the Atman in which my lower ego has become merged for ever. Be perfect in this idea; and then as long as the body endures, speak unto others this message of fearlessness: “Thou art That”, “Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached!”

You can not believe in God until you believe in yourself.

A man ought to live in this world like a lotus leaf, which grows in water but is never moistened by water; so a man ought to live in the world – his heart to God and his hands to work.

Each work has to pass through these stages: ridicule, opposition, and then acceptance. Those who think ahead of their time are sure to be misunderstood.

The brain and muscles must develop simultaneously. Iron nerves with an intelligent brain – and the whole world is at your feet.

Be proud that thou art an Indian, and proudly proclaim, “I am an Indian, every Indian is my brother.” Say, “The ignorant Indian, the poor and destitute Indian, the Brahmin Indian, the Pariah Indian, is my brother.”

We become forgetful of the ego when we think of the body as dedicated to the service of others – the body with which most complacently we identify the ego.