Top 500 Swami Vivekananda Quotes (2025 Update)
Page 9 of 10

401. “Work hard, be steady, and have faith in the Lord. Set to work.”

— Swami Vivekananda

402. “If money help a man to do good to others, it is of some value; but if not, it is simply a mass of evil, and the sooner it is got rid of, the better.”

— Swami Vivekananda

403. “Life is short, and therefore, one thing being certain, death, let us take up a great ideal, and give up the whole life to it. For what is the value of life, this vegetating little low life of man? Subordinating it to one high ideal is the only value that life has.”

— Swami Vivekananda

404. “An intellectual, heartless man never becomes an inspired man. It is always the heart that speaks in the man of love; it discovers a greater instrument than intellect can give you, the instrument of inspiration.”

— Swami Vivekananda

405. “The disciple must have great power of endurance. Bear all evil and misery without one thought of unhappiness, resistance, remedy, or retaliation. That is true endurance, and that you must acquire.”

— Swami Vivekananda

406. “Self-sacrifice, not self-assertion, is the law of the highest universe.”

— Swami Vivekananda

407. “Think of a space in your heart, and in the midst of that space think that a flame is burning. Think of that a flame is burning. Think of that flame as your own soul and inside the flame is another effulgent light, and that is the Soul of your soul, God. Meditate upon that in the heart.”

— Swami Vivekananda

408. “Renunciation is the very basis upon which ethics stands. There never was an ethical code preached which had not renunciation for its basis.”

— Swami Vivekananda

409. “None will be able to resist truth and love and sincerity. Are you sincere? Unselfish even unto death, and loving? Then fear not, not even death.”

— Swami Vivekananda

410. “To be unselfish, perfectly selfless, is salvation itself; for the man within dies, and God alone remains.”

— Swami Vivekananda

411. “This is the central idea of the Gita- to be calm and steadfast in all circumstances, with one’s body, mind, and soul centered at His hallowed feet!”

— Swami Vivekananda

412. “There is no good in store so long as malice and jealousy and egotism will prevail.”

— Swami Vivekananda

413. “Do you think these sannyasi children of Sri Ramakrishna are born to simply to sit under trees lighting dhuni-fires? Whenever any of them will take up some work, people will be astonished to see their energy. Learn from them how to work.”

— Swami Vivekananda

414. “If a thing happens once, it can happen again. If any human being has ever realised perfection, we too can do so. If we cannot become perfect here and now, we never can in any state or heaven or condition we may imagine.”

— Swami Vivekananda

415. “Everything that has form, everything that is the result of combination, is evolved out of this Akasha.”

— Swami Vivekananda

416. “Many a time comes when we want to interpret our weakness and cowardice as forgiveness and renunciation.”

— Swami Vivekananda

417. “The development of man is a return to an original perfection.”

— Swami Vivekananda

418. “I pity the Hindu who does not see the beauty in Jesus Christ’s character. I pity the Christian who does not reverence the Hindu Christ.”

— Swami Vivekananda

419. “Buddha taught kindness towards lower beings; and since then there has not been a sect in India that has not taught charity to all beings, even to animals. This kindness, this mercy, this charity – greater than any doctrine – are what Buddhism left to us.”

— Swami Vivekananda

420. “Religion, in India, means realisation and nothing short of that.”

— Swami Vivekananda

421. “The happiest is the man who is not at all selfish.”

— Swami Vivekananda

422. “The soul has neither sex, nor caste nor imperfection.”

— Swami Vivekananda

423. “Infinite power of the spirit, brought to bear upon matter evolves material development, made to act upon thought evolves intellectuality, and made to act upon itself makes of man a God. First, let us be Gods, and then help other to be GOds. Be and Make. Let this be our motto.”

— Swami Vivekananda

424. “Stand upon the Atman, then only can we truly love the world. Take a very, very high stand; knowing our universal nature, we must look with perfect calmness upon all the panorama of the world.”

— Swami Vivekananda

425. “Mind you, there is no value in learning. You are all mistaken in learning. The only value of knowledge is in the strengthening, the disciplining, of the mind.”

— Swami Vivekananda

426. “Even the minds of animals, such as dogs, lions, cats, and serpents, become charmed with music.”

— Swami Vivekananda

427. “To me the thought of oneself as low and humble is a sin and ignorance.”

— Swami Vivekananda

428. “The awakening of the soul to its bondage and its effort to stand up and assert itself – this is called life.”

— Swami Vivekananda

429. “God is very merciful to those whom He sees struggling heart and soul for spiritual realization. But remain idle, without any struggle, and you will see that His grace will never come.”

— Swami Vivekananda

430. “Siva, O Siva, carry my boat to the other shore!”

— Swami Vivekananda

431. “Pay no attention whatsoever to newspaper nonsense or criticism. Be sincere and do your duty. Everything will come all right. Truth must triumph.”

— Swami Vivekananda

432. “Have faith in yourselves, be proud of your ancestors, instead of being ashamed of them.”

— Swami Vivekananda

433. “Stand in that reverent attitude to the whole universe, and then will come perfect non attachment.”

— Swami Vivekananda

434. “The one theme of the Vedanta philosophy is the search after unity. The Hindu mind does not care for the particular; it is always after the general, nay, the universal. “what is it that by knowing which everything else is to be known.” That is the one search.”

— Swami Vivekananda

435. “No better commentary on the Vedas has been written or can be written.”

— Swami Vivekananda

436. “The difference between architecture and building is that the former expresses an idea, while the latter is merely a structure built on economical principles. The value of matter depends solely on its capacities of expressing ideas.”

— Swami Vivekananda

437. “It is the duty of all to support and side with Dharma. All must fight and support Dharma regardless of their personality, background, status.”

— Swami Vivekananda

438. “We have lost faith in ourselves. Therefore to preach the Advaita aspect of the Vedanta is necessary to rouse up the hearts of men, to show them the glory of their souls. It is therefore that I preach this Advaita, and I do so not as a sectarian, but upon universal and widely acceptable grounds.”

— Swami Vivekananda

439. “Not believing in the glory of our own soul is what the Vedanta calls atheism.”

— Swami Vivekananda

440. “Every attempt to solve the laws of causation, time, and space would be futile, because the very attempt would have to be made by taking for granted the existence of these three.”

— Swami Vivekananda

441. “TO worship God even for the sake of salvation or any other reward is equally degenerate. Love knows no reward. Give your love unto to God, but do not ask anything in return even from Him through pray.”

— Swami Vivekananda

442. “Cut the bondage of all worldly affections; go beyond laziness and all care as to what becomes of you.”

— Swami Vivekananda

443. “The Impersonal God seen through the mists of sense is personal.”

— Swami Vivekananda

444. “Pay particular attention to your health, but too much coddling of the body will, on the contrary, also spoil the health.”

— Swami Vivekananda

445. “Body is an unreal dream, and we think we are all bodies.”

— Swami Vivekananda

446. “Nature grinds all of us. Keep count of the ounce of pleasure you get. In the long run, nature did her work through you, and when you die your body will make other plants grow. Yet we think all the time that we are getting pleasure ourselves. Thus the wheel goes round.”

— Swami Vivekananda

447. “No more materialism, no more this egoism, I must become spiritual.”

— Swami Vivekananda

448. “Principles must conquer in the long run, for that is the manhood of man.”

— Swami Vivekananda

449. “It is clear to us that, for good or for evil, our vitality is concentrated in our religion. You cannot change it. You cannot destroy it and put in its place another.”

— Swami Vivekananda

450. “Don’t you find that in a weak physique it is difficult to control the sex – appetite or anger?”

— Swami Vivekananda