GOLDEN WORDS OF SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

When there is a conflict between

the heart and the brain,

let the heart be followed

2

Aman of intellect can turn in to a devil,

but never a manof heart.

3

We are suffering from our own karma. It is not the fault of God.

What we do is our own fault, nothing else. Why should God be

blamed?

4

We came to enjoy; we are being enjoyed. We came to rule; we are

being ruled. We came to work; we are being worked.All the time,

we find that.And this comes into every detail of our life.

5

We reap what we sow. We are the makers of our own fate. None

else has the blame, none has the praise.

6

What is the use of talking of one’s mistakes to the world? They

cannot thereby be undone. For what one has done one must suffer;

one must try and do better. The world sympathizes only with the

strong and the powerful.

7

8

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.

9

Work and worship are necessary to take away the veil, to lift off

the bondage and illusion.

10

Why are people so afraid? The answer is that they have made

themselves helpless and dependent on others. We are so lazy, we

do not want to do anything ourselves. We want a Personal God, a

Savior or a Prophet to do everything for us.

11

Whenever we attain a higher vision, the lower vision disappears

of itself.

12

What the world wants today is twenty men and women who can

dare to stand in the street yonder and say that they possess nothing

but God. Who will go? Why should one fear? If this is true, what

else could matter? If it is not true, what do our lives matter?

13

What do you gain in heaven? You become gods, drink nectar, and get

rheumatism. There is less misery there than on earth, but also less

truth.

14

Stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibility on

your own shoulders, and know that you are the creator of your

own destiny.All the strength and succor you want is within

yourselves. Therefore, make your own future.

15

Stand as a rock; you are indestructible. You are the Self, the God of

the universe.

16

The essence of Vedanta is that there is but one Being and that

every soul is that Being in full, not a part of that Being.

17

Truth, purity and unselfishness—wherever these are present, there is

no power below or above the sun to crush the possessor thereof.

Equipped with these, one individual is able to face the whole

universe in opposition.

18

Religion is not a theoretical need

but a practicalnecessity.

19

Renunciation does not mean simply

dispassion for the world. It means

dispassion for the world and

also longing for God.

20

There is no

misery where there is no want.

21

The secret of life is not

enjoyment, but education

through experience.

22

Every new thought must create

opposition.

23

Renunciation is the withdrawal

of mind from

other things and concentrating it on God.

24

Every man who thinks ahead of

his time is sure to be misunderstood.

25

In this short life there is no time

for the exchange of compliments.

26

Do not wait to cross the river

when the water has all rundown.

27

The greatest sin is fear.

28

Better the scolding of the wise than the

adulation of the fools.

29

If you love God's creation more than God,

You will be disillusioned.

30

Everything can be sacrificed for truth,

but truth can't be sacrificed for anything.

31

God has become man,

man will become god again.

32

If it is impossible to attainperfection here and now,

There is no proof that we can attain

perfection in any other life.

33

That part of theVedas which agrees with reason is the

Vedas, and nothing else.

1934

If you want to do anything evil,

do it before the eyes of your superiors

35

Happiness presents itself

before man,wearing the

crown of sorrow on its head.

36

If one is a slave to his passions

and desires, one cannot feel thepure joy of real freedom

37

If you can't attain salvation in this life,

What proof is there that you can

attain it in the life or lives to come?

38

Never mind if your contribution is

only a mite,

your help only a little, blades of

grass united into a rope will

39

hold in confinement the

maddest of elephants.

40

It is man that becomes the god.

The cow never tells a lie,stone never steals

but

Cow remians a cow, stone remains stone

Man steals and man tells a lie, and again

41

When even man never hears the

cries of the fool, do you think God will?

42

Strength is life, weakness is death.

43

Never are the wants of a beggar fulfilled.

44

which one can stand on one's own feet.

We want the education by

which character is formed,

strength of mind is increased,

the intellect is expanded, and by

45

Let the heart be opened first,

and all else will follow of itself.

46

Tell the man his defaults directly

but praise his virtues before others.

47

Activity is lifeand inactivity is death.

48

Salvation is not achieved by

inactivity but by spiritual activities.

49

Even the least work done for

others awakens the power within.

50

New things have to be learned,

have to be introduced and worked out,

But is that to be done by sweeping away

all that is old, just because it is old?

51

The man who says he hasnothing more to learn is alreadyat his last grasp

3752

As long as I live, so do I learn.

53

No one can save a person who

hires a carriage to go from one

street to another, and then complain

of diabetes.

54

By the control of the subconscious mind

You get control over the conscious.

55

It is the constant struggle against

nature that constitutes human progress,

not conformity with it.

56

The very essence of education is

concentration of mind,

not the collecting of facts.

57

As we get further and further away

from sense- pleasures,

―knowledge for the sake of knowledge‖

becomes the supreme pleasure of mind

58

All the power is within you; you can do

anything and everything. Believe in that;

don’t believe that you are weak. Stand up

and express the divinity with in you

59

It is through the

many that we reach the one.

60

The soul is the circle of which thecircumference is nowhere,

But the center is the body.

God is a circle whose circumference is

nowhere, but whose center is everywhere.

61

The body itself is the biggest disease

62

If any one of you believes what I teach,

I will be sorry.

I will only be too glad if I can excite in

you the power of thinking for yourselves

63

When the world is the end

And god the means to attain that end,

that is material.

When God is the end and the world is

only the means to attain that end,

Spirituality has began

64

The fear of God is the beginning

of religion,

but the love of God is the end ofreligion

65

Do not give up ! Things will give you up

66

The sage is often ignorant of

physical science because he reads theWrong book – the book within;

and the scientist is too often ignorant of

religion, because he reads the

wrong book- the book without.

67

Always first learn to be a servant, and

then you will be fit to be a master. Avoid

this jealousy, and you will do great works

that have yet to be done

68

Experience is the only source of

knowledge.

69

Do one thing at a time and while

doing it put your whole soul into

it to the exclusion of all else.

70

Where there is life , there will be death,

so get away from life if you want to getrid of death

71

Records of great spiritual men of the past dous no good,what ever except

that they urge us onward to do the same

to experience religion ourselves.

72

We may read all the Bibles of the world,But that will not give us religion

73

The brave alone can afford to be sincere

74

The balance is so nice that if

you disturb the equilibrium of one atom,

the whole world will come to an end.

75

Save the spiritual store in your body by

observing continence.

76

The wicked see in Godwickedness.

The virtuous see in him virtue.

77

When good nectar is unattainable,

It is no reason why we shoud eat poision

78

Love to enemies is not possible

for ordinary men

79

Everything that comes from India take as

true, until you cogent reasons for

disbelieving it,

Everything that come from EuropeTakes as false untilfind cogent reasons for believing it.

80

Stand up, be bold, be strong. Take

the whole responsibility on your own

shoulders, & know that you are the

creator of your own destiny

81

They alone live who live for others,

rest are more dead then alive

82

Arise!Awake!And stop not till

the goal is reached

83

To be good and to do good - that is the

whole of religion

84

Strength is life, Weakness is death

85

The benefit of Yoga is that welearn to control instead of being

controlled

86

Never talk about the faults of others,

No matter how bad they may be.

87

All quarrels and disputations concerningReligion simply shows that religion is not

present

88

You must not criticize others,

you must criticize yourself.

89

What you have inside you is

what you see in others.

90

Our business is to verify not to swallow.

91

How can that beloveless which causes love in me?

92

You cannot judge a man by his faults.

93

You must believe in yourself and

Then you will believe in god

94

If you are pure, if you are strong you,

one man, is equal to the whole world.

95

Mother Represents colorless love

that knows no barter,love that never dies

96

We trust the man in the street, but thereis one being in the universe we nevertrust and that is God

97

My motto is to learn whatever good things

I may come across any where

98

The secret of religion lies not

in theories but in practice.

99

81

Neither money pays, nor name pays, nor

fame, nor learning; it is CHARACTER

that cleave through adamantine walls of

difference

100

Seek for the highest,aim at the highest

and you shall reach the highest

101

There is an ocean of difference between

idleness and renunciation.

102

The self-seekingman who is looking after personal

comforts and leading a lazy life,there is no room for him in hell

103

Hope is the greatest of all miseries,

The highest bliss lies in giving up hope.

104

No one ever succeeded in

keeping society in good humor

and at the same time did the great work

86105

Know that talking ill ofothers in private

is a sin.

106

ThisAtman is not to be attained by one

who is weak.

107

Whatever fosters materiality is no work

108

Why look up to men for approbation,

look up to God.

109

He who knows how to obey

knows how to command.

110

Want of sympathy and lack of energy

are at the root of all misery.

111

India is the only place where,

with all its faults, the soul finds its

freedom, its God.

112

What ever you think, that you will be. If

you think yourself weak, weak you will be;

if you think yourself strong; strong you will

be

113

It is the heart that conquers,

not the brain.

114

All the strength is in you, have

faith in it.

115

The body must go no mistake about that. It is

better to wear out than to rust out.

116

In every attempt there are many

obstacles to cope with,

but gradually the path becomes smooth

117

One must raise oneself by one's

own exertions.

118

Both attachment and detachment

perfectly developed make a man great

And happy.

119

Where there is struggle, where there isrebellion,

there is a sign of life, there consciousness

is manifested

120

Isn't it man that makes money?

Where did you ever hear of money

Making man?

121

He who always speculates as to

what awaits him in future, accomplishesnothing whatsoever

122

Fear is one of the worst enemies.

123

If one intends to really find truth,

one must not cling to comfort.

124

We manufacture our own heavenand can make a heaven even in hell

125

The satisfaction of desire only increases it,

As oil poured on fire makes it burn morefiercely

126

Both happiness and misery are chains,the one golden,

the other iron,

But both are equally strong to bind us

127

The world is neither true nor untrue,

it is a shadow of truth.

128

Let us get rid of the little 'I' andLet only the great ’I’live in us.

129

Concentration of the mind is the

source of all knowledge.

130

Keep your thoughts on virtue;

what we think we become

131

What we are, we see outside, forthe world is our mirror.

132

Resist not evil.

Face it! You are higher than evil.

133

Anything we do ourselves,

That is the only thing we do.-----

134

Be cautious now and do not bow,

however sweet the chains .

135

Anything that brings spiritual,

mental or physical weakness, touch

it not with the toes of your feet

136

Everything that has selfishness

for its basis,

competition as its right hand,and enjoyment as its goal ,

Must die soonner or later

137

This is a battlefield, fight your way out.

Make your life a manifestation of will

strengthened by renunciation.

138

Stand and die in your own strength;

if there is any sin in the world, it is

weakness; avoid all weakness, for

weakness is sin, weakness is death

139

Be the witness,never learn to react

140

The Hindus believe that a man is a souland has a body,

while Western people believehe is a body and possesses a soul.

141

Of all the scriptures of the

world, it is the Vedas alone

which declare that the study of

the Vedas is secondary.

142

I find that

whenever I have made a mistake

in my life, it has always been because self

entered into the calculation.

143

Never forget that a man ismade great and perfect as muchby his faults as by his virtues.

144

If a bad time comes, what of it?

The pendulum mustswing back to the other side.

But that is no better.

The thing to do is to stop it

145

This world is our friend when we

are its slaves and no more.

146

Whatever others think or do,

lower not your standard of

purity, morality,and love of God.

147

The road to the God is the

roughest and steepest in the universe.

148

through a thousand stumbles.

Eating, drinking, dressing, and society

Character has to be established

149

nonsense are not things to throw a life

upon.

150

He who is always afraid of

loss always loses.

151

But unless one does the thing

actually, nothing is learnt.

Any amount of theoretical

knowledge one may have;

152

Don't yield to sorrow;

everything is in God's hands.

153

In our moments of anguish,

gates barred for ever seem to

open and let in many a flood of light.

154

Every bit of pleasure will

bring its quota of pain, if not

with compound interest.

155

If one gets one blow,one must return ten

With redoubled fury,

then only one is a man.

156

Don't let egoism to enter your minds,And let love never depart from your hearts.

157

It is a land of dreams, it does not matterWhether one enjoys or weeps,

They are but dreams and as such,Must break sooner or later

158

He whose joy is only in himself,whose desires are only in himself

He has learnt his lessons

159

I have worked for this world,Mary, all my life, and it does notgive me a piece of bread without

taking a pound of flesh

160

Devotion to the mother is the

root of all welfare.

161

Face the brutes. That is a lesson for all life—face the

terrible, face it boldly. Like the monkeys, the hardships

of life fall back when we cease to flee before them.

162

It is religion, the inquiry into the beyond,

That makes the difference between man

And animal

163

Dare to be free, dare to go as faras your thought leads, and dare

to carry that out in your life

164

Every idea that strengthens youmust be taken up and every

thought that weakens you must be rejected

165

The same fire that cooks a meal for us

May burn a child and it is no fault of the

Fire if it does so,

The difference lies in the way in which it is used

166

Whatever you think, that you will be

167

The moment you quarrel , you are not

Going God ward, you are going backward

Towards the brutes

168

First learn to obey,The command will come by itself.

169

If there is any sin in the world,It is weakness

Avoid all weakness,for weakness is sin,Weakness is death

170

The earth is enjoyed by heroes‖—this is the unfailing truth.

Be a hero.Always say, ―I have no fear.

171

Atremendous stream is flowing toward the ocean, carrying us all

along with it; and though like straws and scraps of paper we may

at times float aimlessly about, in the long run we are sure to join

the Ocean of Life and Bliss.

172

All knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the

mind; the infinite library of the universe is in our own mind.

173

In other countries great priests try to

trace their descent to some king,

But here the greatest Kings would trace

Their descent to some ancient priest

174

We as Vedantists, know for certain

That there is no power in the universe to

To injure us unless we first injure ourselves.

175

Faith, faith, faith in ourselves,Faith, faith in the – God

This is the secret of greatness

155176

To have the ideal is one thing,

and to apply it practically to the

Details of daily life is quite another thing

177

One ounce of practice is worth twenty

thousand tons of big talk.

178

Let not your work produce results for you,

and at the same time may you be never without

work.

179

Religion is not in books ,nor in theories,

Nor in dogmas, nor in talking,

not even in reasoning.

It is being and becoming

180

This atman is not to reached by too much talk,

no,

not even by the

highest intellect, no,

Not even by the study of veds themselves

181

Whoever has dared to touch ourliterature has felt the bondage, and is

there bound for ever.

161182

If you have assimilated five ideas and made

Them your life and character,

You have more education than any man who

Has got by heart whole library

183

Fill the brain with high thoughts, highest ideals, place them day

and night before you, and out of that will come great work.

184

Fear is death, fear is sin, fear is hell, fear is unrighteousness, fear is

wrong life.All the negative thoughts and ideas that are in the world

have proceeded from this evil spirit of fear.

185

Do not look back upon what has been done. Go ahead!

186

163

Desire, ignorance, and inequality—this is the trinity of bondage.

187

163

First, believe in the world—that there is meaning behind

everything.

188

If superstition enters, the brain is gone.

189

There cannot be friendship without equality.

190

The weak have no place here, in this life or any other life.

Weakness leads to slavery. Weakness leads to all kinds of misery,

physical and mental. Weakness is death.

191

The first sign that you are becoming religious is that you are

becoming cheerful.

192

Superstition is our great enemy, but bigotry is worse.

193

Stand as a rock; you are indestructible. You are the Self, the God

of the universe.

194

Put God behind everything—human beings, animals, food, and

work. Make this a habit

195

Mind you, this is life's experience: if you really want the good of

others, the whole universe may stand against you and cannot hurt

you. It must crumble before your power of the Lord Himself in

you if you are sincere and really unselfish.

196

It is the cheerful mind that is persevering. It is the strong mind

that hews its way through a thousand difficulties.

197

Have faith in Guru, in his teachings, and in the surety that you can

get free. Think day and night that this universe is zero, only God is.

Have intense desire to get free.

198

God is not to be reached by the weak. Never be weak. You have

infinite strength within you. How else will you conquer anything?

How else will you come to God?

199

Come out into the broad light of day, come out from the little

narrow paths, for how can the infinite soul rest content to live and

die in small ruts?

200

Books are infinite in number and time is short. The secret of

knowledge is to take what is essential. Take that and try to live up

to it.

201

Be strong! Don’t talk of ghosts and devils. We are the living devils.

The sign of life is strength and growth. The sign of death is

weakness. Whatever is weak, avoid! It is death. If it is strength, go

down into hell and get hold of it! There is salvation only for the

brave.

202

Be brave! Be strong! Be fearless! Once you have taken up the

spiritual life, fight as long as there is any life in you. Even though

you know you are going to be killed, fight till you ―are killed.‖Don’t die of fright. Die fighting. Don’t go down till you are

knocked down.

203

Astrology and all these mystical things are generally signs of a

weak mind; therefore as soon as they are becoming prominent in

our minds, we should see a physician, take good food, and rest.

204

Are you unselfish? That is the question. If you are, you will be

perfect without reading a single religious book, without going into

a single church or temple.

205

Him I call a Mahatma ("great soul") whose heart bleeds for the

poor, otherwise he is a Duratma ("wicked soul"). Let us unite our

wills in continued prayer for their good.

206

All truth is eternal. Truth is nobody’s property; no race, no

individual can lay any exclusive claim to it. Truth is the nature of

all souls.

207

No good comes out of the manWho day night thinks he is nobody

164208

Follies there are,weakness there must be,But remember your real nature

Always – that is the only way to cure the

Weakness,that is the only way to cure theFollies.

209

Everything in this life is fraught with fear.It is renunciation alone that makes one

fearless

210

The true man is he who is strong

As streangth itself and possesses a woman’s

heart

211

Verily, these three are rare to obtain and

Come only through the

Grace of God –human birth,

Desire to obtain Moksha,

And the company of the

Great – souled ones.

212

Why should you feel ashamed to

Take the name of Hindu , which is yourgreatest and most glorious possessionThis religion is so great that even a littleof it brings a great amount of it

213

214

Don't believe what others say unless youyourselves know it to be true

215

Rise at the expense of another?I did not come to earth for that.

216

Show your power by suffering

217

Our misery comes, not from work butby our getting attached to something

218

The man who can’t believe in himself,

How can you expect him to believe in anything

else

219

It is better to do something;

never mind if it proves to be wrong,It is better then doing nothing.

220

If we can't follow the ideal, let us confessOur weakness, but not degrade it;

Let not any try to pull it down.

221

If a man possesses everything thatis under the sun and does not possess

Spirituality , what avails it?

222

179223

First form character ,First earn spirituality

And results will come of themselves.

180224

If we sit down and lament over the

imperfection of our bodies and minds,

we profit nothing;

It is the heroic endeavor to subduce

adverse circumstances that carries our

spirit upwards

225

Truth, purity and unselfishness – whereverthese are present,

There is no power below or above the sunto crush the possessor thereof.

182226

No claim is made by the doer of great deeds,

Only by lazy worthless fools.

227

To know God is to become God

228

Bring in the light; the darkness will vanish

of itself

229

Ours not to question why, ours but to do anddie

230

Education is the manifestation of the

Perfection already in man,

Religion is the manifestation of the divinity

already in man.

231

Conscious efforts lead the way toSuper-conscious illumination.

232

Who commits mistakes, the path of truth is

attainable by him only.

233

He, the brave alone,can deny the self

234

And if this Maya is so beautiful,think of

the wondrous beauty of the reality behind it.

235

For one thing we may be grateful;This life is not eternal.

192236

When the mind tries to think of anything else,

give it a hard blow, so that it may turn around and

think of God.

237

If I am impure, that is also of myown making and that very thing

shows that I can be pure if I will.

238

Stand and die in your own strength;If there is any sin in the world,

It is weakness;

Avoid all weakness,for weakness is sin,

239

I do not know whether I succeed or not,

but it is a great thing to take up a grand ideal in life and

then give up one’s whole life to it

240

To succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendous

will. "I will rink the ocean," says the persevering soul, "at my will

mountains will crumble up." Have that sort of energy, that sort of

will, work hard, and you will reach the goal.

241

In the west, they are trying to solve the

Problem how much a man can possess,

And we are trying here to solve the problem

on how little a man can live

242

It is the change of the soul itself forthe better that alone will cure the

evils of the world

199243

Teach yourself, teach every one

his real nature, call upon the sleeping

Soul and see how it awakes

244

Power will come, glory will come,

Goodness will come,purity will come,

And everything that is excellent will

come,when this sleeping soul is roused to

self conscious activity

245

You have done well; only try to do better

246

Work out the salvation of this land and of

The whole world , each one of you thinking that

The entire burden is on your shoulders.

247

Let not the fire die out

204248

Is it such a bad choice in this world to think

Not of matter but of spirit,not of man but of God?

249

If you attempt to get the secular knowledge

Without religion,I tell you plainly,vain is your

attempt

250

Anything that makes you weak physically,

Intellectually, and spiritually, reject as poison;

There is no life in it,it cannot be true

251

To talk of evil and misery is nonsense, because they do not exist

outside. If I am immune against all anger, I never feel angry. If I

am proof against all hatred, I never feel hatred.

252

Love opens the most impossible gates;The gate to all the secrets of the universe.

253

Never let curses rise on your lips.

254

Feel that you are great and you

become great.

255

You can't help anyone , you can only serve

the children of the lord , serve the

Lord himself, if you have the privilege

256

The moment you fear you are nobody.

It is fear that is the great cause of misery in the

world

257

Struggle for that grace

258

If a man goes towards what is false,It is because he can’t get what is true

259

Knowledge is the finding of unity in Diversity, and

the highest point in every science is reached when

it finds the underlying unity in all variety

260

Obey the scriptures until you are not

Strong enough to do without them.

261

Watch people do their most common Actions;

these are indeed the things that will tell you

the real character of a great person.

262

Until a man becomes prophet,

Religion is a mockery

263

Be not in despair, The way despair not;

arise, awake, and find the ideal, yet the goal

is very difficult, like walking on the blade of

a razor

264

Death is better than a vegetating ignorant life,

It is better to die on the battlefield than to

live a life of defeat

265

When you find yourseleves suffering,Blame yourselves, and try to do better

266

The highest direction is that

which takes us to God;

Every other direction is lower

267

Understand my words in their

True spirit and apply yourselves to work

In their light.

268

I want the why of everything.I leave the how to children.

269

Your country requires heroes;

be heroes;

your duty is to go on working, and then

everything will follow of itself

270

Take up one idea, make that one idea your

life, think of it, dream of it, live of it, let the

brain, muscle, nerves, every part of your

body be full of that idea and just leave

every other idea alone. This is the way

great spiritual giants are produced, others

are mere talking machines

271

You must have an iron will if you would

cross the ocean. You must be strong enough

to pierce mountains

272

Nature wants us to react, to return blow

for blow, cheating for cheating, lie for lie,

to hit back with all our might, then it

requires a super divine power not hit back,

to keep control, to be unattached

273

Misery comes through attachment, not

through work.As soon as we identify

ourselves with work we do, we feel

miserable; but if we don’t identify ourselves

with it, we do not feel that misery

274

―Are you unselfish? That is the question. If

you are, you will be perfect without reading

a single religious book, without going into a

single church or temple.‖

275

Three things are necessary to make

every man great, every nation great

1. Conviction of the powers of

goodness

2. Absence of jealousy and

suspicion

3. Helping all who are trying to be

and do good

276

The greatest sin is to think yourself

weak

277

To be good and to do good - that is the whole of

religion

278

Arise!Awake!And stop not till the goal is

reached

279

They alone live who live for others, rest are

more dead then alive

280

226

All the power is within you; you can do

anything and everything. Believe in that; don’t

believe that you are weak. Stand up and express

the divinity with in you

281

What ever you think, that you will be. If you

think yourself weak, weak you will be; if you

think yourself strong; strong you will be

282

He is an atheist who does not believe in

himself. The old religion said that he was an

atheist who does not believe in God. The new

religion says that he is an atheist who does not

believe in himself

283

Help if you can; if you cannot, fold your

hands and stand by and see things go on.

Do not injure, if you cannot render help

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