Quotes from Swami Vivekananda

The rose called by any other name would smell as sweet.

He who knows that he is free is free; he who knows that he is bound is bound. What is the end and aim of life? None, because I know that I am the Infinite.

In hurting anyone, you hurt yourself, in loving anyone, you love yourself.

The ideal man is he who, in the midst of the greatest silence and solitude, finds the intensest activity, and in the midst of the intensest activity finds the silence and solitude of the desert. He has learnt the secret of restraint, he has controlled himself. He goes through the streets of a big city with all its traffic, and his mind is as calm as if he were in a cave, where not a sound could reach him; and he is intensely working all the time. That is the ideal of Karma-Yoga

we are not the vedantists, pauranics or tantrics. we are the 'don't touchists'. our religion is 'don't touch me, i am holy'. -vivekananda

Truth cannot be partial; it is for the good of all. Finally

Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves and every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.

That which is selfish is immoral, and that which is unselfish is moral.

Feel like Christ and you will be a Christ; feel like Buddha and you will be a Buddha. It is feeling that is the life, the strength, the vitality, without which no amount of intellectual activity can reach God. It is through the heart that the Lord is seen, and not through the intellect.

Uniformity is the rigorous law of nature; what once happened can happen always.

Every act of love brings happiness; there is no act of love which does not bring peace and blessedness as its reaction.

That which is true must be infinite and eternal. That is the one test of truth. It never decays, it is always the same.

Stand up , be bold , be strong ! Know that you are the creator of your own destiny . All the strength and succour you want is within yourself.

By no prophets or anything. ... Only infinite words, infinite by their very nature, from which the whole universe comes and goes.

the midst of intense activity finds himself in the

sentimentalism, nor anything that belongs

there rose this man Krishna, and in the Gita he tries to reconcile the ceremony and the philosophy of the priests and the people.

Never mind failures; they are quite natural, they are the beauty of life, these failures. What would be LIFE without them

the mind is in three states, one of which is darkness, called Tamas, found in brutes and idiots; it only acts to injure. No other idea comes into that state of mind. Then there is the active state of mind, Rajas, whose chief motives are power and enjoyment. "I will be powerful and rule others." Then there is the state called Sattva, serenity, calmness

Take up anything that you see or feel, a book for instance; first concentrate the mind on it, then on the knowledge that is in the form of a book, and then on the Ego that sees the book, and so on. By that practice all the organs will be conquered.

Most of us make our minds like spoilt children, allowing them to do whatever they want. Therefore it is necessary that Kriya-yoga should be constantly practised, in order to gain control of the mind, and bring it into subjection. The obstructions to Yoga arise from lack of control, and cause us pain. They can only be removed by denying the mind, and holding it in check, through the means of Kriya-yoga.

Everything is infectious in this world, good or bad.

When you give something to a man and expect nothing — do not even expect the man to be grateful — his ingratitude will not tell upon you, because you never expected anything, never thought you had any right to anything in the way of a return. You gave him what he deserved; his own Karma got it for him; your Karma made you the carrier thereof.

If you really want to judge of the character of a man, look not at his great performances. Every fool may become a hero at one time or another. Watch a man do his most common actions; those are indeed the things which will tell you the real character of a great man.