Awaken Your Inner Strength: Inspiring Swami Vivekananda Quotes in English

The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him - that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.

It is our own mental attitude which makes the world what it is for us. Our thought make things beautiful, our thoughts make things ugly. The whole world is in our own minds. Learn to see things in the proper light.

If you are pure, if you are strong, you, one man are equal to the whole world.

Strength is life weakness is death.

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In a conflict between the heart and the brain, follow your heart.

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All power is within you; you can do anything and everything.

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You are the creator of your own destiny.

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Experience is the only teacher we have. We may talk and reason all our lives, but we shall not understand a word of truth.

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The powers of the mind are like the rays of the sun when they are concentrated they illumine.

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Give me few men and women who are pure and selfless and I shall shake the world.

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In one word, this ideal is that you are divine.

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Salvation never will come through hope of reward.

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One link in a chain explains the infinite chain.

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Take risks in your life, If you win, you can lead! If you loose, you can guide!

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The idea of perfect womanhood is perfect independence.

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We must patiently practice every day.

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We are ever free if we would only believe it, only have faith enough.

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Meditation can turn fools into sages but unfortunately fools never meditate.

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The guru is the means of realization.

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

The greatest truths are the simplest things in the world, simple as your own existence.

Only by practice and non-attachment can we conquer mind.

Holy meditation helps to burn out all mental impurities.

Worship of society and popular opinion is idolatry.

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

Neither seek nor avoid, take what comes.

The idol is the expression of religion.

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External nature is only internal nature writ large.

Religion is the manifestation of the Divinity already in man.

First, believe in the world that there is meaning behind everything.

Be a here. Always say, I have no fear. Tell this to everyone - Have no fear.

If the Student thinks he is the Spirit, he will be better Student. If the Lawyer thinks he is the Spirit, he will be a better Lawyer and so on.

We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.

Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true.

Learning and wisdom are superfluities, the surface glitter merely, but it is the heart that is the seat of all power.

God is to be worshiped as the one beloved, dearer than everything in this and next life.

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 yourself.

Blows are what awaken us & help to break the dream. They show us the insufficiency of this world & make us long to escape, to have freedom.

It is the duty of every person to contribute to the development and progress of India.

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Man is to become divine by realizing the divine. Idols or temples, or churches or books, are only the supports, the help of his spiritual childhood.

What is now wanted is a combination of the greatest heart with the highest intellectuality, of infinite love with infinite knowledge.

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, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.

Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true.

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All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.

That man has reached immortality who is disturbed by nothing material.

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The more we come out and do good to others, the more our hearts will be purified, and God will be in them.

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You cannot believe in god until you believe in yourself.

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The greatest sin is to think that you are weak.

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In one word, this ideal is that you are divine.

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Arise, awake and stop not till the goal is reached.

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Believe in yourself and the world will be at your feet.

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If superstitions enters, the brain is gone.

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Where you find the attraction for lust and wealth considerably diminished, to whatever creed he may belong, know that his inner spirit is awakening.

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Arise! Awake! and stop not until the goal is reached.

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It is cheerful mind that is persevering. It is the strong mind that hews its way through a thousand difficulties.

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The fire that warms us can also consume us; it is not the fault of the fire.

The Guru has to bear the disciple's burden of sin.

Swami Vivekananda Slogan in English

Strength is Life, Weakness is Death.
Expansion is Life, Contraction is Death.
Love is Life, Hatred is Death.

The power of concentration is the only key to the treasure-house of knowledge.

The wave is the same thing as the water, the effect is the cause in another form.

The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.

Give everything and look for no return.

Have faith in yourselves, great convictions are the mothers of great deeds.

Let us blame none, let us blame our own Karma.

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

The one who has the power of transmitting this current is called a Guru.

Live for an ideal and leave no place in the mind for anything else.

Die in obeying commands like a soldier, and go to Nirvana, but no cowardice.

That man has reached immortality who is disturbed by nothing material.

Satisfied is no test of truth. Actuality is steadily far from idiosyncratic secure.

The greatest sin is to think yourself weak.

The subtle are the causes, the gross the effects.

Superstition is great enemy of man but bigotry is worse.

The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves.

Comfort is no test of truth. Truth is often far from being comfortable.

The Guru is the bright mask which God wears in order to come to us.

Education is the manifestation of perfection already existing in man.

You are the soul, free and eternal, ever free, ever blessed. Have faith enough and you will be free in a minute.

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Whatever you think that you will be.If you think yourself weak, weak you will be; if you think yourself strong, you will be.

Learn Everything that is Good from Others, but bring it in, and in your own way absorb it; do not become others.

Be not Afraid of anything. You will do Marvelous work. it is Fearlessness that brings Heaven even in a moment.

Manifest the divinity within you and everything will be harmoniously arranged around it.

This caste system had grown by the practice of the son always following the business of the father.

Anything that makes weak - physically, intellectually and spiritually, reject it as poison.

An atheist can be charitable but not religious. But the religious man must be charitable.

Be an atheist if you want, but do not believe in anything unquestioningly.

Do one thing at a Time, and while doing it put your whole Soul into it to the exclusion of all else.

The three essentials of Hinduism are belief in God, in the Vedas as revelation, in the doctrine of Karma and transmigration.

Dare to be free, dare to go as far as your thought leads, and dare to carry that out in your life.

Be grateful that the poor man is there, so that by making a gift to him you are able to help yourself.

The guru must be a man who has known, has actually realized the Divine truth, has perceived himself as the spirit.

Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is a sin, this is the only sin; to say that you are weak, or others are weak.

All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. He who loves lives, he who is selfish is dying. Therefore love for love's sake, because it is the only law of life, just as you breathe to live.

Was there ever a more horrible blasphemy than the statement that all the knowledge of God is confined to this or that book? How dare men call God infinite, and yet try to compress Him within the covers of a little book!

If there is one word that you find coming out like a bomb from the Upanishads, bursting like a bombshell upon masses of ignorance, it is the word fearlessness.

It is only work that is done as freewill offering to humanity and to nature that does not bring with it any binding attachment.

When you feel gloomy, think what has been done within the last year. How, rising from nothing.

Hindu Dharma is the quintessence of our national life, hold fast to it if you want your country to survive, or else you would be wiped out in three generations.

The cheerful mind perseveres and the strong mind hews its way through a thousand difficulties.

If a man with an ideal makes a thousand mistakes, I am sure that the man without an ideal makes fifty thousand.

The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong.

The awakening of the soul to its bondage and its effort to stand up and assert itself - this is called life.

A fool may buy all the books in the world, and they will be in his library; but he will be able to read only those that he deserves to.

True religion comes not front the teaching of men or the reading of books; it is the awakening of the spirit within us, consequent upon pure and heroic action.

If faith in ourselves had been more extensively taught and practiced, I am sure a very large portion of the evils and miseries that we have would have vanished.

It is the cheerful mind that is a persevering. It is the strong mind that hews its way through a thousand difficulties.

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.

The ideal person 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.

The mind is but the subtle part of the body. You must retain great strength in your mind and words.

Whatever you think that you will be.
if you think yourself weak,weak you will be;
if you think yourself strong,you will be.

We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves.

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.

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.

Tell the truth boldly, whether it hurts or not. Never pander to weakness. If truth is too much for intelligent people and sweeps them away, let them go; the sooner the better.

Blame neither man, nor God, nor anyone in the world. When you find yourselves suffering, blame yourselves, and try to do better. *

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 yourself. Therefore make your own future.

We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in the future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act.

Never say, 'No', never say 'I cannot', for you are infinite, even time and space are nothing compared with your nature. You can do anything and everything, you are almighty.

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.

Truth does not pay homage to any society, ancient or modern. Society has to pay homage to Truth or die.

Crave for a thing, you will get it. Renounce the craving, the object will follow you by itself.

Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourself weak, weak you will be; if you think yourself strong, strong you will be.

The Guru is the means of realisation. "There is no knowledge without a teacher."

Anything that brings spiritual, mental, or physical weakness, touch it not with the toes of your feet.

All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that it is dark.

Stand up, be bold, and take the blame on your own shoulders. Do not go about throwing mud at other; for all the faults you suffer from, you are the sole and only cause.

Whatever you think, that you will be. If you think yourselves weak, weak you will be; if you think yourselves strong, strong you will be.

When you are doing any work, do not think of anything beyond. Do it as worship, as the highest worship, and devote your whole life to it for the time being.

Bless people when they revile you. Think how much good they are doing by helping to stamp out the false ego.

You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.

He alone teaches who has something to give, for teaching is not talking, teaching is not imparting doctrines, it is communicating.

The less passion there is, the better we work. The calmer we are the better for us and the more the amount of work we can do.

You must have an iron will, if you would cross the ocean. You must be strong enough to pierce mountains.

I, for one, thoroughly believe that no power in the universe can withhold from anyone anything they really deserve.

Don’t look back-forward, infinite energy, infinite enthusiasm, infinite daring, and infinite patience. Then alone can great deeds be accomplished? 

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, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.

Talk to yourself at least once in a day. Otherwise, you may miss a meeting with an excellent person in this world.

A tremendous 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.

Be Grateful to the Man you help, think of Him as God. It is not a great privilege to be allowed to worship God by helping our fellow men.

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, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.

The will is not free - it is a phenomenon bound by cause and effect - but there is something behind the will which is free.

All that is real in me is God; all that is real in God is I. The gulf between God and me is thus bridged. Thus by knowing God, we find that the kingdom of heaven is within us.

All power is within you; you can do anything and everything. Believe in that, do not believe that you are weak; do not believe that you are half-crazy lunatics, as most of us do nowadays. You can do any thing and everything, without even the guidance of any one. Stand up and express the divinity within you.

The great secret of true success, of true happiness, is this: the man or woman who asks for no return, the perfectly unselfish person, is the most successful.

As different streams having different sources all mingle their waters in the sea, so different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to God.

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

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

Even the greatest fool can accomplish a task if it were after his or her heart. But the intelligent ones are those who can convert every work into one that suits their taste.

A few heart-whole, sincere, and energetic men and women can do more in a year than a mob in a century.

Feel nothing, know nothing, do nothing, have nothing, give up all to God, and say utterly, 'Thy will be done.' We only dream this bondage. Wake up and let it go.

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.

Impurity is a mere superimposition under which your real nature has become hidden. But the real you is already perfect, already strong.

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

Our duty is to encourage every one in his struggle to live up to his own highest idea, and strive at the same time to make the ideal as near as possible to the Truth.

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

God is to be worshipped as the one beloved, dearer than everything in this and next life.

All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.

Take up an idea, devote yourself to it, struggle on in patience, and the sun will rise for you.

It is the patient building of character, the intense struggle to realize the truth, which alone will tell in the future of humanity. 

Religion has no business to formulate social laws and insist on the difference between beings, because its aim and end is to obliterate all such fictions and monstrosities.

Are you unselfish? That is the question. If you are, you will be perfect without reading a single religious book, without going to a single church or temple.

Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If not, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way.

The Vedanta recognizes no sin it only recognizes error. And the greatest error, says the Vedanta is to say that you are weak, that you are a sinner, a miserable creature, and that you have no power and you cannot do this and that.

Knowledge can only be got in one way, the way of experience; there is no other way to know.

It is the cheerful mind that is persevering. It is the strong mind that hews its way through a thousand difficulties.

This attachment of Love to God is indeed one that does not bind the soul but effectively breaks all its bondage.

Swamiji Quotes in English

When an idea exclusively occupies the mind, it is transformed into an actual physical or mental state.

The Tapas and the other hard Yogas that were practiced in other Yugas do not work now. What is needed in this Yuga is giving, helping others.

Be not afraid of anything. You will do Marvelous work. It is Fearlessness that brings the Heaven even in a moment.

Watch people do their most common actions; these are indeed the things that will tell you the real character of a great person.

Strength is Life, Weakness is Death, Expansion is Life, Contraction is Death, Love is Life, Hatred is Death.

Ask nothing; want nothing in return. Give what you have to give; it will come back to you, but do not think of that now.

All differences in this world are of degree, and not of the kind because oneness is the secret of everything.

This attachment of Love to God is indeed one that does not bind the soul but effectively breaks all its bondage.

When you are doing any work, Do it as worship, as the highest worship, and devote your whole life to it for the time being.

We are allowed to worship him. Stand in that reverent attitude to the whole universe, and then will come perfect non-attachment.

When an idea exclusively occupies the mind, it is transformed into an actual physical or mental state.

The more we grow in Love, Virtue, and Holiness, the more we see Love, Virtue, and Holiness outside.

Talk to yourself once in a day.. otherwise you may miss meeting an excellent person in this world.

Every action that helps us manifest our divine nature more and more is good. Every action that retards it is evil.

Fill the brain with high thoughts, highest ideals, place them day and night before you, and out of that will come great work.

It is the Level-headed Man, the Calm Man, of Good Judgment and cool nerves, of Great sympathy and love, who does good work and so does good to himself.

What the world wants is a character. The world is in need of those whose life is one burning love, selfless. That love will make every word tell like a thunderbolt.

Condemn none: if you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way.

The whole secret of existence is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you, depend on no one. Only the moment you reject all help are you freed.

There is one thing to be remembered: that the assertion – I am God- cannot be made with regard to the sense-world.

May He who is the Brahman of the Hindus, the Ahura-Mazda of the Zoroastrians, the Buddha of the Buddhists, the Jehovah of the Jews, the Father in Heaven of the Christians give strength to you to carry out your noble idea.

This, I have seen in life – those who are overcautious about themselves fall into dangers at every step. Those who are afraid of losing honor and respect, get only disgrace; and those who are always afraid of loss, always lose. 

The moment I have realized God sitting in the temple of every human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him - that moment I am free from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, and I am free.

- Vivekananda Thoughts in English

Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true.

If faith in ourselves had been more extensively taught and practiced, I am sure a very large portion of the evils and miseries that we have would have vanished.

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.

Where can we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own hearts and in every living being.

The more we come out and do good to others, the more our hearts will be purified, and God will be in them.

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.

Never think there is anything impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think so. If there is sin, this is the only sin; to say that you are weak, or others are weak.

Fear is death, fear is sin, fear is hell, fear is unrighteousness, and fear is wrong life. All the negative thoughts and ideas that are in the world have proceeded from this evil spirit of fear.

I do not want to get material life, do not want the sense-life, but something higher. That is renunciation. Then, by the power of meditation, undo the mischief that has been done.

Anything that makes you weak physically, intellectually and spiritually, reject it as poison.

If the mind is intensely eager, everything can be accomplished-mountains can be crumbled into atoms.

Do one thing at a Time, and while doing it put your whole soul into it to the exclusion of all else.

You have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.

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.

As soon as you know the voice and understand what it is, the whole scene changes. The same world which was the ghastly battlefield of Maya is now changed into something good and beautiful.

To devote your life to the good of all and to the happiness of all is religion. Whatever you do for your own sake is not religion.