1. This is the first lesson to learn: be determined not to curse anything outside, not to lay the blame upon anyone outside, but stand up, lay the blame on yourself. You will find that is always true. Get hold of yourself.
2. I, for one, thoroughly believe that no power in the universe can withhold from anyone anything they really deserve.
3. 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.
4. 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.”
5. Great work requires great and persistent effort for a long time. … Character has to be established through a thousand stumbles.
6. That man has reached immortality who is disturbed by nothing material.
7. Fill the brain with high thoughts, highest ideals, place them day and night before you, and out of that will come great work.
8. Every action that helps us manifest our divine nature more and more is good; every action that retards it is evil.
9. Knowledge can only be got in one way, the way of experience; there is no other way to know.
10. 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.
11. 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. When we let loose our feelings, we waste so much energy, shatter our nerves, disturb our minds, and accomplish very little work.
12. Superstition is our great enemy, but bigotry is worse.
13. Be a hero. Always say, ‘I have no fear.’ Tell this to everyone – ‘Have no fear.’
14. The world is the great gymnasium where we come to make ourselves strong.
15. 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.
16. Where can we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own hearts and in every living being.
17. We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves.
18. It is the patient building of character, the intense struggle to realize the truth, which alone will tell in the future of humanity.
19. 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.
20. Work and worship are necessary to take away the veil, to lift off the bondage and illusion.
21. Truth does not pay homage to any society, ancient or modern. Society has to pay homage to Truth or die.
22. Are great things ever done smoothly? Time, patience, and indomitable will must show.
23. Impurity is a mere superimposition under which your real nature has become hidden. But the real you is already perfect, already strong.
24. As body, mind, or soul, you are a dream; you really are Being, Consciousness, Bliss (satchidananda). You are the God of this universe.
25. 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.
26. Truth can be stated in a thousand different ways, yet each one can be true.
27. It is the duty of every person to contribute in the development and progress of India.
28. ‘Comfort’ is no test of truth; on the contrary, truth is often far from being ‘comfortable’.
29. Nature, body, mind go to death, not we. We neither go nor come. The man Vivekananda is in nature, is born and dies. But the Self we see as Vivekananda is never born and never dies. It is the eternal and unchangeable Reality.
30. You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.
31. Don’t look back – forward, infinite energy, infinite enthusiasm, infinite daring, and infinite patience. Then alone can great deeds be accomplished.
32. 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.
33. This life is a hard fact; work your way through it boldly, though it may be adamantine; no matter, the soul is stronger.
34. However we may receive blows, and however knocked about we may be, the Soul is there and is never injured. We are that Infinite.
35. 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.
36. A few heart-whole, sincere, and energetic men and women can do more in a year than a mob in a century.
37. As soon as I think that I am a little body, I want to preserve it, to protect it, to keep it nice at the expense of other bodies; then you and I become separate. First get rid of the delusion ‘I am the body’, then only will we want real knowledge.
38. 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.
39. 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.
40. The mind is but the subtle part of the body. You must retain great strength in your mind and words.
41. There is one thing to be remembered: that the assertion ‘I am God’ cannot be made with regard to the sense-world.
42. If superstition enters, the brain is gone.
43. Stand as a rock; you are indestructible. You are the Self (atman), the God of the universe.
44. “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.
45. The Land where humanity has attained its highest towards gentleness, towards generosity, towards purity, towards calmness – it is India.
46. There is no limit to the power of the human mind. The more concentrated it is, the more power is brought to bear on one point.
47. The will is not free – it is a phenomenon bound by cause and effect – but there is something behind the will which is free.
48. Look upon every man, woman, and everyone as God. You cannot help anyone, you can only serve: serve the children of the Lord, serve the Lord Himself, if you have the privilege.
49. Our first duty is not to hate ourselves, because to advance we must have faith in ourselves first and then in God. Those who have no faith in themselves can never have faith in God.
50. 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.
51. “The brain and muscles must develop simultaneously. Iron nerves with an intelligent brain — and the whole world is at your feet.
52. 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.
53. 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.
54. Neither seeks nor avoids, take what comes.
55. Comfort is no test of truth. Truth is often far from being comfortable.
56. Arise, awake, stop not until your goal is achieved.
