Swami Vivekananda was born as Narendranath Datta in 1863 in Kolkata. From a young age, he possessed a restless mind and a deep hunger for spiritual truth. This quest led him to his mentor, Ramakrishna Paramahansa, who transformed his skepticism into unwavering faith.
He dreamed of a world where spirituality and material progress walked hand in hand. He traveled across India, witnessing the harsh reality of poverty, which fueled his goal to uplift the masses through education and self-reliance. At the 1893 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago, he bridged the gap between East and West with his message of universal brotherhood. Vivekananda dedicated his short life to awakening the “divine spark” within every individual, urging everyone to serve humanity as a form of worship.
Today, Swami Vivekananda quotes enlighten us and give us a new outlook at like. Of all the things and insights Swami Vivekananda said, here are 160 that will change your life.
160+ Swami Vivekananda Quotes For Every Aspect of Life
His powerful philosophy lives on through the words he left behind. These Swami Vivekananda quotes continue to challenge people to find strength within themselves and face life with courage.
🔶 Swami Vivekananda Quotes on Anger, Attachment, and the Loss of Inner Freedom
Here are 15 quotes by Swami Vivekananda that teach us something mysterious about anger:
1. “As soon as we react, we become slaves. A man blames me, and I immediately react in the form of anger. A little vibration which he created made me a slave.”
2. “Titikshâ, the most difficult of all. It is nothing less than the ideal forbearance, “Resist not evil.” … my mind must then be as calm as if nothing had happened.”
3. “With everything we do in life, we identify ourselves. Here is a man who says harsh words to me. I feel anger coming on me. In a few seconds, anger and I are one, and then comes misery.”
4. “By thinking about sense objects, attachment to them is formed. From attachment comes longing, and longing breeds anger. From anger comes delusion, and from delusion, confused memory. From confused memory comes the ruin of discrimination; and from the ruin of discrimination, a man perishes.”
5. “Evil company is always to be shunned, because it leads to lust and anger, illusion, forgetfulness of the goal, destruction of the will (lack of perseverance), and destruction of everything.”
6. “The man who becomes angry never does a great amount of work, and the man whom nothing can make angry accomplishes so much.”
7. “Every wave of passion restrained is a balance in your favor. It is therefore good… policy not to return anger for anger, as with all true morality.”
8. “He who can stem the tide of lust and anger is a great Yogi.”
9. “Meditation is one of the great means of controlling the rising of these waves. By meditation, you can make the mind subdue these waves…”
10. “Is it freedom to be a slave to the senses, to anger, to jealousy, and a hundred other petty things that must occur every day in human life?”
11. “He in whose mind is no anger, hatred, or envy, who never loses his balance, dies, or is born, who is he but God?”
12. “I am neither man nor angel. I have no sex nor limit. I am knowledge itself. I am He. I have neither anger nor hatred. I have neither pain nor pleasure. Death or birth, I never had. For I am Knowledge Absolute, and Bliss Absolute. I am He, my soul, I am He!”
13. “God is the one goal of all our passions and emotions. If you want to be angry, be angry with Him. Chide your Beloved, chide your Friend. Whom else can you safely chide?”
14. “Give up all self, all egotisms, get out of anger, lust, give all to God. “I am not, but Thou art; the old man is all gone, only Thou remainest.” “I am Thou.” Blame none; if evil comes, know the Lord is playing with you and be exceeding glad.”
15. “You have no more anger when you are all love, bliss, infinite existence.”
🔶 Swami Vivekananda Quotes on Attachment, Expectation, and Loss of Self-Mastery
These 8 quotes by Swami Vivekananda explain to us why attachment and expectations lead to dejection:
16. “All misery and pain come from attachment.”
17. “Our misery comes not from work, but by our getting attached to something. Take, for instance, money: money is a great thing to have, earn it, says Krishna; struggle hard to get money, but don’t get attached to it. So with children, with wife, husband, relatives, fame, everything; you have no need to shun them, only don’t get attached.”
18. “As soon as extreme attachment comes, a man loses himself; he is no more master of himself, he is a slave.”
19. “As soon as we identify ourselves with the work we do, we feel miserable; but if we do not identify ourselves with it, we do not feel that misery.”
20. “Attachment comes only where we expect a return.”
21. “From attachment comes longing, and longing breeds anger. From anger comes delusion, and from delusion, confused memory. From confused memory comes the ruin of discrimination; and from the ruin of discrimination, a man perishes.”
22. “Everything that you do under compulsion goes to build up attachment.”
23. “If you can get rid of your attachment to a single thing, you are on the way to liberation. There is only one attachment, and that belongs to the Lord, and to none other.”
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🔶 Swami Vivekananda Quotes on Body, Mind, and the Eternal Self
Here’s what Swami Vivekananda said aboutthe human body, mind, and soul:
24. “Body is the name of a series of changes.”
25. “Body is the name of a stream of matter continuously changing.”
26. “As in a river, the masses of water are changing before you every moment, and new masses are coming, yet taking similar form, so is it with this body.”
27. “Body is an unreal dream, and we think we are all bodies.”
28. “The root of evil is in the illusion that we are bodies. This, if any, is the original sin.
29. “This idea of body is a simple superstition. It is superstition that makes us happy or unhappy.”
30. “The body must be properly taken care of. The people who torture their flesh are demoniacal.”
31. “We have to keep the body in good health; we have to take care of what we eat and drink, and what we do.”
32. “Yet the body must be kept strong and healthy. It is the best instrument we have.”
33. “The body is mortal, and the mind is mortal; both, being compounds, must die.”
34. “The body is subject to the law of growth and decay; what grows must of necessity decay.”
35.“When the forces that hold it together go away, the body must fall.”
36. “According to this philosophy, each man consists of three parts, the body, the internal organ or the mind, and behind that, what is called the Atman, the Self.”
37. “The body cannot be the soul.”
38. “Bodies come and go, but the soul does not change.”
39. “There is but one temple, the body. It is the only temple that ever existed.”
40. “The organs are the horses, the mind is the rein, the intellect is the charioteer, the soul is the rider, and the body is the chariot.”
41. “In this body, He resides, the Lord of souls and the King of kings.”
🔶 Swami Vivekananda Quotes on Business Integrity, Discipline, and Accountability
Here are 11 Swami Vivekananda quotes every business owner must know and remember:
42. “All combined efforts in India sink under the weight of one iniquity; we have not yet developed strict business principles. Business is business, in the highest sense, and no friendship, or as the Hindu proverb says, “eye-shame,” should be there. One should keep the clearest account of everything in one’s charge, and never, never apply the funds intended for one thing to any other use whatsoever, even if one starves the next moment. This is business integrity.”
43. “The Hindus have a peculiar slovenliness in business matters, not being sufficiently methodical and strict in keeping accounts, etc.”
44. “Business is business, no child’s play.”
45. “Business is business, that is, you must do everything promptly; delay and shuffling won’t do.”
46. “Energy unfailing. Whatever you do, let that be your worship for the time. Let this paper be your God for the time, and you will succeed.”
47. “In business, all may not make a fortune, but everyone can make something.”
48. “Learn business, my boy. We will do great things yet!”
49. “What an amount of attention does business require, and what a rigorous taskmaster it is! Even if the father, the mother, the wife, or the child dies, business cannot stop! Even if the heart is breaking, we still have to go to our place of business, when every hour of work is a pang.”
50. “You of the West are practical in business, practical in great inventions, but we of the East are practical in religion. You make commerce your business; we make religion our business.”
51. “Preaching has always been the business of the Asiatics. The Western people are grand in organization, social institutions, armies, governments, etc., but when it comes to preaching religion, they cannot come near the Asiatic…”
52. “Many men can succeed in business; very few in this (science of mind).”
🔶 Swami Vivekananda on Why Nothing Objective Remains the Same
There’s one constant thing: change. And these Swami Vivekananda quotes on change remind us exactly that:
53. “Change is inherent in every form.”
54. “Change is the nature of all objective things.”
55. “Not one is constant, but everything is changing.”
56. “The body and mind are continually changing, and are, in fact, only names of series of changeful phenomena, like rivers whose waters are in a constant state of flux, yet presenting the appearance of unbroken streams.”
57. “What do we call the river? Every moment the water is changing, the shore is changing, every moment the environment is changing, what is the river then? It is the name of this series of changes.”
58. “Everybody is changing.”
59. “A changeable God would be no God.”
60. “Change of the unchangeable would be a contradiction.”
61. “It is the free alone which never changes, and the unchangeable alone which is free; for change is produced by something exterior to a thing, or within itself, which is more powerful than the surroundings.”
62. “Change the subject, and the object is bound to change; purify yourself, and the world is bound to be purified. This one thing requires to be taught now more than ever before.”
63. “We never change, we never die, and we are never born.”
64. “These births and deaths are changes in nature which we are mistaking for changes in us.”
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🔶 Swami Vivekananda Quotes on Discipline as the Purification of the Heart
Here are 9 quotes by Swami Vivekananda that teach us the importance of discipline:
65. “All these disciplines are for the purification of the heart. And as soon as it is pure, all truths flash upon it in a minute; all truth in the universe will manifest in your heart, if you are sufficiently pure.”
66. “Know this also to be one of the spiritual practices, a discipline for God – realization. Its aim also is self–realization.”
67. “If you intend to study the mind, you must have systematic training; you must practice to bring the mind under your control, to attain to that consciousness from which you will be able to study the mind and remain unmoved by any of its wild gyrations.”
68. “The mind has to be gradually and systematically brought under control.”
69. “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.”
70. “A sapling must be hedged about for protection, but when it becomes a tree, a hedge would be a hindrance. So there is no need to criticize and condemn the old forms.”
71. “No doubt it is an evil to be bound by laws, but it is necessary at the immature stage to be guided by rules; in other words, as the Master used to say, that the sapling must be hedged round, and so on.”
72. “It is a good discipline to be forced to work for work’s sake, even to the length of not being allowed to enjoy the fruits of one’s labor….”
73. “Even the lowest of the Hindus, the Pariah, has less of the brute in him than a Briton in a similar social status. This is the result of an old and excellent religious civilization. This evolution to a higher spiritual state is possible only through discipline and education.”
🔶 Swami Vivekananda on Taking Education to the People
These Swami Vivekananda quotes remind us what education is and why it is important:
74. “What is education? Is it book-learning? No. Is it diverse knowledge? Not even that. The training by which the current and expression of will are brought under control and become fruitful is called education.”
75. “Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man.”
76. “Education is not filling the mind with a lot of facts. Perfecting the instrument and getting complete mastery of my own mind [is the ideal of education].”
77. “No more weeping, but stand on your feet and be men. It is a man-making religion that we want. It is man-making theories that we want. It is man-making education all round that we want.”
78. “We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded, and by which one can stand on one’s own feet.”
79. “The ideal of all education, all training, should be this man-making. But, instead of that, we are always trying to polish up the outside.”
80. “Educate and raise the masses, and thus alone a nation is possible.”
81. “The first duty is to educate the people.”
82. “How can there be any progress of the country without the spread of education, the dawning of knowledge?”
83. “The education that you are getting now has some good points, but it has a tremendous disadvantage, which is so great that the good things are all weighed down. In the first place, it is not a man-making education, it is merely and entirely a negative education.”
84. “If education is identical with information, the libraries are the greatest sages in the world, and encyclopaedias are the Rishis.”
85. “It is almost wholly one of defects. Why, it is nothing but a perfect machine for turning out clerks.”
86. “If the poor boy cannot come to education, education must go to him.”
87. “All the wealth of the world cannot help one little Indian village if the people are not taught to help themselves. Our work should be mainly educational, both moral and intellectual.”
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🔶 Swami Vivekananda on Success and Failure as Equal Conditions of Work
These Swami Vivekananda quotes redefine what success and failure mean:
88. “No life will be a failure; there is no such thing as failure in the universe.”
89. “There is success and failure in every work.”
90. “Let us think something new, even if it be wrong. It is better to do that. Why should you not try to hit the mark? We become wiser through failures.”
91. “Whenever failure comes, if we analyze it critically, in ninety-nine per cent of cases we shall find that it was because we did not pay attention to the means. Proper attention to the finishing, strengthening of the means is what we need.”
92. “Making happiness and misery the same, making success and failure the same, fight thou on” (Gita). It is that eternal love, unruffled equanimity under all circumstances, and perfect freedom from jealousy or animosity that will tell.”
93. “Most of us will find that we were born for service. We must leave the results to God. The work was done only for love of God. If failure comes, there need be no sorrow.”
94. “This world is not for cowards. Do not try to fly. Look not for success or failure. Join yourself to the perfectly unselfish will and work on. Know that the mind which is born to succeed joins itself to a determined will and perseveres.”
95. “We all find ourselves in the position for which we are fit… He who grumbles at the little thing that has fallen to his lot to do will grumble at everything. Always grumbling, he will lead a miserable life, and everything will be a failure.”
96. “We complain of others in our failures. The moment I am unsuccessful, I say, so-and-so is the cause of the failure. In failure, one does not like to confess one’s own faults and weaknesses.”
97. “Everybody wants to be a leader, but it is the failure to grasp that he is born that causes all this mischief.”
🔶 Swami Vivekananda Quotes on Friendship, Love, and Truth
These 9 quotes by Vivekananda give a new perspective on friendship:
98. “Friendship fails, and love betrays.”
99. “Love, friendship, religion, virtue, kindness, everything, a momentary state of mind.”
100. “Youth and beauty vanish, life and wealth vanish, name and fame vanish, even the mountains crumble into dust. Friendship and love vanish. Truth alone abides.”
101. “There was one thing always to keep us hopeful, the tremendous faithfulness to each other, the tremendous love between us. I have got a hundred men and women around me; if I become the devil himself tomorrow, they will say, “Here we are still! We will never give you up!” That is a great blessing. In happiness, in misery, in famine, in pain, in the grave, in heaven, or in hell, who never gives me up is my friend. Is such friendship a joke? A man may have salvation through such friendship.”
102. “India still lives, India of undying love, of everlasting faithfulness, the unchangeable, not only in manners and customs, but also in love, in faith, in friendship.”
103. “Friendship, mercy, gladness, and indifference, being thought of in regard to subjects, happy, unhappy, good, and evil respectively, pacify the Chitta.”
104. “We must have friendship for all; we must be merciful towards those that are in misery; when people are happy, we ought to be happy; and to the wicked we must be indifferent.”
105. “Friendship with many is best at a distance, and everything goes well with the person who stands on his own feet.”
106. “Rights and privileges and other things can only come through friendship, and friendship can only be expected between two equals. When one of the parties is a beggar, what friendship can there be?”
🔶 Swami Vivekananda Quotes on Growth Guided by Individual Nature
Here are 15 quotes by Swami Vivekananda on a growth mindset.
107. “Growth must proceed from within.”
108. “Things must be a growth from within.”
109. “Each must assimilate the spirit of the others and yet preserve his individuality and grow according to his own law of growth.”
110. “Freedom is the only condition of growth; take that off, the result is degeneration.”
111. “Liberty is the first condition of growth.”
112. “There cannot be any growth without liberty.”
113. “Everyone acts according to his own nature. We are all in the process of growth.”
114. “Individuals have each their own peculiarities, and each man has his own method of growth.”
115. “In giving education to a child, the law of growth has to be obeyed.”
116. “The different stages of growth are absolutely necessary to the attainment of purity and perfection.”
117. “The tree receives support and shelter from the hedge that surrounds it when young, but unless the hedge is removed, the growth and strength of that tree will be hindered.”
118. “The body is subject to the law of growth and decay; what grows must of necessity decay.”
119. “Take off all ideas of growth from your mind. With the idea of growth is associated something coming from outside… It can never grow; it was always there, and only manifests itself.”
120. “What is life but growth, i.e., expansion, i.e, love?”
121. “You must remember that freedom is the first condition of growth. What you do not make free, will never grow.”
🔶 Swami Vivekananda Quotes on Hope as the Birthright of Every Soul
Here are some of Swami Vivekananda’s quotes that will change your perspective on hope.
122. “At times we vainly hope that in our case only the pleasurable will come, leaving the painful aside, which never happens.”
123. “We always hope but never realize our hope. Never does any help come from the outside.”
124. “Hope is the name of this river, whose water is Desire, and Thirst the waves thereof. Passion is the crocodile living in that water…”
125. “Be perfectly hopeless, that is the highest state. What is there to hope for? Burst asunder the bonds of hope, stand on your Self, be at rest, never mind what you do, give up all to God…”
126. “Be free; hope for nothing from anyone.”
127. “Do whatever you can. Build your hope on none.”
128. “Is there no hope? Is there no escape? Was the cry that went up from the bottom of the heart of despair…? “Children of immortal bliss,” what a sweet, what a hopeful name!”
129. “There is hope for all. None can die; none can be degraded forever. Life is but a playground…”
130. “There is hope for everyone. There is salvation for everyone. Everyone must sooner or later get rid of the bonds of Mâyâ.”
131. “For our own motherland, a junction of the two great systems, Hinduism and Islam, Vedanta brain and Islam body, is the only hope.”
132. “I want a band of young Bengal, who alone are the hope of this country.
133. “It is best to work among the youth in whom lies our hope, patiently, steadily, and without noise.”
🔶 Swami Vivekananda Quotes on Why Jealousy Destroys Character and Unity
These Swami Vivekananda quotes will teach you the negative effects of jealousy:
134. “Jealousy is the bane of our national character, natural to slaves.”
135. “Jealousy is the central vice of every enslaved race. And it is jealousy and want of combination which cause and perpetuate slavery.”
136. “Brother, we can get rid of everything, but not of that cursed jealousy. . . . That is a national sin with us, speaking ill of others, and burning at heart at the greatness of others.”
137. “Jealousy is the root of all evil, and a most difficult thing to conquer.”
138. “This individualized self, which makes me different from all other beings, brings hatred and jealousy and misery, struggle and all other evils.”
139. “Man makes the mistake of separating himself from God and identifying himself with the body. This mistake arises through Maya… This identifying of ourselves with the body leads to inequality, which inevitably leads to struggle and jealousy…”
140. “Avoid jealousy and selfishness. Be obedient and eternally faithful to the cause of truth, humanity, and your country, and you will move the world.”
141. “Give up jealousy and conceit. Learn to work unitedly for others. This is the great need of our country.”
142. “Let us wipe off first that mark which nature always puts on the forehead of a slave, the stain of jealousy. Be jealous of none.”
143. “Test your love and humility. That man is not humble or loving who is jealous. Jealousy is a terrible, horrible sin; it enters a man so mysteriously.”
144. “The test of Ahimsa is absence of jealousy. Any man may do a good deed… but the real lover of mankind is he who is jealous of none.”
🔶 Swami Vivekananda Quotes on Why True Leaders Are Born, Not Claimed
Here’s what Swami Vivekananda said about leadership:
145. “A leader is born. Do you understand? And it is a very difficult task to take on the role of a leader. One must be accommodate a thousand minds. There must not be a shade of jealousy or selfishness; then you are a leader.”
146. “Everybody wants to be a leader, but it is the failure to grasp that he is born that causes all this mischief.”
147. “I am persuaded that a leader is not made in one life. He has to be born for it.”
148. “Do not try to be a ruler. He is the best ruler who can serve well.”
149. “He who knows how to obey knows how to command. Learn obedience first.”
150. “You will have to take charge of the whole movement, not as a leader, but as a servant.”
151. “A leader must be impersonal.”
152. “Have fire and spread all over. Work, work. Be the servant while leading. Be unselfish, and never listen to one friend in private accusing another.”
153. “The majority of sects will be transient… because the leaders are not usually men of character. Perfect love, the heart never reacting, this is what builds character.”
154. “In India, everybody wants to become a leader, and there is nobody to obey… Until this absence of jealousy and obedience to leaders are learnt by the Hindu, there will be no power of organization.”
155. “Nobody will come to help you if you put yourself forward as a leader. . . . Kill self first if you want to succeed.”
156. “The least show of leading destroys everything by rousing jealousy.”
🔶 Swami Vivekananda Quotes on Holding Wealth without Attachment
And lastly, here’s what Swami Vivekananda quotes reveal about wealth and its effect:
157. “Aye, who ever saw money make the man? It is man that always makes money. The whole world has been made by the energy of man, by the power of enthusiasm, by the power of faith.”
158. “Money and all will come of themselves; we want men, not money. It is man that makes everything; what can money do?”
159. “Neither money pays, nor name, nor fame, nor learning; it is character that can cleave through adamantine walls of difficulties.”
160. “Hold your money merely as custodian for what is God’s. Have no attachment for it. Let name and fame and money go; they are a terrible bondage.”
161. “Our misery comes not from work but by our getting attached to something. Take, for instance, money: money is a great thing to have, earn it, says Krishna; struggle hard to get money, but don’t get attached to it.”
162. “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.”
163. “Be perfectly pure in money dealings.”
164. “He is truly a man to whom money is only a servant; but, on the other hand, those who do not know how to make a proper use of it, hardly deserve to be called men.”
165. “You know the greatest difficulty with me is to keep or even to touch money. It is disgusting and debasing.”
166. “My Master used to say, ‘This world is a huge lunatic asylum where all men are mad, some after money, some after women, some after name or fame, and a few after God. I prefer to be mad after God.’”
167. “The salvation of man lies in the great love with which he loves his God… When you can give up money, friends, fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, all that is in the world and only pray to God that He grant you something of His love, then you have found salvation.”
Conclusion:
These Swami Vivekananda quotes serve as more than just spiritual doctrine; they are a practical manual for living with dignity, purpose, and self-mastery. By examining his views on everything from the volatility of anger to the discipline required for business integrity, we see a man who sought to bridge the gap between ancient wisdom and the demands of modern life.
His message reminds us that true freedom is an internal conquest. Whether he was discussing the “divine spark” within a student or the rigorous honesty required of a leader, his goal remained the same: the making of a man. He envisioned individuals who are strong enough to face failure without despair, wealthy enough to give without attachment, and wise enough to see themselves in others.
Ultimately, Vivekananda’s life and words, reflected through Swami Vivekananda quotes, urge us to stop looking for salvation outside. By mastering our minds, educating our hearts, and serving humanity, we fulfill his greatest dream—the awakening of the soul to its own infinite power.
FAQs
1. What was Swami Vivekananda’s main message to the world?
He preached the divinity of the soul and the harmony of religions. His core message focused on strength, self-reliance, and universal brotherhood, famously opening his 1893 Chicago speech by addressing the audience as “Sisters and brothers of America.”
2. Why is Swami Vivekananda celebrated on National Youth Day?
India celebrates his birthday, January 12th, as National Youth Day because his life and teachings inspire young people to lead with courage. He urged the youth to “arise, awake, and stop not” until they achieved their goals.
3. How did he view the concept of education?
Vivekananda believed education should be “man-making” and “character-building.” To him, it was not just gathering information but the process of manifesting the perfection already within a person and training the mind to achieve complete self-mastery.