Quotes of Swami Vivekananda on Success

• “Go on; remember — patience and purity and courage and steady work. . . .

So long as you are pure, and true to your principles, you will never fail”

• “May you be ever possessed of valour! It is the hero alone, not the coward,

who has liberation within his easy reach. Gird up your loins, ye heroes, for

before you are your enemies - the dire army of infatuation. It is

undoubtedly true that "all great achievements are fraught with numerous

impediments"; still you should exert your utmost for your end.”

• There is the danger of frittering away your energies by taking up an idea

only for its novelty, and then giving it up for another that is newer. Take

one thing up and do it, and see the end of it, and before you have seen the

end, do not give it up. He who can become mad with an idea, he alone sees

light.

• “Have you got the will to surmount mountain-high obstructions? If the

whole world stands against you sword in hand, would you still dare to do

what you think is right?”

• “All great undertakings are achieved through mighty obstacles. Keep up the

deepest mental poise. Take not even the slightest notice of what puerile

creatures may be saying against you.”

• “If it is impossible to attain perfection here and now, there is no proof that

we can attain perfection in any other life.”

• “Things do not grow better. They remain as they are; and we grow

better by the changes we make in them”

• “Be good, and evil will vanish for you. The whole universe will thus be

changed. This is the greatest gain to society. This is the great gain to the

human organism.”

• “Sincerity of conviction & purity of motive will surely gain the day; and even

a small minority, armed with these, is surely destined to prevail against all

odds.”

• The essence of true success is what you make of yourself. It is the conduct

of life that you develop, it is the character that you cultivate and it is the

type of person you become. This is the central meaning of successful

living.

• “Your success is not measured in terms of what all you obtained but in term

of what you become, how you live and what actions you do. Upon this

point reflect well and attain great happiness.”

• Live for an ideal, and that one ideal alone. Let it be so great, so strong, that

there may be nothing else left in the mind; no place for anything else, no

time for anything else.

• "Do not go for glass beads leaving the mine of diamonds. This life is a great

chance. What, seekest thou the pleasures of the world? He is the fountain

of all bliss. See for the highest, aim at that highest, and you shall reach the

highest."

• “If the mind is intensely eager, everything can be accomplished—

mountains can be crumbled into atoms.”

• “Arise and awake, for the time is passing & all our energies will be frittered

away in vain talking. Arise and awake, let minor things and quarrels over

little details and fights over little doctrines be thrown aside, for here is the

greatest of all works, here are the sinking millions…. And first of all, work it

out for your own country.”

• “Take care! Beware of everything that is untrue; stick to truth and we shall

succeed, maybe slowly, but surely.”

• “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.”

• “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.”

• So long as you have faith and honesty and devotion, everything will

prosper. So long as there is no feeling of disunion amongst you, through

grace of the Lord, I assure, there is no danger for you.

• "Spread ideas – go from village to village, from door to door – then only

there will be real work. Otherwise, lying complacently on the bed and

ringing the bell now and then is a sort of disease, pure and simple"

• “Do not lower your goals to the level of your abilities. Instead, raise your

abilities to the height of your goals.”

• “Take risks in your life. If you win, you can lead! If you lose, you can guide!”

• “All the great accomplishments are hard. Nothing worthwhile comes easy

but do not lower your ideal because it is difficult to attain. Hold the banner

of freedom aloft. Strength... Strength…Strength... Say that to yourself day

and night, you are strong, pure and free. No weakness in you, no sin, no

misery.”

• Stand upon the Self, only then can we truly love the world. Take a very high

stand; knowing our universal nature, we must look with perfect calmness

upon all the panorama of the world.

• “The history of the world is the history of a few men who had faith in

themselves. That faith calls the divinity within. You can do anything. You fail

only when you do not strive sufficiently to manifest infinite power.”

• “How has all the knowledge in the world been gained but the concentration

of the powers of mind? The world is ready to give 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.”

• “What work you do expect from the men of little hearts? Nothing in the

world! You must have an iron will if you would cross the ocean. You must

be strong enough to pierce mountains.”

• “The ideal of faith in ourselves is of the greatest help to us…Throughout the

history of mankind, if any motive power has been more potent than

another in the lives of all great men and women, it is that of faith in

themselves.”

• “Be always ready to concede to the opinions of your brethren, and try

always to conciliate. That is the whole secret. Fight on bravely! Life is short!

Give it up to a great cause”.

• “Action will come. Fill yourselves with the ideal; whatever you do, think

well on it. All your actions will be magnified, transformed, deified, by the

very power of the thought. If matter is powerful, thought is omnipotent.

Bring this thought to bear upon your life, fill yourselves with the thought of

your almightiness, your majesty, and your glory.”

• The mind uncontrolled and unguided will drag us down, down, for ever —

rend us, kill us; and the mind controlled and guided will save us, free us.

• They say, ‘Have faith in this fellow or that fellow’, but I say, ‘Have faith in

yourself first’, that’s the way. Have faith in yourself — all power is in you —

be conscious and bring it out. Say, ‘I can do everything.’ ‘Even the poison of

a snake is powerless if you can firmly deny it.’

• Every man should take up his own ideal and endeavour to accomplish it.

That is a surer way of progress than taking up other men's ideals, which he

can never hope to accomplish

• “He who struggles is better than he who never attempts…. Stand up for

God; let the world go. Have no compromise.”

• “The doors are open for us, and we can all get out without the competition

and struggle; and yet we struggle. The struggle we create through our own

ignorance, through impatience; we are in too great a hurry. The highest

manifestation of strength is to keep ourselves calm and on our own feet.”

• “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... That is the ideal of Karma-Yoga, and

if you have attained to that you have really learnt the secret of work.”

• “Do not be mere white mice in a treadmill, working always and never

accomplishing anything. Every desire is fraught with evil, whether the

desire itself be good or evil.”

• “Put on all powers, philosophy, work, prayer, meditation — crowd all sail,

put on all head of steam — reach the goal. The sooner, the better. . . .”

• “Strength is life, weakness is death; Strength is

felicity, life eternal, immortal! Weakness is constant strain and misery.”

• “Sincerity of conviction & purity of motive will surely gain the day; and even

a small minority, armed with these, is surely destined to prevail against all

odds.”

• “The concentrated mind is the lamp that shows us every corner of the soul.

When an idea exclusively occupies the mind, it is transformed into an actual

physical or mental state.”

• Choose the highest ideal and live your life up to that. Look at the “ocean”

and not at the “wave”

• “Never mind failures; they are quite natural, they are the beauty of life,

these failures. What would life be without them? It would not be worth

having if it were not for struggles. Where would be the poetry of life? Never

mind the struggles, the mistakes.”

• When once you consider an action, do not let anything dissuade you.

Consult your heart, not others, and then follow its dictates.

• “Know that every time you feel weak, you not only hurt yourself but also

the cause. Infinite faith and strength are the only conditions of success.”

• “What the nation wants is pluck and scientific genius. We want great spirit,

tremendous energy, and boundless enthusiasm.”

• “The cheerful mind perseveres and the strong mind hews its way through a

thousand difficulties.”

• “Be obedient and eternally faithful to the cause of truth, humanity, and

your country, and you will move the world. Remember it is the person, the

life, which is the secret of power — nothing else.”

• To succeed, you must have tremendous perseverance, tremendous will. "I

will drink 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.

• The whole life is a succession of dreams. My ambition is to be a conscious

dreamer, that is all.

Quotes of Swami Vivekananda on Service

• “God allows you to work. He allows you to exercise your muscles in this

great gymnasium, not in order to help Him but that you may help yourself.

Do you think even an ant will die or want of your help? Most arrant

blasphemy

• “Call up the divinity within you, which will enable you to bear hunger and

thirst, heat and cold. Sitting in luxurious homes, surrounded with all the

comforts of life, and doling out a little amateur religion may be good for

other lands, but India has a truer instinct. It intuitively detects the mask.

You must give up. Be great. No great work can be done without

sacrifice…….”

• Have vairagya. Your ancestors gave up the world for doing great things. At

the present times there are men who give up the world to help their own

salvation. Throw away everything, even your own salvation, and go and

help others.

• With the conviction firmly rooted in your heart that you are the servants of

the Lord, His children, helpers in the fulfillment of His purpose, enter the

arena of work.

• “Set yourselves to work - to work! Do not tarry…Do not sit idle, thinking

that everything will be done in time, later. Mind - nothing will be done that

way.”

• “Now is wanted intense Karma-Yoga with unbounded courage and

indomitable strength in the heart. Then only will the people of the country

be roused.”

• “All work is simply to bring out the power of the mind which is already

there, to wake up the soul. The power is inside every man, so is knowing;

the different works are like blows to bring them out, to cause these giants

to wake up.”

• Perfection does not come from belief or faith. Talk does not count for

anything. Parrots can do that. Perfection comes through selfless work.

• The wind of divine grace is always blowing. You just need to spread your

sail. Whenever you do anything, do it with your whole heart concentrated

on it. Think day and night, “I am of the essence of that Supreme Being-

Consciousness-Bliss. What fear and anxiety have I?”

• “Always first learn to be a servant, and then you will be fit to be a master.

Avoid jealousy, and you will do great works that are yet to be done.” (Can

be in success as well)

• The men of mighty will, the world has produced have all been tremendous

workers — gigantic souls, with wills powerful enough to overturn worlds,

wills they got by persistent work, through ages, and ages.

• Machines or instruments, cities, ships, or men-of-war, all these are simply

the manifestation of the will of man; and this will is caused by character,

and character is manufactured by Karma. As is Karma, so is the

manifestation of the will.

• Let us calmly go to work, instead of dissipating our energy in unnecessary

fretting and fuming.

• “Go from village to village; do good to humanity and to the world at large.

Go to hell yourself to buy salvation for others.”

• “Now is wanted intense Karma-Yoga with unbounded courage and

indomitable strength in the heart. Then only will the people of the country

be roused.”

• Give up jealousy and conceit. Learn to work unitedly for others. That is the

great need of our country. Have patience and be faithful unto death. Do not

fight among yourselves.

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

bondage and illusion.”

• Cultivate the virtue of obedience, but you must not sacrifice your own

faith…Give up jealousy and conceit. Learn to work unitedly for others. This

is the great need of our country.

• "We must be merciful towards those that are in misery; and to the wicked

we must be indifferent"

• “In this world always take the position of the giver. Give everything and

look for no returns. Give love, give help, give service, give any little thing

you can, but keep out barter. Make no conditions and none will be

imposed. Let us give out of our own bounty, just as God gives to us.”

• "Have faith in yourselves, great convictions are the mother of great deeds"

• “Who will give the world light? Sacrifice in the past has been the law, it will

be, alas, for ages to come. The earth's bravest and best will have to sacrifice

themselves for the good of many, for the welfare of all.”

• Let us work on, doing as we go whatever happens to be our duty, and being

ever ready to put our shoulders to the wheel. Then surely shall we see the

Light!

• “Let there be action without reaction; action is pleasant, all misery is

reaction…The happiest moments we ever know are when we entirely forget

ourselves. Work of your own free will, not from duty”

• “To attain liberation through work, join yourself to work but without desire,

looking for no result. Such work leads to knowledge, which in turn brings

emancipation. To give up work before you know, leads to misery.”

• Even thinking of the least good of others gradually instills into the heart,

the strength of a lion.

• “I do not care of liberation…’doing good to others (silently) like the spring’

this is my religion.”

• “Set yourselves to work - to work! Do not tarry - the time of death is

approaching day by day! Do not sit idle, thinking that everything will be

done in time, later. Mind - nothing will be done that way.”

• “What Karma-Yoga means; even at the point of death to help anyone,

without asking questions. Never vaunt of your gifts to the poor or expect

their gratitude, but rather be grateful to them for giving you the occasion of

practicing charity to them.”

• “Let us perfect the means; the end will take care of itself. For the world can

be good and pure, only if our lives are good and pure. It is an effect, and we

are the means. Therefore, let us purify ourselves. Let us make ourselves

perfect.”

• “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, it will come back

multiplied a thousand fold — but the attention must not be on that. Yet

have the power to give: give, and there it ends.”

• “Desire to live a hundred years, have all earthly desires, if you wish, only

deify them, convert them into heaven. Have the desire to live a long life of

helpfulness, of blissfulness and activity on this earth. Thus working, you will

find the way out.”

• “When you help a poor man, do not feel the least pride. That is worship for

you, and not the cause of pride. Is not the whole universe you? Where is

there any one that is not you? You are the Soul of this universe. You are the

sun, moon, and stars, it is you that are shining everywhere.”

• All work is simply to bring out the power of the mind which is already there,

to wake up the soul. The power is inside every man, so is knowing; the

different works are like blows to bring them out, to cause these giants to

wake up.

• Work on with the intrepidity of a lion but at the same time with the

tenderness of a flower.

• Wait with patience and love and strength. If helpers are not ready now,

they will come in time. Why should we be in a hurry? The real working

force of all great work is in its almost unperceived beginnings.

• “Every duty is holy, and devotion to duty is the highest form of worship of

God.”

• The ideal of work is to work for work’s sake.

• Blessed are they whose bodies get destroyed in the service of others.