Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

by Vivekananda

We must first take care to understand whether we have the power of resistance or not.

Plunge into the world, and then, after a time, when you have suffered and enjoyed all that is in it, will renunciation come; then will calmness come.

If you read the Vedas, you will find this word always repeated — fearlessness — fear nothing. Fear is a sign of weakness.

Spiritual knowledge is the only thing that can destroy our miseries for ever; any other knowledge satisfies wants only for a time.

What I am just at this moment is the effect of the sum total of all the impressions of my past life.

Any action that makes us go Godward is a good action, and is our duty; any action that makes us go downward is evil, and is not our duty.

we should always try to see the duty of others through their own eyes, and never judge the customs of other peoples by our own standard. I am not the standard of the universe.

Let us do that duty which is ours by birth; and when we have done that, let us do the duty which is ours by our position in life and in society.

Duty is seldom sweet. It is only when love greases its wheels that it runs smoothly; it is a continuous friction otherwise.

Duty is sweet only through love, and love shines in freedom alone.

No beggar whom we have helped has ever owed a single cent to us; we owe everything to him, because he has allowed us to exercise our charity on him.

"Misery comes through attachment, not through work."

If you want the reward, you must also have the punishment; the only way to get out of the punishment is to give up the reward.