Five Quotes from Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda

(né, Narendra Nath Datta)

12 January 1863 - 4 July 1902

To learn more about Swami Vivekananda, visit one of the foundations that bear his name (here or here), or also this wiki.

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

“The greatest sin is to think yourself weak”  

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

“You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.”  

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

Okay...three more.

“We reap what we sow. We are the makers of our own fate. The wind is blowing; those vessels whose sails are unfurled catch it, and go forward on their way, but those which have their sails furled do not catch the wind. Is that the fault of the wind?....... We make our own destiny."

“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.”  

“Things do not grow better; they remain as they are. It is we who grow better, by the changes we make in ourselves.” 

 More in the Five Quotes series.

Urban Simplicity.