In a conflict between the heart and the brain, follow your heart. – Swami Vivekananda (following quotes all by Swami Vivekananda)
In a day, when you don’t come across any problems—you can be sure that you are travelling in a wrong path.
All differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind, because oneness is the secret of everything.
That man has reached immortality who is disturbed by nothing material.
The great secret of true success, of true happiness, is this: the man or woman who asks for no return, the perfectly unselfish person, is the most successful.
The greatest sin is to think yourself weak.
The greatest religion is to be true to your own nature. Have faith in yourselves.
Anything that makes weak—physically, intellectually and spiritually, reject it as poison.
We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.
Neither seek nor avoid, take what comes.
Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life; dream of it; think of it; live on that idea. Let the brain, the body, muscles, nerves, every part of your body be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, and this is the way great spiritual giants are produced.
The fire that warms us can also consume us; it is not the fault of the fire.
The whole life is a succession of dreams. My ambition is to be a conscious dreamer, that is all.
The only religion that ought to be taught is the religion of fearlessness. Either in this world or in the world of religion, it is true that fear is the sure cause of degradation and sin. It is fear that brings misery, fear that brings death, fear that breeds evil. And what causes fear? Ignorance of our own nature.
Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or psychic control, or philosophy—by one, or more, or all of these—and be free. This is the whole of religion. Doctrines, or dogmas, or rituals, or books, or temples, or forms, are but secondary details.
The cheerful mind perseveres and the strong mind hews its way through a thousand difficulties.
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.
All power is within you; you can do anything and everything. Believe in that, do not believe that you are weak; do not believe that you are half-crazy lunatics, as most of us do nowadays. You can do anything and everything, without even the guidance of any one. Stand up and express the divinity within you.
image 1: Young woman practicing yoga on the beach via Shutterstock; image 2: Hand of a man above a blue flower via Shutterstock