Forget not that the lower classes, the ignorant, the poor, the illiterate, the cobbler, the sweeper, are thy flesh and blood, thy brothers. Thou brave one, be bold, take courage, be proud that thou art an Indian, and proudly proclaim–‘I am an Indian–every Indian is my brother’. Say, ‘The ignorant Indian, the poor and destitute Indian, the Brahmin Indian, the pariah Indian, is my brother.’ …Say–brother : ‘The soil of India is my highest heaven, the good of India is my good and repeat and pray day and night,…O Thou Mother of Strength, take away my weakness, take away my unmanliness, and make me a man !
– Swami Vivekananda.

Lay down your comforts, your pleasures, your names, fame or position, nay even your lives, and make a bridge of human chains over which millions will cross this ocean of life. Bring all the forces of good together. Do not care under what banner you march. Do not care what be your colour–green, blue or red–but mix all the colours up and produce that intense glow of white, the colour of love. Ours is to work.
– Swami Vivekananda.

In India there are two great evils. Trampling on the women, and grinding the poor through caste restrictions.
– Swami Vivekananda.

Education is not the amount of information that is put into your brain and runs riot there, undigested, all your life. We must have life-building, man-making, character-making, assimilation of ideas.
– Swami Vivekananda.

The moment you fear, you are nobody. It is fear that is the great cause of misery in the world. It is fear that is the greatest of all superstitions. It is fear that is the cause of our woes, and it is fearlessness that brings heaven even in a moment. Therefore ‘Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached.’
– Swami Vivekananda.

It is a tremendous error to feel helpless. Do not seek help from anyone. We are our own help. If we cannot help ourselves, there is none to help us.
– Swami Vivekananda.

Have a tremendous faith in yourselves… Have that faith, each one of you, in yourself, that eternal power is lodged in every soul, and you will revive the whole of India… We must enter into the life of every race in India and abroad… This is the time to decide your future–while you possess the energy of youth… Work; this is the time, for the freshest, the untouched, and unsmelled flowers alone are to be laid at the feet of the Lord.
– Swami Vivekananda.

After so much austerity, I have understood this as the real truth, God is present in every Jiva; there is no other God besides that. ‘Who servers Jiva, serves God indeed.’
– Swami Vivekananda.

Bring all light into the world; light, bring light ! Let light come unto everyone; the tasks will not be finished till everyone has reached the Lord. Bring light to the poor, and bring more light to the rich, for they require it more than the poor; bring light to the ignorant and more light to the educated for the vanities of the education of our time are tremendous ! Thus bring light to all and leave the rest unto the Lord.
– Swami Vivekananda.

The eyes of the whole world are now turned towards this land of India for spiritual food; and India has to provide it for all the races. Here alone is the best ideal for mankind; and Western Scholars are now striving to understand this ideal which is enshrined in our Sanskrit literature and philosophy, and which has been the characteristic of India all through the ages.
– Swami Vivekananda.